How to Pray (Part 2)

And Now...

We’ll finish our series on prayer today.

Last week I left you with a cliff-hanger of a sermon.

Now, today here’s the conclusion.

When it comes to prayer remember that it is just communicating with God.

Last week we saw that God communicates truth to us as we

Abide in Christ

Abide in the Word

Allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in truth.

We communicate faith to God when

Ask according to His will

Accept His will in faith

Act on the basis of God’s word to you

Today, let’s get into the meat of how to pray.

Don’t be discouraged when I say there is no set way to pray

Just like there’s no set way to have a conversation with someone.

You learn to pray be watching someone else, but even better by doing it yourself.

You are just talking with your best friend, loved and most intimate friend.

In Luke 11:1, the disciples asked Jesus to pray and He gave them the model prayer.

That same prayer is found in Matthew in the sermon on the mount.

Both are similar in format and theme, but were they given at the same time or different times?

That’s for another study, but today it is the format we’re wanting to see.

Let’s read Matthew 6:5-15

Matthew 6:5–15 CSB

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. 9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.

3 Foundational Principles For Prayer Matthew 6:5-8.

Pray in Secret Vs. 6

“But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you.” vs. 6

Get away from distractions

Focus on God and not the phone, TV, work, or anything that would cause you to loose your focus on why you are there.

This allows you to be honest with God.

You also won’t be tempted to impress others

Just get calm, be quiet for a moment, don’t rush.

Now you are tuned in and ready.

Pray with Sincerity Vs. 7

“When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.” vs. 7

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And you shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.”

With all your heart… Not your mouth!

God, be with the missionaries. (He all ready is!)

Bless this food to our body. (At McDonalds?)

In Jesus name. (Magic formula?)

Psalm 62:8, “Pour out your hearts to Him.”

Pray Systematically/Specifically Vs. 9

“Therefore, you should pray like this…” Vs. 9

Is it Sincerity or Systematically? Both! Pattern verses Prayer

Pray with Specifics

“Bless the missionaries”

Provide food

Provide shelter

Let them feel your presence

Protect them

Use Names

Use Numbers

Explain how and when

Model Prayer or Lord’s Prayer Verses 9-15

“Our Father in heaven”

We address our prayers to God as our heavenly Father.

This reminds us of our privileged position because of what Christ has done on our behalf.

In Christ, we are adopted as God’s children, and His Spirit dwells in us.

We know God and have a relationship with Him through Christ, who has opened up for the way of access to God.

We can have boldness and confidence in our prayers because of our adoption in Christ.

Our prayers are addressed to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

He is also our Father “in heaven.”

Our open access God should not be taken lightly.

The God whom we approach is in heaven.

He is transcendent, high, and lifted up. He is the sovereign Creator of the entire universe.

He is very great and glorious.

He is the sovereign Redeemer, who unfailingly works out His plan of salvation for all of creation.

This is the God to whom we come.

Our prayers ought to be characterized by humility, awe, and reverence.

“Hallowed be your name”

God’s name is a reflection of who He is—His character and perfections.

To pray that God’s name be hallowed is to ask that God might be glorified and exalted.

When we pray this, we are asking our heavenly Father to act in such a way that we and others will reverence God, glorify Him, consider Him holy, and acknowledge Him as the Lord God.

This petition should set the tone for our prayers.

We begin with God, not with ourselves.

We should not be at the center of our prayers.

This place belongs to God alone.

It is His glory that we pray for and all our requests should have His glory as their goal.

“Your kingdom come”

God’s kingdom refers to His saving rule under which there is life and blessedness.

The kingdom has come in Jesus Christ, through His life, death, and resurrection.

“Your kingdom come” is therefore a gospel-centered petition that asks God to extend His kingdom through the advance of His gospel.

It is also to pray that God will usher in the consummated kingdom when Christ returns.

To pray this petition is to have our eyes fixed on eternal matters.

This petition lifts our perspective above earthly things and focuses it on the things of eternity.

It expresses our eager longing for Jesus to return and to reign in a new heaven and new earth.

It expresses our longing to be with our Lord and Savior forever.

