The 4 Hearts of Prayer
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Intro
Intro
****Do the Clipboard****
Alright everyone, we are back tonight in what many of you know as our “usual” format. That is, we are back to the way that we do things throughout the school year. That means tonight we had a time of worship, right now we are going to have what I call a “full message”…that essentially means that we will actually be looking at a specific text together and working through it together, rather than just a topical devotion…a “usual” format also means that after this we are going to have a large community event.
Tonight, because of the weather and what not…we decided to have an ice cream sundae bar, some board/card games, and a spoons tourney with a few prizes, including an $80 gift card to CRUMBL.
Now, that’s all to come but let’s focus on what we are doing right now. If you’ve been with, we have been going through spiritual disciplines. The last several weeks have been disciplines that relate to God’s word. Reading it. Meditating it. Memorizing it. We put all of these spiritual disciplines into the category of “Hearing God’s Voice.”
But now, we move in to a list of spiritual disciplines that are about “Having God’s Ear.”…having…God’s…ear.
In other words…we are going to be talking about prayer…and tonight’s message, will hopefully give you some footing as to how to go about tackling prayer in your own life.
Now…I’m going to admit to you…I’ve never preached a message on prayer. And here’s why....because I’m not fantastic at it. I’m not great at it. I would say I’m not even close to good at it.
But…I want to be better. And I’m going to guess that you do too. So, as we dive in tonight…I want you to hear this.
Receive this message as from a man who has not achieved something and is looking back to shout down the orders and how to achieve it to....rather, receive this message as from a man who is seeking to be better at prayer, and is looking in God’s word as to how to do that.
And that’s what we are going to do together, tonight. Look in God’s word, to understand prayer better, and understand the postures of prayer…or as I’m calling them tonight…the 5 hearts of prayer.
That’s the message tonight. The 5 Hearts of Prayer.
So, if you have your bibles, go ahead and open up to Matthew, chapter 6. We are going to be looking at the most famous prayer in the world…the Lord’s prayer.
How many of you have memorized this, or recited it in church or at home before? Most of you, and for good reason. Because, it’s a prayer that Jesus told his disciples to pray.
So, if we are going to be looking at ways to pray better and how to grow in our discipline in prayer, this is a good place to start.
Now, if you were with us this past school year, you’ll remember that Pastor Garth actually came on St. Patty’s day and preached an awesome message on prayer.
And…he actually preached it about the verses leading up to the Lord’s prayer.
I want to encourage you, to go back and listen to that message…because it’s really good, and it’s the perfect intro to this message right here. And actually, there’s an easy way for you to go back and listen to it…we are going to have it uploaded to our podcast, tomorrow morning, for you to listen to and reflect on as we continue to focus on prayer.
If you don’t follow our podcast, you can do so on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify…just look up Centered. Committed. Confident. If you need help tonight let me know and I can help you find it.
But as we dive into this message, let me just succinctly sum up his points. In that message, titled “Pray Like Jesus”, pastor Garth breaks down verses 5-8, which is Jesus explaining how the majority of our praying should be done. And here’s what those passages say...
If you’re gonna pray. Pray secretly. Pray simply. and Pray sincerely.
Pray secretly as in don’t make a big show about it. Don’t draw attention to yourself. Don’t do it for others.
Pray simply as in, don’t put a lot of stock in the words themselves, but rather focus on the heart. Powerful words don’t create a more powerful prayer.
and Pray sincerely, as in come to God in sincerity. Be like a child who comes to him, be honest in your feelings and thoughts towards him. Get to the heart of you and the heart of the matter.
Now, that’s a really quick summary of his message, check it out on the podcast…but I wanted to cover it because it’s important to our understanding of the next chunk of this passage....the Lord’s prayer.
Right after saying these things, you can look in the text there…right after saying these things…Jesus then instructs his disciples what to say. Let’s look at it together.
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Which…if you really think about it…seems sort of odd right? I mean, he literally just told the disciples that praying isn’t about the words we use, that it’s not about saying specific things in front of others, and that we should do it in sincerity.
Which, in today’s culture…things that are chanted and often done without sincerity, would you agree with that? How often do we recite something without it impacting our heart…like when we use to recite the pledge of allegiance, or we sing a song for the 30th time at church, or we recite something like the Lord’s prayer, or a creed, or we sing “thank you Lord” at the end of communion...
How many times have you done something like that, and not been sincere? I’m sure more times than you care to admit.
So…why then, does Jesus give his disciples these words to say?
1) Some preachers would that the Lord’s prayer is given as a guidepost for the order that we should pray. Meaning, first we start with adoration, then his will, then our needs. To that I say…maybe. And certainly that’s not bad. In fact, to have a structure to our prayers can be quite helpful. And I don’t think Jesus would be opposed to us following after him in praying praise, and then his will to be done, and then to ask our needs.
