Some Tips for Proper Praying

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Transcript:

Well, if you’ll turn with me to Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter 11, where we were this morning. And this morning, I started to talk to you about, when I’m really honest with myself, what I see as my biggest weakness in ministry and in my Christian life in general. And I know I probably have a lot of weaknesses, and some of you would be more than happy to share those with me. You can do so later.

But I think the biggest one is in the area of prayer. I believe that’s the area where I need the greatest improvement. And I really do feel like the disciples in Luke 11, 1, who were watching Jesus pray and seeing this communion that he had with God the Father, and desiring that so much and realizing I’m so much lacking in that area, that as soon as there’s an opening, I’m asking Jesus, Lord, teach me to pray.

We talked about that verse, verse 1 this morning. Tonight, I’d like to look over the three verses that follow after that. But just for some context, we’ll read the entire four verses tonight.

It says, And it came to pass that as he, that’s Jesus, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he seized one of his disciples, said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And I shared with you this morning also that this is similar to another place in Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus gives a sort of model prayer for his disciples.

It’s very similar, and it leads me to wonder whether Jesus taught them on prayer more than once using this model prayer, or whether Luke just didn’t record the whole thing, that would not be a contradiction, because there’s nothing contradictory. If Matthew said, give us this day our daily bread, and Luke said, do not give us this day our daily bread, that would be a contradiction. But what we see here is just a difference in the details that were copied, as we see throughout all the four Gospels.

And so I don’t know whether this is just two different people’s take on the same teaching, or if it’s two instances of the same teaching, or I’m sorry, two instances of two different times of teaching. But the point is they’re just a little bit different. And Luke’s account here is important because it immediately follows after their request, to Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray, but it’s also not as detailed.

And some have asked me this evening what the difference would be. And I think even some of you this morning and tonight as we were reading it realized it didn’t sound like what we’re familiar with. The passage in Matthew says, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Very similar, but Matthew goes into a little more detail.

And I would like to, since Jesus put, obviously, such emphasis on this as a model prayer, Now, that doesn’t mean that we’re to take it and all of our prayers are to repeat this. I’ve heard of churches, I couldn’t name any off the top of my head for you, but I’ve heard of churches where their corporate prayer together is just nothing more than a repeating of this model prayer. I don’t believe that’s how Jesus intended it to be used, because you see, when Jesus gave this as a model prayer, it gave some ideas of things, how we’re to pray.

but you see in other instances where Jesus’ prayers are recorded, he doesn’t follow this exact wording. And if that were the case, if this was given to us, that we’re just supposed to memorize this and repeat it, first of all, he wouldn’t say what he said about avoiding vain repetitions, but we would also see Jesus praying this time after time. But it’s given as a model for us to know the kinds of things to pray for.

And so what we’ll do over the next few weeks is spend time in Matthew’s assessment of this prayer, going through piece by piece and learning what exactly is it that Jesus is telling us to pray for. What exactly is it that this part of the prayer teaches us about how we’re supposed to pray. What we’re going to look at tonight from this more abridged forum is just some overall general tips for proper prayer, for proper praying.

Some overall ideas, things that we need to keep in mind, just as we need to keep in mind the things that we talked about this morning about asking the Lord to make us better prayers. As we approach this subject of prayer, in the right sense of humility, of coming to the Lord and realizing there’s something lacking and asking him to meet the need of what’s lacking in our prayer life, there are also some things in the prayer that we can look at and say, in general, these are things that we need to keep in mind. So he says again, when you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.

I think this will be a very, well, I almost told you this would be a brief message tonight, but every time I say that, it ends up not being so. I’ll just let all of us be surprised whether it is or whether it isn’t. But when he starts out telling them, when you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

It reminds me that the focus of our prayer is on God and is done with an understanding of his nature. The focus of our prayer, the focus of our prayer is God and his nature. Folks, as we talked about this morning, when we pray, we need to understand that we are not just coming to God as someone we bring our grocery list of prayers to and ask Him, just fill the list, give me what I want, and I’ll move on down the road.

The world looks at God as though He’s a genie. We rub His lamp and He’ll grant us all the requests we desire. Or they look at God as though he’s a Santa Claus type figure.

Folks, God does delight in meeting the needs of his children, but God is not Santa Claus and God is not a genie. God is not a being that is kept in a box at the edge of our lives until we decide he’s needed and then we take him out of the box and use him for our purposes and put him back. If that’s your God, I don’t want any part of it.

