Reflection In Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Amen everyone. So, last week we talked about Foundations in Prayer. Foundations in Prayer. Foundations in prayer coming from Matthew 6:5-8 talks about the importance of maintaining the proper attitude when you engage in prayer. The need for privacy when engaging in prayer. And finally, the need to watch your words whenever you pray to maintain both the power and integrity of your words while in prayer. If you have not had the opportunity to hear that I encourage you to throughout your week watch that video and hear the Word of the Lord. It is available on Facebook on my professional Facebook page: RogerTCooperNC. It will also be available on my YouTube Channel, the link for which I will include in the comments for this video. On that channel you can watch most every sermon I have ever preached… including this series on Prayer all for Free.99.
So please support our tape ministry if you have any questions you can see the Deacon in the back and if you need prayer the lines are ringing off the hook so just call us and someone will pray with you. Amen. It may seem funny… but for some reason I feel like I am prophesying but I’m gonna let that alone. I want to spend a few moment talking about the economy before I begin...
That said, this week I want to stay in the same vein as last week, as I said, we will be here for the next 3 weeks. We are talking about prayer… we are talking about Our Father In Heaven. Our Father in Heaven. Lets go to the Word.
Read: Matthew 6:9-10
Read: Matthew 6:9-10
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Prayer
Prayer
Give Subject: Reflections In Prayer
Give Subject: Reflections In Prayer
Introduction
Introduction
When I read this passage, I cannot help but to think of a story about a teacher who wanted to prepare her students for the final exam at the end of the year. To prepare the students, the teacher created a practice exam that the students could use to prepare themselves for the test because she was worried about some of the students and wanted to help them each earn the best grade she could.
The teacher came into class one day as the final exam was approaching and took a poll of the students to find out how many had attempted the practice exam and what questions they may have had that she could go over in a review. Most of the students raised their hand as an indication they had attempted the practice exam but some kept their hands down, indicating that everyone in the class had not taken the exam seriously up to that point. But almost all of the students raised their hands with questions they had about the exam and rather than answer each question, the teacher decided to review the entire practice exam with the class.
So the teacher begins to conduct her review of the testing materials. And when she does so she works through each problem. Every time she works through a problem she encourages the students, to do exactly as she is doing to yield similar results. So, the day of the test finally arrives and after she grades the tests and plugs in the results she passes them back in the next class. And it appeared her labor was not in vain as only ONE STUDENT managed to fail the test. The student walked up to the teacher after class and inquired as to why he had failed the test. The teacher went through and explained how each one of his questions were answered incorrectly and he simply says but I did exactly what you did… and at that moment, the teacher realized he had copied each of her answer choices from the questions onto his test.
After a moment the teacher inhales and exhales, at which point she explained to him that when she told the class to do what she was doing she was referring to the WORK necessary to get the answer but he was only prepared to get the ANSWER.
I use this story as an illustration because many of us want God to give us the blessings in our lives but we do not want to do the work necessary to get to the blessing.
You want money but you do not do your job.
You want to preach but you do not study.
You want to sing but you do not practice.
You want to pastor but you do not want to serve.
You want to lead but you do not want to follow.
You want the ANSWER WITHOUT THE WORK.
We live in a Church and time now where people feel like they have earned the right to a title, they have earned the right to a job, they have earned the right to a church, they have earned the right to a job… but Jesus did not die on the cross so you could earn salvation.
But he died on the cross to give you salvation...
He died because despite what you may think about yourself you cannot earn your way to the cross.
You cannot buy your want into heaven.
You cannot sing your way to the throne.
You cannot preach your way through the gates.
But we have raised up people that think because they preach, because they sing, because they pray that they are going to make it to Heaven…
But I am here to tell you that Salvation is not about you modulating… salvation is not about how many growls you can do.
But salvation is a matter of the spirit… Is your spirit submitted. Is your spirit subject. Have you given YOURSELF over to God.
