How to Pray
Prayer • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsAs we close each service with intentional prayer time, it is important to understand how to pray. In this message we will look as Jesus teaches us how to pray.
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How to Pray
How to Pray
Last week, we started a new way to end our time together each week. If you was not here, then each week we will finish the message and then after the message move in to an intentional prayer time.
Our desire during this intentional prayer time is that we value prayer and devote some time to prayer. We also desire that we don’t limit what the Holy Spirit desires to do in our lives and in our church. Often times ending the service it appears that we have to rush people to finish praying or counseling so we can “wrap up” the service. We don’t want to limit the Holy Spirit during this time. After hearing the Word of the Lord taught and read, we want to allow the Spirit to move in our lives and not have to say ok we are done here. Our hope is that church does not end. Just because we leave this building does not mean that church is over. We are the church and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you so we want you to leave knowing that you are the church and church does not end.
So thinking about these, I think if we are to do an intentional prayer time then it is important for us to know how to pray.
To know how to pray, Jesus teaches us how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount
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. I assure you: They’ve got 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 idolaters, 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. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]
14 “For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.
15 But if you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.
Matthew 6:5-
Pray
Attitude and place
Don’t be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people.
Pray to be seen = seen by people is the answer to the prayer
When you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in the secret. Your father who is in secret will reward you.
Jesus set the example as often in scripture we see Him going off by himself to pray.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there.
12 During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.
18 While He was praying in private and His disciples were with Him, He asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
23 After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.
Matthew 14:
Jesus is not teaching that you should never pray together and that you only can pray by yourself.
Matthew
19 Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.”
James 5:
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
Jesus is addressing the reason that you pray. If you pray so that you can be noticed that you are praying, then that is your reward.
Why do you pray?
How to pray?
7 When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, 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.
Matthew 6:
The idolaters did not pray with a sincere heart. They were perhaps showing that they could repeat “important prayers” and they were showing everyone their knowledge. These prayers were not sincere.
Jesus is not saying that you should never repeat your prayers.
We see Jesus repeating his prayers in the garden
Matthew 26:36-
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
37 Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
38 Then He said to them, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow —to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with Me.”
39 Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, “So, couldn’t you stay awake with Me one hour?
41 Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
43 And He came again and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open.
44 After leaving them, He went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the time is near. The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
46 Get up; let’s go! See, My betrayer is near.”
If you just simply repeat the Lord’s prayer over and over this is babbling like the idolaters
Christian shop in Bethlehem. (Story)
Warren Wiersby says,
My friend Dr. Robert A. Cook has often said, “All of us have one routine prayer in our system; and once we get rid of it, then we can really start to pray!” I have noticed this, not only in my own praying, but often when I have conducted prayer meetings. With some people, praying is like putting the needle on a phonograph record and then forgetting about it. But God does not answer insincere prayers.
My friend Dr. Robert A. Cook has often said, “All of us have one routine prayer in our system; and once we get rid of it, then we can really start to pray!” I have noticed this, not only in my own praying, but often when I have conducted prayer meetings. With some people, praying is like putting the needle on a phonograph record and then forgetting about it. But God does not answer insincere prayers.
My friend Dr. Robert A. Cook has often said, “All of us have one routine prayer in our system; and once we get rid of it, then we can really start to pray!” I have noticed this, not only in my own praying, but often when I have conducted prayer meetings. With some people, praying is like putting the needle on a phonograph record and then forgetting about it. But God does not answer insincere prayers.
8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 26). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
He knows what we need before you ask Him
3 This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent —Jesus Christ.
It is a personal relationship of intimacy which is continuous and dynamic. The word know (ginōskōsin) here in the present tense, is often used in the Septuagint and sometimes in the Greek New Testament to describe the intimacy of a sexual relationship (e.g., Gen 4:1, “lay”; Matt. 1:25, “had … union”). Thus a person who knows God has an intimate personal relationship with Him.
Prayer is intimacy in knowing the Father and not just the ability to repeat words
9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy.
Matthew 6:
This is a pattern to be followed and not something that we memorize and just recite over and over.
It is worth noting that there are no singular pronouns in this prayer; they are all plural. It begins with “OUR Father.” When we pray, we must remember that we are part of God’s worldwide family of believers. We have no right to ask for ourselves anything that would harm another member of the family. If we are praying in the will of God, the answer will be a blessing to all of God’s people in one way or another.
It is worth noting that there are no singular pronouns in this prayer; they are all plural. It begins with “OUR Father.” When we pray, we must remember that we are part of God’s worldwide family of believers. We have no right to ask for ourselves anything that would harm another member of the family. If we are praying in the will of God, the answer will be a blessing to all of God’s people in one way or another.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 26). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Worship and reverence in Prayer
Our Father
Your name be honored as holy
Reverence for the name of God
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God will fulfill all His covenant promises to His people
That God’s will be accomplished on earth as it is in Heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
Matthew 6:
Prayer that our daily needs would be met
The word daily here means sufficient for today.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
It is right for us to pray for forgiveness
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.
1 Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.
2 Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge.
5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
6 Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
9 Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt.
10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach the rebellious Your ways, and sinners will return to You.
14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; You are not pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.
18 In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Davidic. A Maskil.
1 How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!
2 How joyful is the man the Lord does not charge with sin and in whose spirit is no deceit!
3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You took away the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel.
9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding, that must be controlled with bit and bridle or else it will not come near you.
10 Many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Psalm
13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]
Matthew 6:
We realize our Spiritual weakness as we pray and ask God to deliver us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.
15 But if you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.
Matthew 6:14-
Forgiveness
4 His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
5 Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought: Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts. This was Job’s regular practice.
Job 1:4
20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,
21 saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of Yahweh.
22 Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.
Job 1:20-