Prayer

We’re going to take a look today at what has to be one of the key elements of a flourishing Christian’s life. We’re going to look at prayer. I’m going to present to you some ideas about prayer that I hope will prove helpful to you. These are based on the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Matthew 6:9-13

We can learn a great deal from this prayer.

Let’s start with this. Don’t let prayer become some religious thing that you’re supposed to do. That can happen to any of us. And Satan would love nothing more. It happens when prayer becomes a duty. But that’s not what prayer is. Prayer is your half of a conversation with your Father. I realize that there are way too many people, these days, who have never had a good conversation with their human father. They’ve never really connected. But that needn’t be the case when it comes to how we Christians enjoy our divine Father. Isn’t that why Jesus has us start that prayer with, ‘Our Father who art in heaven’? Prayer is talking to your Dad. And seeing it that way makes a big difference. So, instead of something that you have to do, prayer is something that you get to do.

There is one particular aspect of God being my Father that has been especially helpful for me as I deal with life. Since He’s my Dad, He cares. Believing that has been so good for my soul. The Spirit used this exhortation from Peter to get me to see it.

… cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5.7

I have found that such a great encouragement. What are you to tell yourself when it does not seem like your Father is doing anything in your life? You remind yourself that whatever else is happening - or not happening - He still cares. That never changes. A very helpful fact.

Next thought. Prayer is an act of faith. So, on the one hand, that means that you pray to your Father because you trust Him. You ask for daily bread because you actually think that He will provide for each day’s needs. You pray that He deliver you from evil because you expect that He will. That’s one side of praying in faith. On the other hand, it means that you don’t give Him your wishlist, expecting Him to do all the things that you’ve included there. I say that because of the nature of faith. Faith is responding to God, responding to what He has promised. What that means is that He sets the agenda for your prayers.

There is much confusion on this. So, let me clarify. Listen to something Jesus said that is often misunderstood.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11.24

So, some Christian has his eye on a job. So, he prays, ‘Father, please give me that job’. Now, he is sure that he has prayed believing that he will get the job. He can just feel it. So, in light of his understanding of what Jesus said, he is convinced the job is his.

However, did the Father promise him that job? No. A closer look at that Christian’s prayer shows that it’s not a prayer of faith. It’s not responding to what the Father has actually promised. It’s not what Jesus was talking about.

There are plenty of things that the Father has promised. So, our friend can pray, ‘Father, I don’t have a job. But I do have a family to care for. You have told us to pray for our needs, to ask for our daily bread. So, I’m asking. And I know that You will provide. I know that because in the Scriptures You have promised,

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4.19

I believe You, Father. You will provide for us. I’m thinking that my getting a job would be good way to meet our needs. There’s an opening that I saw that looks good. What do You think about giving that job to me? But whether I get this job or not, I know that You will provide. You promised to provide.’ That’s a prayer of faith, believing what God has said, what He has promised. Our friend can be quite confident that the Father will meet the needs of his family. It might be by getting that job or it might be by some other means. In either case, he can have peace. We’ll come back to our jobless friend in a bit.

Next point. What is it that we are to desire, first and foremost, when we pray for something? The ultimate goal of our prayers is that our Father would look as good as He actually is. The goal is His glory. Have you noticed that the first part of the Lord’s Prayer is all about the Father? It’s about honoring His name, the arrival of His kingdom and obedience to His commands. And then, how does this prayer end? ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ The prayer starts and ends by highlighting the glory of the Father. Doing that is the ultimate goal of our prayers.

Our culture is caught up with the pursuit of its own comfort, its own ease. And that has affected us. It has affected all sorts of things, like how we spend our money and how we spend our time. It also affects our prayers. So, we need to be careful. When we ask for something, whether it’s a job or anything else, our ultimate goal should be the Father’s glory.

So, back to our jobless Christian. What if the Father would get more glory by our friend not getting a job for a while but being provided for by some other means? Maybe the Father wants him to stay unemployed for a while so that his church wakes up, sees his need and learns how to act like a church by taking care of his family, something that will make the Father look good. Maybe the Father wants him to stay unemployed for a while so that he learns what it means to depend on other people, and in this way deal with his pride, again, something that will make the Father look good.

This is one of those times when our jobless friend needs to cling to that important fact: his Father cares. He cares and will supply every need, including some need of personal growth - like dealing with pride - that our friend was unaware of. In having his needs met in this unexpected way, the glory of the Father is revealed to a greater extent. As a result of seeing this happen, our friend can say with the psalmist, ‘It was good that I was afflicted’.

The next point has to do with Zechariah and Elizabeth, parents of John the Baptist.  Let me remind you what Luke wrote about them.

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Luke 1.5-7

Luke also reports what the angel said to Zechariah.

Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. Luke 1.13

What does this have to do with prayer? Having your prayers answered is tied to whether you are righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Failure to live like Zechariah and Elizabeth will affect a person’s prayers. The Father may occasionally grant that person’s request, but it will be an act of His tremendous kindness to someone who is failing to obey, maybe even refusing to obey.

Bear in mind what I’ve told you before about this. Zechariah and Elizabeth were not perfect people. Not even close. But the language of being righteous and walking blamelessly is about working at obedience, and confessing and repenting when you blow it. You’ll note that Jesus included a petition about asking for forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer. That’s part of walking blamelessly.

Let me tell you what I’m reacting to. Too many think, ‘I get to tell God what I want, and He gets to give it to me.’ And they think that regardless of how they are living. How many people are angry at God because He didn’t show up with what they demanded of Him? Sadly, there are even Christians who think like that.

So, to say it differently, the Father granting our requests is tied to our being faithful to our covenant obligations. It’s not that we have to be perfect before our Father will hear our prayers. But we do have to be working at the obedience of faith. That does require work. And part of that work is confession and repentance, asking for forgiveness, when the Spirit points out some sin. When a Christian works at walking blamelessly, His Father will notice and will do some pretty amazing things in his life in response to his prayers. Working at the obedience of faith is a critical aspect of a powerful prayer life.

There’s something else to be gained by considering Zechariah and Elizabeth, God’s timing. Their prayer for a child was granted. But notice when. Luke tells us that they were both old. Now, I’m going to guess that they didn’t start praying about a child a week or two before the angel showed up. I’m going to guess that this had been a prayer of theirs for decades, from early in their marriage. Sometimes you do everything right, walking blamelessly and all the rest, but your request seems to be denied. This is another time when you remind yourself, ‘He cares’. But you also remind yourself that the important thing here is not your comfort, like removing the shame of being childless. The important thing here is for the Father to be glorified. And God dramatically giving a baby to a couple who should by no means be able to have one, certainly glorifies Him. Remember this when it seems that the Father is not responding to your prayers.

Let’s talk about the prayer for help. It’s fairly common to hear people pray something like, ‘Father, please help me to ...’ then fill in the blank. Now, is that okay? It all depends. It’s too easy, especially in our culture, to have a prayer like that mean, ‘Father, I can take care of most of this situation, but there’s that little bit where I could use a little assist.’ Really? Think about praying for daily bread. What does it say about us if we need to pray for basic needs like food to eat? We need more than just a little help. Jesus said,

Apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15.5

‘Can do nothing’ is not the same as, ‘I just need a little assist’. Our prayers need to be rooted in reality. Apart from the kind blessings of the Father, our situation is hopeless. Let’s pray that way. He is more than willing to do all that is necessary for us to flourish. Remember, He cares. But He does not help the proud. No,

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James 4.6

Last point. Here I want to talk about how to structure your prayer times. According to what I was told, the ideal was to get up early in the morning to spend a good chunk of time studying your Bible and then to spend some more time praying. I heard about the examples of past Christians who got up at some awful time early in the morning to read and pray for hours. That was the kind of goal to shoot for. Or so I was told.

Here’s a question to pose. What does the Bible teach about this? Does the Bible say that you need to follow that model? If you think about it, the Bible actually says very little about how to structure your prayer life. But it does give some principles that you are to apply to your situation. Here are two.

First, aim for quality not quantity. Did you notice how short the Lord’s Prayer is? As you read the prayers of the saints recorded in the Bible, one thing comes through. Their prayers were an expression of a close relationship with the Father. Here, once again, I point you to the Psalms so many of which are prayers. So, if I can say it this way, don’t pray to God. Pray to your Father. Discuss life with your Dad. He cares. Believing that will show in the quality of your prayers.

A second principle comes from a very familiar verse.

… pray without ceasing… 1 Thessalonians 5.17

That idea will become a burden if you don’t connect it to the fact that you are having a conversation with your Dad. Consider this. What if the Father were standing right there next to you - all the time? That would be an opportunity to include Him in whatever is going on with you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you could discuss the situation with Him. You could ask Him to meet some need that just popped up - and to make sure that you would trust Him to do exactly that. You could share the beauty of a moment with Him which makes so much sense since He is the creator of those moments. You could do so much with Him if He were standing next to you all the time. Is He? Actually, it’s better than that. He is within you by the Spirit. Enjoying this kind of relationship is what Paul was getting at by that verse. By your constant prayers, you constantly get to enjoy your Father.

Let me close with this. One of my goals for this sermon is to help you to pray with great confidence. John wrote,

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5.14-15

I think that I’ve given you enough in this sermon so that you can figure out what John is talking about and, as a result, be so very confident in your prayers.