And so, Christ exemplifies to us what we should do not just in our prayer life but even in our daily walk with him… in our preaching… in our parenting… in our pastoring… and many of us look at his lessons and we get the wrong thing out of the lesson.
I’m not after anybody in the Church here today but I can tell you from experience that I have been outside of the four walls of the Church and watched people pray and their prayer does not line up with the example Jesus laid out in this prayer.
For that matter, I have been inside of the Church and observed people when they pray not follow Jesus’ example.
So I want to use our time today and next week to primarily deal with the structure in prayer and as I do so, I want us to be reflective in our own lives and be honest with ourselves about our prayer lives.
Matthew 6:9-10
Matthew 6:9-10
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
This verse is rather simple but is also profound in the life of the believer.
Here we see that Jesus is giving his famous Sermon on the Mount.
He talks about a number of topics, and this particular section of the sermon is on prayer.
Now, the Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.... No man shall come to the father but by him.
Lets make it plain… we cannot come to the Father but by him… that means your prayers, your salvation, your needs.... all of it comes by him
By this scripture we can then say that Christ is the road which gives us passage from Sin to the Father and he is telling you the way.
It is the equivalent of the road you drive on speaking to you and telling you when you should turn
It is one thing for the GPS to tell you because sure it has an eye above and knows what the road is supposed to do but only the road can tell you the state of its condition.
If a road has a pothole it lets you know
If the road is wet, it will let you know
If the road is hot, it will let you know
If a road is old, it will let you know
If a road is smooth, it will let you know
And here in this scripture we see the road is not only making the path straight for us, and preparing a place for us (as scripture tells us)… But indeed the road is telling us how we can go about navigating it.
Yet, despite Jesus providing clear instructions to us here in Matthew 6, many of us make the choice to ignore it and go about prayer in our own way thinking that if we go about it ourselves it can get more glory because we came up with it.
But, the answer is clear… Jesus has provided us a clear blueprint to your prayer life.
Then he begins the prayer… but he does so in a way that the Jewish people had never done before.
He addresses God as Father… Not as Elohim, Jehovah, not God, not Allah (arabic word for God), but he instead personalizes his relationship with God and instead calls him Father.
You see up until this point the Jewish people had looked to Abraham as their Father, as well they should, and in some ways we should as well for we are indeed heir to the promises of Abraham by virtue of our salvation.
But, then Christ refers to God as Father and it marks a significant change in our relationship with God. Lets look at Romans 8:14-15
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
14 The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
15 And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!”
You see up until this point many had called him our Heavenly Father, which does not have the same feeling because it deifies him and takes away the loving nature of the relationship. Its a lot like calling someone a step-parent, it may be true but if they have been a mother to you or a father to you it can reduce the meaning and value of the relationship to relegate someone to being a step-parent.
But indeed we see Christ does not in fact just call him father but he gives us the liberty and extends the branch of family to us that we may indeed call him Father too.
Even Moses said in so many words to the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy has he not been like a father to each of us to bring us out and establish us?
6 Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee?
And so Moses says has he not FATHERED you… has he not been LIKE A FATHER to you having bore you out of Egypt and provided for you and established you.
And yet, to be like a father implies that you do not view someone as truly having been your father… but you instead say that they have fathered you and while to be like a father to someone can be a beautiful thing, it limits the relationship because someone who is LIKE a father can never actually BE your father. Someone who is like a father can mentor you on how to be a man but when you go out in life looking for your "REAL FATHER” and you do not find him, or you face rejection, or you have to stare at a tombstone… knowing someone who is LIKE a father is not good enough in those moments.
Someone who is LIKE a father in moments where your want your FATHER can come off as an insult because thank you for being LIKE a father to me, that is real nice and all but I want the real thing.
I want my Father to love me.
I want my father to appreciate me.
I want my father to be there for me.
I want my father to hold me.
I want my father to teach me how to shave.