And I say that knowing full well that nobody in here desires to worship that kind of God. We understand who God is from the Bible, even if sometimes we live like he’s an entity that we keep in a little box over here. We know who the God of the Bible is, but the world, if it acknowledges God at all, treats God as though he’s an option.

He’s an add-on to life that we bring out whenever it suits our purposes. But Jesus reminds his disciples here, when they pray, he says, begin. At the very beginning of this, he says, say our Father, which art in heaven.

And it’s a reminder to them, and it’s a reminder to us. Now, we don’t have to start out every prayer with the literal words, our Father who is in heaven. But it is a reminder to us as we read this passage, as it was a reminder to them that when we pray, we are not just addressing Santa Claus.

We’re not just addressing a genie. We’re not just making requests on some kind of divine comment card. We are approaching the throne of the very God who made us.

Are you all awake tonight? We’re approaching the very throne of the God who made us. And as I said this morning, While the Bible tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace and we have access to God through Jesus Christ, I don’t believe that going boldly before the throne of grace means we march into the place like we own it.

No, we’re able to come boldly before God because of what Jesus Christ has done. But that doesn’t mean that God is any less in relation to us. It doesn’t mean that suddenly we’ve moved up to equality or even superiority to God and that He works for us now.

When we go to God in prayer, we need to be reminded that He is our Father. and inherent in that word Father, Him being God the Father, is that He is the creator of the universe. Folks, He didn’t just create us.

He created the universe. He is the being that is so powerful, so powerful, ladies and gentlemen, that by His very word, the universe leapt into existence. He did not have to, He didn’t have to go to Lowe’s and buy the supplies to build the world.

He just said it and it was there. The more I study into it and the more I look at what evidence there is, I’m convinced, I’m convinced of the truth of the Genesis account of creation that God spoke the universe into existence, that God created us. Imagine the most powerful leader on the face of the earth, whoever that might be, whether it’s the president of the United States or the Queen of England or whoever it might be.

But imagine that person and whether you agreed with everything they did or not, we would not walk into their office or to their throne room or wherever it is and start making demands of them as though they owed us anything, as though they worked for us. I heard somebody say one time, and I think there’s a lot of wisdom in it, you never antagonize a man who can answer the question, you and what army? Well, folks, if we wouldn’t go in and start making demands of the president, if we wouldn’t go in and start making demands of the Queen of England, if we wouldn’t go in and start making demands of any of the powerful people that sort of run things in our world, how much more sense does it make to go in making demands before the God of the universe?

The one who set the laws in motion not only to create us, but to create the atoms and to create the electrons and all the bonds and the rules and the laws of the way they work together to create us. Folks, the entire physical universe bends to his will. He’s responsible not only for our existence, but for our sustained existence.

Folks, he sits in heaven and God is not just some watchmaker that he wound up the world. That’s the deist idea that was popular around the time of the founding fathers and has become popular again recently, that God is just like a cosmic watchmaker. He made the universe, he wound it up, and then he just sits back and watches it.

Folks, that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible sits enthroned in heaven as our Father, and he is intimately involved in the affairs of mankind. Now, I’m not saying he decrees everything that comes to pass.

I don’t understand and will never understand completely the sovereignty of God, but I believe it’s completely compatible with the biblical idea of free will. And yet he’s there, and he’s involved, and he’s working. And folks, I know that he is responsible for every beat of my heart and every breath that I take and yours as well.

And I realize that if God willed it, it would take nothing more than the will of God for my heartbeat to be snuffed out in the next few moments. Our Father who is in heaven. Folks, we need to be reminded.

We need to focus on God and who he is when we pray. And we need to be reminded that he’s not just there to meet our needs. Folks, God was there before we and our needs ever existed.

We exist for him, not the other way around. And we’re going before the sovereign king of the universe. And it says that they’re to say, Hallowed be thy name.

We don’t use that word hallowed so much anymore, but it means holy. It means sanctified. Folks, God is an entity.

God is a being that is so holy that even his name deserves the utmost respect. I can’t imagine that. I think I’m a fairly good person, or I try to be, but you can take my name in vain all you want and it’s not going to cause you too many problems. Folks, even his name is to be treated in respect.

You hear in movies, they’ll talk about, and I don’t know exactly who they talk about, because I don’t get into science fiction or whatever it is, but you hear people talk about the one whose name dare not be mentioned, things like that. And there were kings in ancient times whose names were mentioned in hushed tones, conquerors whose names were mentioned in hushed tones with a sense of dread. Folks, our God is so holy and so sovereign and so mighty that even his name is deserving respect.