In fact, let’s be honest, if we even did that…it would be more than what most of us are doing in our prayers now. So, that’s an option…and a good one. And maybe even a right one.
2) A second option…is that Jesus wants us to say these exact words. Because, these exact words are good things to pray for. To that I say…also maybe. But, not as much as a maybe as the first one…because Jesus says “pray LIKE this”. Not “Pray This”. And also, the past several verses seem to show us that the idea of power in specific words is wrong, and not the intention of prayer. BUT…I say maybe, because certainly including this in our prayers can not be bad, if we say it with sincerity....and, let’s be honest again. Saying the Lord’s prayer daily is still more than many of us are doing right now in our prayer. So, this is an option, not as strong of one…but it is an option.
But tonight, I’d like to propose to you a third option. An option that incorporates the previous verses, and all that Pastor Garth preached about…an option that incorporates all of the Lord’s prayer…and an option that is certainly a biblical option.
I’d like to propose to you tonight, that the Lord’s prayer is about the hearts of prayer…or postures of prayer that we should take. I’d like to propose to you that when Jesus says “Pray LIKE this”…he literally means “pray in this type of fashion, with these types of passions, and these things on your mind.”
And so tonight, I want to share with you the 5 Hearts of Prayer that I believe are found in the Lord’s prayer....5 Hearts that serve as a call for us to have them when we pray. 5 hearts that we can look at, and check the health of our prayers and our prayer life.
So, with that really long intro out of the way…let’s actually get into them yeah?
Here’s the first one we see. If you want to pray like Jesus told us to pray...
Pray with a worshipful heart.
Look back at at the first verse.
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Hallowed means to be made holy. So Jesus is literally telling his disciples, that when they pray…they should pray with a heart that wants to bring worship to their God. They should pray with a heart that wants to glorify him. They should pray with a heart that literally wants to hallow his name.
I love that this is the first heart in this prayer…because right away it should give us a reality check. Right away it should cause us to reflect upon the intentions of our heart when we pray.
Right away…it should challenge us to get out of our own minds…out of our own circumstances, and give glory to where glory is due. In fact, this heart is just a challenge to us to make sure that we are fulfilling the purpose God has called us to. You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll say it again…we were created for a specific reason…and that reason is? To glorify God.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
God is saying that the people who belong to him, are created, for who’s glory? His.
So right away this first heart of prayer should check our perspective. When you go to pray…who are you trying to glorify? Are you trying to glorify yourself? Make yourself look good? Make yourself appear more holy? Make yourself a better disciple? Where is the glory really being given?
Because we know where it should be given. To God. And so, this prayer starts out with worship. God, be made more glorious. Let your glory be revealed.
Do you have that heart? Do you desire to worship God simply because of his holiness? Simply because he is hallowed? If not, it’s time for heart check. If you don’t love to worship God, you don’t love God.
I’ll say that again. If you don’t love to worship God. You don’t love God.
We see this in the gospel of Luke, when we were going through that last fall…the woman who falls down at Jesus’ feet in front of the dinner party…what does Jesus say about her to the Pharisees?
44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
To the extent that you understand that a hallowed God forgave an unhallowed sinner (you)…is the extent that you desire to worship. Jesus directly relates her worship of him, with her love for him, and her understanding of sin and holiness.
So I say again…if you don’t love to worship God, you don’t love God. And if you don’t love God, it’s because you haven’t fully accepted or understood exactly who he is, who you are, and what he did to save you from your sins.
If that’s you, come talk to me afterwards and let’s have a conversation.
But for now, let’s leave it there. If you want to prayer the way Jesus has told us to pray, then pray with a worshipful heart.
Second heart of prayer.
Pray with an expectant heart.
Look at verse 10.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Mull over those words…and realize…these are not said out of obligation. It’s not like “well I guess God, you should probably have your way…i guess”. No, these words are said with an expectant desire for God to have HIS will.
This prayer is given with the idea that a God who you truly believe to be Hallowed/Holy, is a God who we want working in the world. A God who not only knows what is good, but will do what is good.
And the reason this part of the prayer is important is because we often come to God in prayer with our own agenda. We have things we want to see done. Now, there is a spot for that, which we will get to in just a bit…but there’s a point when we can take it too far.
And the point of this heart of prayer, is to make sure that we don’t. The point of this heart of prayer is that while we can and should come to the Lord with specific needs…we first need to make sure we desire that HIS will be done above all else, no matter what OUR will would be. The apostle John, who was there when Jesus taught them how to pray, has this to say.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Take it from someone who was there when Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer. Part of praying for the thing we desire and the things we need, is praying according to God’s will.