I want my father to be a grandfather to his kids.
I want my father to be at my wedding.
I want my father to FATHER me
And when you want it bad enough your UNCLE being LIKE your father is not good enough
Your Pastor being LIKE your father is not good enough.
Your mother trying to be the father is not good enough.
Your husband trying to be your father is not good enough.
But Christ does an amazing thing for many of us here in this room because he frees us from the bondage of a bastard state.
He frees us from the rejection of your fathers.
He tells us with his words you do not have to look to God as simply your Heavenly Father and you do not have to view him as LIKE a Father… But indeed he is OUR Father. Our means he can be yours and even if he is not mine… you can hold close to him.
Your father may have left you. Your father may have died. You may not know your father. You may have a dad but not a father. You my have a donor and not a father.
But whatever the case is, you can know OUR FATHER...
Tap someone and say our father.
And yet, though he is your father and you can love him as a father and approach him as a father and talk to him as a father… you still have a responsibility to recognize his dominion and his reign.
He is your Father but he sits high and he looks low.
He is your Father but his train fills this temple.
He is your father but he sits upon the throne of the Universe
All Heaven and Earth bow to him.
Death itself sits at his feet because he is God.... but he is Our Father.
That is a whole different sermon.
Lastly, you have Hallowed be thy name. Even his name is Holy.
It is not enough for him to be Holy but indeed his very name is holy.
Christ gives us another liberty with this one here because he lets us know quite emphatically that God sees us as Holy.
He sees us as set apart
He sees us as special
How do you know?
Because the mere fact that we can say his name is a testament to how he feels about us… That we can call upon his name is evidence of his mercy and grace to each and every one of us.
Their was a time when it was not lawful for man to experience God’s glory but we now live in a time where we freely receive of God’s glory and we regularly bathe in the presence and anointing of God.
But even now we can call on his name… his holy name… and he will hear us despite ourselves.
We can reflect, as we now know that when we pray we establish relationship (Our Father), you glorify his majesty (Who Art In Heaven), and then you worship his deity (Hallowed be thy name).
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Then of course, in all of it when we pray we are to seek after his Kingdom in all of our things.
For Thy Kingdom Come is a beckoning call for God to come into our midst and bring with him his Kingdom.
It is us calling on God to do his perfect work by our imperfect hands for an imperfect world.
However, just as we must establish our relationship.... we must glorify his majesty.... we must worship his deity.... We even pray for the coming of his Kingdom which indeed was established in Heaven at his victory of the grave… But we must also be mindful that we pray for and submit to HIS WILL.
His will is already established in Heaven, but it is we on Earth that must play catch-up which is why it is important that we pray seeking his will after we have prayed for the arrival of his Kingdom.
SO many of us like to pray to God trying to make him see our will, to change his will, or to ask him for our will but we see clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ himself instructs us to ask God for the fulfillment of his will.
And not to just ask for his will but to ask for his DIVINE WILL… that which is already made perfect in Heaven. It is one thing to receive the permissive will and affirmation of God but to receive his DIVINE WILL implies your total submission to the execution of his perfect work.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we close out this Word on today, I want you to take time to reflect on your prayer life and recall how you have approached God in prayer and then I want you to reflect on your relationship and view of God’s will.
How many times have you prayed under false pretenses because you wanted a particular thing but you really just want God to approve your ideas of God’s will for your future.
You pretended to pray for a Godly husband but you really just wanted God to approve you staying with that no count man you find yourself blindly in love with now.
You pretend as though you are asking God if a particular action is the right choice when you are really only wanting him to bless what you already decided within yourself.
Then we must ask ourselves if, in our prayers, we exhibit Kingdom behaviors that are worthy of the spiritual position we find ourselves in....
These are all questions we must ask ourselves as we have reflections in prayer which are intended to show us who we really are in our prayer lives and subsequently cause us to change in pursuit of a higher calling in Jesus through and by prayer.
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