Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Posture and attitude in prayer are essential.

Our physical posture is linked to particular attitudes in prayer.

Kneeling in prayer to God is common since people would kneel before royalty as a sign of respect, submission and humility.

Standing with open eyes and gazing heavenward with lifted hands is another typical posture of prayer that we see illustrated in the Old Testament.

Falling prostrate on ones face to the ground is also common as people came into the presence of God in the Old and New Testaments.

There is not specific prescription for all to follow, therefore, find your meaningful prayer posture.

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING FUNDAMENTALS FOR PRAYING

Remember who you are speaking with and who is doing the talking.

We must not forget who God is and who we are.

(learning the proper protocol for walking into the presence of the King)

Prayers to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords must begin with an attitude of adoration and devotion.

Note: Much of our time in prayer is spent in the area of making requests of God.

There is nothing wrong with bringing our requests to God, in fact we are commanded to do so, however, many of the Holy inspired prayers of Scripture give less attention to requests and much more attention to ADORATION.

The Palms in general as a model of prayer and adoration is a collection of Holy inspired-prayers.

Those who immerse themselves in the Psalm have not problem praying adoration to the Father.

(perhaps using psalms in your prayers would be a good habit).

When we consider the format that we should use for prayer Jesus gave us the blueprint to use when He gave us the Lords Prayer.

I believe that this is the format we should all use when praying to the Father.

We will look at The Lords Prayer more in depth in week 4 of our study.

The acrostic we use for prayer spells out the word ACTS

A - Adoration C - Confession T - Thanksgiving S - Supplication

Note: Matthew 6:1-18 highlights our devotion to God taking three main areas of traditional religious devotion: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

He warns his hearers against the kind of devotion that is a dog and pony show we find in many religious circles today.

We all have probably at one time or another seen what felt like mechanical or forced acts of devotion and prayer.

Those that were totally lacking in any sincere, genuine, fervent, heartfelt prayers to God.

Sincere obedience to God’s word is the key to an authentic devotional life.

Not playing to the crowds, but humbly living in the light of the Father’s will.

IS THERE A SET MODEL FOR HOW WE SHOULD PRAY?

“And When you Pray” Jesus reiterates two times what pray should not be about, then He turns and say’s but, when you do pray, pray like this.

Jesus gave us the perfect model for how we should pray.

Notice that the prayer Jesus gave for us to learn how to pray begins with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

(Holy, worthy, Honored, glorified name of God)

The Worst Hypocrisy

What was so bad about [the Pharisees'] hypocrisy?

If we think of it as consisting merely in their teaching or pretending one thing while in fact practicing something contradictory, we will miss Jesus' main point.

What He nailed them for was that they were using God and the things of God as a means to some other end.

That's what was insidious about the Pharisees' example.

"They do all their deeds to be noticed by men" (Matthew 23:5).

... Theirs was a problem of priorities: their first priority was social status, to which end God was but a means.

What greater affront to God could there be?

Better to ignore Him altogether than to exploit Him as a means to something else you value more highly.

2 Warning given about Prayer

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases.

(as the gentiles do)

BIG IDEA: THE POWER OF AUTHENTIC PRAYER BEGINS WITH ADORATION

1. Adoration in prayer is about the motive of our heart

THE MOTIVE BEHIND PRAYER

Jesus would acknowledge that the discipline of regular praying is good; all devout Jews prayed three times a day like Daniel.

And there was nothing wrong with standing and praying, for this was the usual prayer posture of Jews.

Nor were they necessarily in the wrong by praying on the street corners and in the synagogues if their motive was to bring recognition and glory to the God of the Universe in both secular and religious places.

But, Jesus came to uncover the motives of a man’s heart when he lifts his hands high to the heavens in order that they might be seen by men.

Behind their pious actions lurked the sin of pride.

What they really wanted was applause and recognition.

“Nacho Libre”: Wrestler struggling with personal motives

Nacho Libre (played by Jack Black) is a story of a young priest priest named Ignacio who is trying to reconcile His love for wrestling with his duty to God and the orphanage in which he works.

Ignacio argues that if he is fighting for something noble or for someone who needs help, only then will God bless you in battle.

Ignacio goes to pray inside a large Church.

He lights a candle, kneels at the alter, and prays: “precious Father, why have you given met his desire to wrestle and then made me such a stinky warrior?

“Have I focused to much on my fancy boots and all my fame and my stretchy paints?”

“Wait a second!”

Ignacio continues.

“Maybe you want me to fight and give everything I win to the little ones who have nothing - so they can have better foods and a better life!

The problem with the prayers that were being offered had little to do with where they were being prayed, or even the words that they were praying.

The problem was a heart filled with false motivation!

Hypocrisy has been the charge leveled at the Church from it’s very beginning.

Is it possible for us to go to Church today for the same wrong reasons and motives today?

How should we pray then, Jesus tells us to go into our room or prayer closets and shut the door.

When we do this we are closing the door to any distractions or false pretence in our praying.

It is just us and God! Nothing destroys prayer more than the disturbances of onlookers and prying eyes of men.

Jesus reminds us to pray to our Father who is in secret.

Nothing enriches our prayer lives more than the genuine presence of God in our room of prayer.

We know that God looks at the heart of a man not his outward appearance.

*Our motivation in Adoration is to seek God’s face.

Note: The Hebrew word for “face” in the Old Testament is often translated “presence.”

When we seek the face of God, we are seeking His presence.

The call to seek God’s face was issued to His people because they had abandoned Him and needed to return to Him.

Perhaps the bigger issue behind your prayer life is that you have stopped seeking God’s face in prayer!

NOTE: Often this problem stems from the fact that we are seeking our own face and reputation first before Him.

When we approach God in prayer we are seeking His face not our own.

We are not seeking our reflection in the mirror.

NOTE: The true nature of worship and Adoration is to seek God’s face.

The Christian life is a walk devoted to seeking God’s presence and favor in our lives.

The Lord wants us to Humbly and trustingly seek His face in our prayers and in our times in his Word.

It requires a great measure of intimacy to intently look into someone’s face.

“When you pray don’t heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard for their many words.”

DANGER OF THE HYPOCRITICAL PRAYER

Pagans, tended to think that God could be bludgeoned into acquiescence if they prayed long enough, and many Jews shared that conviction.

Remember Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

The prophets of Baal would throw themselves on the ground and cut themselves so that their God would here and honor their prayer.

Elijah begins to mock the display when there was not reply, stating, that maybe their God was on the toilet.

*Our motivation in Adoration comes from a changed heart.

The Holy Spirit does not attempt to improve human nature into something better, but lays the axe at the root of the trees, and declares that we must become new creatures, and that by a supernatural work of the omnipotent God.

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

NOTE: Some of us here this morning need the spirit of God to lay an axe to our roots and create in us a new heart of flesh removing the stony parts of our prayer life.

The tenderness of a heart bent towards Adoration is absent in the unregenerate heart.

Remember that Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again first before he can come to Christ.

Perhaps the bigger issue with many of the prayers we hear lifted up in the Church today is the lack of a true REGENERATE heart.

Remember Jesus declares that on the day of judgement there will by many outside the throne room of God who prayed long-winded flowery pray’s who never intimately new the Lord.