And when we come before him in prayer, we do well to focus on him and who he is. Second of all this evening, our motivation in prayer. Our focus in prayer should be on God and His nature.

Folks, our motivation in prayer should be for God’s will and God’s glory. For God’s will and for God’s glory. He says after He finishes saying, Hallowed be thy name.

He says, Thy kingdom come. That’s very easy to make a difference there and say, My kingdom come. Folks, they were not told, pray, my kingdom come.

And I’m embarrassed how many times I go to God with my list of expectations. And we’ll get into it in a minute. There’s nothing wrong with praying for things for yourself.

That’s not where I’m going with this at all. But how many times do I come to God with the motivation being my expectations and what I want to see happen and what’s in my interest? But folks, they were taught and we are taught by extension, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven so in earth.

There is no doubt in my mind. There is no doubt in my mind that today when God decrees something in heaven, the angels snap to attention. And what we’re to pray is that God’s will would be done on earth just the way it’s done in heaven, that his kingdom would come.

Now, that’s not a prayer of what theologians call the post-millennialists that say we can build a utopian kingdom of God here on earth and then Jesus will come back. Folks, I don’t see that in the Bible, that somehow we can make the kingdom happen and make Jesus come back because we can make things perfect here on earth. Folks, we live in a fallen, sinful world.

But as much as is possible in this fallen, sinful world, the motivation of our prayer should be those things that bring glory to God and fulfill His will. We ought to pray for things in accordance to His will. Now, if you’re like me, you don’t always know what God’s will is to pray for.

When somebody’s sick, say somebody’s got cancer for the second time and they’re suffering and you don’t know whether God wants to heal them or God wants to take them on out of their suffering, I have a lot of trouble with that sometimes. No one wants to pray. And sometimes the only thing I can pray is Your will be done.

And I can pray, God, if I had my way, here’s what I’d like to see happen, but nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. But there are also things that we know for certain are God’s will, that we know are God’s desire. There are several things that the Bible talks about God’s will being for us.

One being, the Bible says that God is merciful and not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If we want to pray God’s will be done, we need to pray for people that we know that they will come to a saving knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ. The Bible talks about this is the will of God for you, even your sanctification. You want to know what God’s will is that we ought to pray for ourselves?

We need to pray that God will make us every day more like Jesus Christ. If we’re praying for salvation and spiritual growth, see how that worked there? We just came out of the series on discipleship, and there it is again. If we’re praying for salvation and spiritual growth for ourselves and those around us, we cannot go wrong because I believe it’s the will of God that all people should be saved and that all people should come to spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ. Now, that doesn’t mean that everybody will, because, again, unfortunately, we have that pesky free will.

But I’ve said it time and time again, as much time as we spend talking to people about God, and I think we should, we need to spend just as much time talking to God about people. And there are things that the Bible talks about, not just salvation and sanctification, but there are things that the Bible talks about being the will of God. And, folks, we need to pray for the things that bring God the most glory, And we need to pray for the things that are in accordance with his will.

And if we don’t know what those things are, folks, it’s okay. God understands we’re not omniscient. He didn’t create us to be omniscient.

And it’s okay to say, I don’t know what to pray here, but I pray that whatever’s done brings you glory. And I pray that your will is done. He says here, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Folks, proper praying is motivated by God’s will and God’s glory. Again, that’s not to say that we can’t bring our requests to God. There are things that we need, and it is perfectly all right to ask God for things.

but when we pray are we motivated out of a desire for for god’s will are we driven by excuse me are we motivated by a desire for our will third of all tonight finally tonight proper praying seeks to have our genuine needs met especially spiritual ones so we have that prayer should have a focus on god and his nature prayer should have a a motivation of god’s glory and god’s will and prayer should have a petition to have our genuine needs met. Prayer should have a petition for what’s good for us. There are things that I have prayed for that sound silly to me now.

Not that they were wrong, but they sound silly. Maybe it’s that I’ve grown cynical, and they might sound silly to you, but they were legitimate needs at the time. And they were things that if somebody hadn’t talked to me about prayer, I wouldn’t have at the time thought to pray for them.

When I was in college, My car was just about on its last legs. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m in college, not making a whole lot of money.

I’m a substitute teacher. What am I going to do? And somebody said, pray about it.

Pray for a car? Well, if it’s a legitimate need. I mean, it’s not like I’m asking God for a Ferrari or whatever the fancy cars are nowadays.