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”

This petition encompasses several requests:

That God’s desires for righteousness will be as fully accomplished now on the earth as they are now accomplished in heaven;

That God’s desires for righteousness may ultimately be as fully accomplished on the earth as they are now accomplished in heaven;

That God’s desires for righteousness may ultimately be accomplished on the earth in the same way that they are accomplished in heaven—that is, purely.

If are praying that God’s will be done on earth, we are committing ourselves to two important responsibilities:

We are committing ourselves to learning all we can about His will. This means sustained Bible intake.

This petition is also our pledge that by God’s grace we will do His will.

Notice how the opening petitions of the Lord’s Prayer all center on God.

They focus on God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will.

When we pray in this manner, we are also asking that we ourselves will hallow God’s name, submit to His rule, and do His will.

It is impossible to pray these petitions in sincerity without humbly committing ourselves to glorify God and obey Him.

“Give us this day our daily bread”

This petition reminds us of our constant, daily dependence on God.

The significance of this petition is often lost on us, because of the abundance of food that we have.

In Jesus’ day, laborers were commonly paid each day for the work they had done for that day.

Their wage was so low that it was almost impossible to save any of it.

So the day’s pay purchased the day’s food.

To fail to earn a wage was therefore to go hungry.

When we pray this petition, we are acknowledging our complete trust in our heavenly Father to provide for our needs.

In times of trial, we ask God for help and he shows Himself faithful and all-sufficient.

This petition also reminds us that it is God alone who provides.

Every good and perfect gift comes from our Father, who does not change.

All that we have comes from Him. To pray this petition is to express our gratitude to God.

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”

Here, sin is referred to as a “debt.”

This is a petition of confession our sins to God and seeking forgiveness from Him.

When we pray in this way, we are acknowledging God’s holiness and how we have sinned against Him.

It is also to recognize that God is gracious and merciful.

Because God has loved us in Christ, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Does this petition teach that God forgives us because we have forgiven others?

No, it teaches us that we who have been forgiven much by God ought also to forgive others.

This is the point that Paul makes in Colossians 3:13, “Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

This petition also expresses our love for others.

It introduces the aspect of relationships into our prayer.

It reminds us that believing the gospel has profound and far-reaching implications for how we ought to love one another in Christ.

It is impossible to be self-centered and pray in the manner of the Lord’s Prayer.

In fact, we ought to pray while in fellowship with our believers.

Notice how the prayer begins with “our.”

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Does this petition mean that God tempts us to sin?

No, God cannot be tempted with evil and He Himself tempts no one.

What, then, does this petition mean?

The key is to understand that “not” negates “into temptation.”

In other words, the prayer means “lead us, not into temptation, but away from it, into righteousness, into situations where, far from being tempted, we will be protected and there kept righteous.”

We will then be delivered from the evil one.

This petition reminds us that, just as we depend on God for the physical sustenance of daily bread, we also need to depend on Him for moral triumph and spiritual victory.

Indeed, not to depend upon God is already to fail because it reveals our sinful pride and self-sufficiency.

An important mark of Christian maturity is that we sense our own moral weakness and rejoice that whatever virtue we possess is a fruit of the Spirit.

More and more, we recognize the deceitfulness of our own hearts and the malicious cunning of the evil one.

We are reminded that the Lord alone is our strength and our refuge.

We therefore pray that we might be strong in the Lord, with the spiritual armor that he alone is able to provide (Eph. 6:10-18).

The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer for us.

We are not to blindly mouth its words, but we are to use it as a framework model our own prayers.

We are not to just to prayer this prayer by rote.

In a lot of movies or TV shows, when there’s no hope left, people start praying this model prayer like it’s going to keep the plane from crashing.

I would be screaming, “Lord, save me” like Peter as he sank in the water after getting out of the boat.

We should pray and there are many patterns to follow:

ACTS: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication

PRAY: Praise and Adoration, Repentance, Ask and intercede, Yield

Whatever pattern you use, PRAY!

What to pray for?

God’s will

Yourself

Others

Church

Lost - Who’s your one?

Prayer