Prayer…we all need to do it

Tonight’s message is one that has been on my mind for a long time. And after prayer, and seeing the anxiety going on in many people’s lives. Especially even the little group we have here, I believe God led me to this. Especially after going to my Friday morning breakfast with a few brothers, the topic there was about prayer. Why pray, what’s the purpose? How do we pray and what can we expect out of prayer.

Well, let’s turn to the word first.

Matthew 6 5“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.a
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,b
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,c
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.d

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.

To start off, what’s the purpose of prayer? Why are we told by Paul to pray without ceasing? What was Christ always praying, wasn’t he God?

To answer this, let me start off, prayer is not demanding things of God. If you want things, prayer may not be the correct way to get them. Obviously it depends what you’re asking for, but many times prayers are actually selfishly motivated. Which is sad.

I know sometimes, when I have some very strong stress going on, pick your flavor, stressful situations for me wouldn’t be for you and vice versa. But when you’re stressed, you usually pray for that situation to be over.

So, when it comes to the purpose of prayer, first it’s a conversation and communication with God. Just like talking to your parents, friends, family and such. One of the issues I find myself in very often is I make it way too formal. Some of the people in churches are so used to praying in the KJV language, that some people like my dad has no clue what they are saying. With words like Thou, wax, thee and the rest. Nothing wrong with the KJV, it’s a very poetic version and I use that one for my daily reading. But it’s not necessary to talk with God in that language.

Not only is it our communication with God, but it’s also our way to be intimate with him. To have our daily and hopefully multiple times a day, our communion with him. When you’re feeling stress, anxiety, happy, angry or whatever, you bring it to him.

Now, what can we expect from God? That depends on what his will is, and what you’re asking. If you’re asking for a brand new BMW…well, if your income doesn’t support it, and it’s purely for pride, you’re probably going to get unanswered prayers. I do remember, however, Chris Sippley, in Richibucto.

When he lived on the 126 in his father in law’s basement with Paula and the 2 kids, Chris was already a well learned and experienced street preacher, and travelled missionary. Having been overseas a couple of times with a group. He prayed and mentioned that he felt led to do a cross country missionary trip in the USA.

So he asked the church to pray for him, what direction God would lead him in. Lo and behold, someone donated a Dodge Ram, 1500 if I remember correctly, and a tow behind camper. Neither was brand new…but they weren’t falling apart either. There was no money requested for the donation. It was “free”.

So, once Chris got the truck, then while working in carpentry (his studied trade) and with donations coming in from the organization he was a part of, they soon set sail for the USA, and he was there for a good while.

But there was a purpose behind the prayer, he wanted God’s direction, and the tools to follow that direction. He was then very faithful in following it.

I have heard countless times, people short on the rent, needing a car, job, whatever and God answers. Might not be the exact timing you thought was important, but if it’s God’s will, he’s never late, and never early. It might also not be what you wanted, but it’s his will that counts.

Some folks on this channel don’t know our personal history (speaking of Joanne and I). I know Mel knows us a bit more. We have been through many hard challenges, and God has always provided, and comforted us. Even though sometimes he feels a million miles away, we have always been provided with grace and comfort.

Now, when Christ talks to us about prayer here, he doesn’t want us to parade in front of others, for glory and such. That’s how Pharisees did it. They wanted attention, since it was looked at as pious. The outside looked good, but we know what their nature was, sinful.

He’s giving us a pattern on how to pray. And also notice, the prayer is divided in 6 petitions. The first 3 relate expressly to God and his honor, and the last three to our own concerns, both temporal and spiritual.

 First he starts with who we acknowledge. We’re petitioning God the father. The creator of all, as well as his dwelling. Even though we know he is omnipresent, his throne is in heaven. It’s also symbolic as he’s overseeing everything going on.

If he was here on earth, he would (symbolically again) only have a human perspective, and wouldn’t see everything going on.

But since he’s in the heavens, he sees everything, and misses nothing. We are giving him reverence and adoration in his rightful place. Exalted on high.