I’m not a car guy either. I like to fix them, but once you get past what’s under the hood, I don’t care so much. But whatever the fancy cars are nowadays, I wasn’t praying for God, give me a million-dollar car.

But I just started praying, God, this is a need. And how many times do we think, okay, I’ve got to figure this out myself instead of praying and asking God to work in a situation for what’s good for us. Now, this is different from asking God to do our will and do our bidding, but to humbly come to God and say, you know better than I do, but I have this need.

Because the Bible tells us that God will meet our needs. God will supply all of our needs through his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. We have to be careful, though, to make the distinction there between the needs and the wants.

If I had gone to God and said, God, I sure would like to have a nice pickup truck, whatever the big ones are that are kind of a status symbol back home, with the two sets of tires in the back, God, I sure would like to have one of those. See, I don’t even know what they’re called. 150 or, I don’t, anyway.

I sure would like to have one of those and shiny and maybe yellow. God, I’d like to have, I like yellow, don’t laugh at me. God, I sure would like to have one of those.

yeah, I know it’s thousands of dollars, but I sure would like to have one of those. Folks, at that point, I start praying for my will. Instead, I said, God, I need a car to get around to get to and from school and work, and I was preaching out of town a lot, and you know what?

Christian laughs at it to this day and calls it a grandma car, but God gave me a 12-year-old Oldsmobile with 24,000 miles on it for under Blue Book, and God blessed me so much giving me that because I prayed for it, And I’m amazed at the number of needs I have on a daily basis that I think I’ve got to figure out how this is going to get paid. I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to get here. I’m going to figure out who’s going to do this.

And I worry myself sick trying to take care of all the needs in my life when I have a heavenly Father who has said, ask me. God does not promise to grant all of our wishes, but God has promised to meet our needs. And that’s why Jesus tells them in verses 3 and 4, give us this day our daily bread.

This is not a demand to God to grant every wish they have, but it’s a petition asking the God of the universe, please give us the nourishment sufficient for today. Give us what it is we need today. They’re not praying for a bread factory here.

They’re not praying for a whole field of wheat, saying, Lord, could we have enough bread for today? And forgive us our sins. Folks, if we have any need, it’s that our sins be forgiven.

If we have any great need as humanity, it’s that our sins be forgiven. You know what? I could have all the bread I need every day and live to be 120 years old and still die and go to hell if my sins are not forgiven.

Or if my sins are forgiven, I could live to age 120 and die and go to heaven. But you know what? Even if I didn’t have the daily bread, I could still have my sins forgiven and die tomorrow and go to heaven.

Now, I believe I’d miss out on some things here. But at the same time, really the ultimate need, the need that matters in eternity is to have our sins forgiven. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.

And he says, and lead us not into temptation. I hear people joke all the time about praying, Lord, lead us not into temptation because we can find it on our own just fine. You know what?

That’s exactly right. We can find it on our own just fine. And the idea here is not that God does lead us into temptation, but by saying lead us not into temptation, Lord, lead me out of temptation and deliver us from evil.

Folks, there are genuine needs that we have. There are physical needs that we can pray to God and ask him for. Now, we need to be very careful because what really are our wants can easily look like needs to us when we’re in the middle of it.

And we can pray and pray, and maybe God has no intention of granting that particular wish. We say, but God, I needed that, and I prayed for it. Well, we didn’t really need it.

But folks, we have physical needs, and we have the assurance from God’s word that if we pray for our physical needs, we have a heavenly Father who delights in caring for His children. We have physical needs. We have spiritual needs, forgiveness of sins, the primary spiritual need.

And you know what? He’s made the provision of that for us as well. And salvation is ours for the asking.

And there’s the genuine need of protection spiritually. Folks, this world is full of temptation. This world is full of wickedness.

This world is full of everything imaginable that we could get into if we wander away from God and that will draw us away from God if we’re not careful. And you know what? We have a heavenly Father who we can run to in times of temptation and say, get me out of here.

We have a heavenly father, folks, that desires our good. And when I started in the beginning of this, talking about the beginning of this prayer, and said we really need to focus on God, we need to focus on his nature, who he is, who he really is, not just who we think he is. Focus on his glory and his will.

All that is not to say that we cannot ask God this. But folks, when we focus on God’s will, when we focus on who God is, when we come into prayer with the right kind of attitude, with the right kind of mindset, and then begin to pray for things for ourselves, we’re going to be praying for the right kinds of things for ourselves.