How do you know God’s will? Through his word, through his spirit, through his church.
How do you have a healthy prayer life? You can’t if aren’t in God’s word, among God’s people, and leaning on God’s spirit. Don’t fool yourself in thinking you can have a healthy prayer life and pray according to God’s will if you intentionally put yourself outside of God’s word, outside of God’s people, and desensitized to God’s spirit.
So that’s the second heart of prayer.
Here’s the third, and we get it from verses 11 and 13…don’t worry, we will get back to verse 12 in a minute. Look at verses 11 and 13.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Our third heart of prayer.
Pray with a dependent heart.
I want to start this point with this question. In these two verses, who is the causal agent of them? Who is the one who is asked to do something, or would be the one taking action?
God. For sure.
In verse 11 he’s the one who would supply the daily bread. In verse 13 he’s the one who would do the delivering and protecting.
So when looking at these two verses…what do they reveal about the heart of the person praying?
That they are dependent upon God. They are dependent on God to not only have his will, to not only be hallowed and made more holy…but they are dependent upon God for both their physical needs (that’s what daily bread is), and they are dependent upon God for their spiritual needs (that’s what being protected and delivered means in verse 13).
So, when you come to pray, the idea is that you would have a dependent heart upon God. That when you seek him in prayer, you would not be doing it in your own strength…that you would not be expecting the answers to the prayer to come because of something you did…but rather that you are dependent upon God being the one who will truly bring provision.
Let me give you an example.
If my six year old wanted something off the counter, and couldn’t reach it, he has the option of asking me. And, if it was according to my will, I could get it for him. Let’s say it’s a cookie. AJ really wants a cookie…if you know him, this is true.
Let’s go through three options.
He wants the cookie and can’t reach it, so he asks me.
Option 1) I hold him up and allow him to grab the cookie himself. In this situation, who is he dependent upon? Me. He’s dependent upon me to do the entire work for him.
Option 2) I tell him yes, he can get it, I hand him the step stool, teach him how to use it, and and gets up and grabs the cookie. In this situation, who is he dependent upon? I would still say…me. Because he’s depending not only upon my will to say yes, but my active working in his life to provides what he needs.
Option 3) AJ asks for the cookie, and without waiting for an answer grabs the step stool, climbs it, get’s the cookie, and shoves it into his mouth before I have the chance to answer. In this situation, who is he dependent upon?
Himself.
In both of the first two options, while I may have handled them differently, AJ was dependent upon me. Even if he ended up doing some of the work himself. But in the third option, he wasn’t dependent upon me at all…in fact, all he was doing was just giving me lip service…honoring me with his lips but not with his actions.
This is what we often do in prayer…we ask God for something, with the full intention that we are going to do it ourselves anyways. Rather, than asking him for something and trusting for a literal miracle, or DEPENDING upon his guidance in accomplishing it.
What I’m saying is, the actions that God chooses to take in accomplishing our prayers shouldn’t matter to us, but the heart we have in asking him should. When you come to God…do you come with a truly dependent heart, ready to hear his answer and seek his will in accomplishing it…whether through divine intervention or divine inspiration? Or are you ready to just do it yourself and say you prayed to him about it. Clearly you can see how this goes as deep as you college major, your relationship choices, your career choices, and so many more things.
Alright, that’s the third heart. The next two hearts will be pretty quick because they are closely related. Look back at verse 12 now as well as 14 and 15.
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The fourth heart of prayer.
Pray with a repentant heart.
In Psalm 24, when David is writing about worship and communing with God he says.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
And in Isaiah 6, Isaiah stands in the throne room of the Lord…and what does he say?
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
What do these two passages show us?
That in order to commune with a Holy God, we need clean hands and pure hearts.
These passages show us that in order to be intimate with God, to stand in his presence, and to approach him, we must be repentant. Because that’s what it means to have clean hands and a pure heart for Christians. That’s what it means to have our sins atoned for as a Christian.
Now you say, but Cody, Christ already atoned for my sins…why do I need to repent if I’m already forgiven?
To that I say. Yes, you’re right. You have already been forgiven. But to that I would also say…repentance is an ongoing posture, not a one time event. And that can clearly be seen by the fact that Jesus is telling his disciples (who already believe in him and have put their faith in him) to repent in prayer. To ask for forgiveness in prayer.
Don’t neglect the act of confession and asking of forgiveness in your prayers to a holy God. Don’t neglect our dependance upon him for salvation by being repentant.
And take it seriously, because ends this teaching on prayer with a reminder to the disciples. That forgiveness is a two way street…and that people who have been forgiven give forgiveness.
And guys, to the extent that you understand the forgiveness that you’ve been given through repentance, is the extent in which you will give forgiveness.
We need to pray with a repentant heart not only because