Then the hallowed be your name. We are not only giving him his rightful place, as far as location, but also recognizing his holiness, and by default, recognizing our failed sinfulness and our very weak attempt at pleasing him.

Then we move to your kingdom, come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are praying for his kingdom. Now, realize something here. For the ones that are saved, are in his kingdom already. So in a sense, it’s not that the kingdom is coming, it’s been here. Christ has already come. And we are praying for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Everything God wills, happens. The hard part is when it’s something we might not have wanted to happen to us personally.

Then the second part of the prayer. This is pointing to our need from God. That we are very much in need of him

Give us this day our daily bread. This is asking God for our daily food. But it’s interesting that it’s not asking for more than just one day’s worth. It’s indicating that we need to go to God on a daily basis for Him. His son, Jesus is the bread of life. And we need him daily, this is why he’s teaching us in this prayer to come to him and crave him.

Then for the debts. This one is very convicting. First, it’s a petition to the throne for forgiveness of our sins against God. Some bible versions call it sins, and others debts. Either way, it’s something that we can’t repay, so the only option is to be forgiven.

And this turns things around on us as well. When it comes to others that offend us. In this prayer, it’s a direct command for us to forgive them. This is a standard that is impossible for us to reach all the time. Often people will say “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget”…well, you haven’t really forgiven then, have you.

The painful part about forgiving others, is that it’s not just a daily thing, but often enough, it’s the same person, you’re forgiving on a daily basis. That’s incredibly hard. Think of husbands and wives, parents and kids…co-workers and the list goes on. We are supposed to forgive continually. This also reinforces going to Christ daily for some grace, love and mercy.

But look at something that’s interesting in both verbs, the forgive for us, but forgiven from us. We are seeking forgiveness. But the way it’s worded from us to our neighbors, is that it’s already a done act. It’s like it’s saying, before you even start to pray, ensure you don’t have malice against someone.

This does make sense. When you pray, if you’re holding a grudge, your prayer is not only ineffective, but you’re also not focused, and everything else is running through your mind.

Joanne will tell you straight up, and I will admit it, I am far from the perfect husband and I need his grace daily.

Then the final part of the text, of not leading us into temptation, but to deliver us from evil.

While God does allow temptations, he’s not the originator of sin. As James 1:13 says. However, he will test us. Look at Abraham and Isaac.

God won’t let you be tempted beyond your ability, and will always provide a way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13.

This is why we pray daily, for deliverance from temptation and evil. I will say that for myself, when I am tempted and fall, I feel guilty, remorse and life doesn’t seem to go on till I confess it and cry out to Christ about it.

This message is an encouragement that God always listens to his children. The sad part is, we often feel ignored. And that he’s not listening. It’s always like we think he’s got bigger things to handle. And we know he has big things to handle. But he also has time for all his children. It’s not like when you asked one of your parents for something, for the 100’d time…and they usually scream at you due to a lack of patience.

However, when it comes to God, he listens. The difficult part is, making the difference between a fleshly desire from which your prayer comes from, to an actual motive of humility and need.

When we pray for our loved ones to be saved, I am 100% convinced that we do it out of love and humility and desperation that God saves them from their sin and hell.

Praying for a better job, maybe God has a mission for you at your job that you don’t yet know about. Working for an Irving division, there are tons of politics involved at my job, and it sucks. But, there are some that after 2.5 yrs, are finally cutting their swearing in front of me. There are even 1 or 2 from time to time that have questions about some events going on around the world.

Never discount what is going on in your life to not pray to God. He knows, he understands and while he might not get rid of your trial, he will help you through it.

Look at Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego…they prayed to God regarding the furnace. God did NOT spare them from the furnace. He did, however, go through the trial with them, and they weren’t hurt.

Look at Christian prisoners of the 2nd world war. Corrie Ten Boom was in a camp, and they praised God every day. No doubt times were beyond tough. But they admitted in their writings that God never left their side. Even though they were tortured and so badly treated, their prayers didn’t go unanswered.