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HelpPlease help keep this ministry free by honoring our system:
Click here to recommend this sermon to thousands of Pastors.Help spread the Word by casting your vote...it's a proven system that keeps this ministry free!Gospel of Jesus Series HomepageGrace Notes Ministry: The Greatest Prayer Ever Prayed
Matthew 6:8-13 The Sermon on the Mount is
the greatest sermon ever preached, preached by the greatest preacher who
ever lived. And within is this
wonderful model of prayer. It’s a misnomer to call
this The Lord’s Prayer…it’s actually the disciple’s prayer and should be a
model for our prayers in concept.
What I would call the Lord’s prayer is in Jn. 17. v. 12 In the middle of this great
prayer is sin, and the need for forgiveness.
This isn’t the Lord’s Prayer…He never sinned. This prayer is not intended
to be recited only. It’s fine to
memorize it, but it’s vain repetition if we only say it over and again,
w/out applying the principles and structure of it to all our real, sincere
praying. It’s a simple outline,
a skeleton to put the meat on.
We should employ and expand these things into our own personal prayer lives. This prayer can be divided
into 3 parts: If we wanted to use big
words, we’d call it the Invocation, the Supplication, and the Adoration.
But I think prayer should be simple…simply me talking to God, so
let’s use small words: Prayer is talking, asking,
and praising…
A.
Prayer is talking. v. 9 Principle #1--Prayer is
like a child talking to his father.
It’s nice that we can call
God our Father…but in those days it was a radical new concept.
In the OT, God was never referred to as Father…no one in the OT was
ever called a “child of God.”
Rather, servants of God. And
that we are, but now more! Prayer is just talking.
This takes a lot of the mystery out of prayer.
Not everyone can look to the heavens and cry out, “Father.”
One of the most damnable heresies on earth is the false teaching of
the ‘universal Fatherhood of God’ and the ‘universal brotherhood of man.’ “We’re all God’s children,”
they say. I know what they mean,
but it’s not Biblically correct.
And now I’m not politically correct.
We are all God’s creation, but not all God’s children.
Jesus turned to a group of religious Jews one day and said, ‘ye are
of your father, the devil.’ There are children of God
and of the devil…what’s the difference?
Whether you’ve been born again into the family of God! Romans 8:15
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. How would you feel if you
saw my son approach me in the lobby and heard him say, “O thou most noble
father: could’st thou spare a
slight segment of thy illustrious post service chronology, to hear a humble
petition, albeit brief? Fein I
would navigate to the abode of mine acquaintance, thy servant, Logan, of the
house of Smith, to partake of frozen custard on a stick, flavorized with the
product of the cocoa bean.” How
many of you would think he was nuts?
Instead, he would say, “Can
I ask you a question, dad? May I
go to Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. said,
“When I go to God with a need in my life, it’s as simple as saying, Pappy,
please pass the biscuits.” I’m
not saying we should ever be flippant or frivolous…but just like a child to
his father. v. 9 “which art in heaven”
The 'Father' part presents a problem in the minds of some,
tragically, who had a bad experience w/ their earthly father.
Well, our Heavenly Father is different…He's the best father
you could ever imagine.
Principle #2--Prayer is like a subject
talking to a King. v. 9 “hallowed be Thy name.” Hallowed means to hold in high esteem. v. 10 “Thy kingdom come.”
Every child should be a
loyal subject, who respects and reveres his king.
Don’t you hate to hear
God’s name taken in vain, or His name drug thru the mud?
It’s offensive, and we should shut it down in person or shut it off
in our living rooms! And so, before we ever make
our requests, we politely address our King! “Thy Kingdom come.”
We are supposed to pray for the end, which is actually the beginning
of God’s kingdom on earth.
Principle #3--Prayer is like a servant
talking to his Master. v. 10 In heaven it all happens
God’s way…but the god of this world, the devil, has other plans for the
earth. We are to pray for God’s
will to be done here, despite that. If you need to be saved,
it’s God’s will that you do so.
But not Satan’s. “God is not willing that
any should perish…” [2 Pet. 3] If you need to get right w/
God, it’s God’s will…but will you?
I pray so! That’s why we
pray for God’s will in all matters, and not our own. Notice that this prayer has
begun in a God-centered way. How
do we pray? Most start w/ the
self-centered asking. In the Bible, Daniel never
rushed into prayer, but worshipped God first w/ adoration.
Jeremiah, despite his personal complexity [high maintenance,]
approached God w/ honor and reverence long before making his petitions. I’m afraid we often reduce
our prayer life to the level of rubbing a lamp to summon our heavenly genie,
telling Him our wishes.
B.
Prayer is asking. v. 11-13a
The pronouns now change.
It was “thy”, now it’s “us”, several times over. We see we are to ask for
daily needs, daily forgiveness, and daily strength and guidance. We are created in God’s
image, a 3 part being ourselves:
body, soul, and spirit…a trichotomy.
And these 3 daily requests meet the main needs in these 3 areas.
Our bodies have needs, our soul needs forgiveness, our spirits need
strength and guidance. I like the order of the
3…it’s unexpectedly backward.
You’d think it would start w/ the spiritual, but not so…rather, the
physical. Really, it makes good
sense. I need to stay alive, or
my spirit cannot be helped, and it’s too late for my soul.
When a vagrant comes by, hungry, we minister first to his physical
need, and then see what we can do for him spiritually. Next is the soul, which is
my emotional wellbeing. I need
cleansed from the guilt and power of sinfulness, and the defilement of the
things of this world. Then I can
focus on my eternal, spiritual being. Notice some things: v. 11 It’s a daily request.
[Do you pray everyday?} Every breath is a gift, every morsel of bread
is His provision. And He not
only wants to meet our needs, but He also wants to be ASKED. I hope you pray before
meals…though that should be the least of what makes up our true prayer
life…it’s a great start. Also notice the brevity of
it in v. 11…just 7 little worlds.
Our tendency is to let our physical needs dominate our prayer lives.
But the key is not getting hung up on it.
We need not beg God to meet our needs.
Greeds? Also, note that God doesn’t
meet our needs because we deserve it.
This request comes BEFORE the request for forgiveness.
He meets our needs because he unconditionally loves us, His children.
I am His child both when I obey - and when I disobey. For 40 years God met Next is the request for
daily forgiveness. And it’s
supposed to lead us to forgive others in the way we are forgiven…that is,
whether they deserve it or not.
It’s a sure proof we truly got saved. We need the forgiveness of
salvation…a once all over bath, but we also need that daily footwashing as
we go thru this life.
So, we’ve asked for physical needs, and our
soul’s forgiveness… v. 13a This is the prayer for daily strength
and guidance. Most of our prayer life is
after the fact, trying to clean up what we’ve already done.
But even better is to be a problem preventer, not just a problem
solver. “Lord, keep me from going
down the wrong path, and help me to have strength to say no to the devil,
the world, and my own flesh!”
Prayer is talking, it’s asking, and finally…
C.
Prayer is praising. v. 13b The measure of how close we are to God
is who we talk about most. In
this prayer, He is the object from beginning to end…and we are surrounded by
Him as we ask for ourselves in the middle.
We have every right to ask, but that’s short and sweet…what God wants
is the talking…just talking to Him…and He deserves our praising of Him. Let’s go to prayer
now…let’s pray about our prayer lives, and then as we pray in the future,
let’s take these principles and apply them…putting the meat on these bones
as God leads.
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