Prayer is spiritual communication with God. Your body is engaged, your mind is engaged, but most importantly, your spirit is engaged in fellowship with God through prayer. Prayer is spiritual communication from my spirit to the Spirit of God. Jesus said “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So I feel that before I can even talk about prayer this morning, I must address the more important matter of the necessity of being made spiritual beings.
I want to relay something this morning that I recently wrote to someone in our church last week. It’s about the necessity of what the Bible calls the new birth, being born again, being made spiritual. Because the Christian is not someone who is just religious, or who is moral, or even someone who prays to God. A Christian is a new creation, a different kind of human, a person who has a new life. And so before you can really pray, before you can exhibit the kind of life that is pleasing to God, you must be made into a new creation. And I want to make sure that everyone here understands this before we move on this morning to talk about prayer. Because this is fundamental. You can’t even really pray if you don’t have this new life in you, the life of the Spirit.
The Bible teaches that humans were made body, soul and spirit. The spirit actually is the Spirit of God that was breathed into man at creation. Gen. 2:7 “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” The spirit is the essence of life that enlivens the soul and body and enables man to be like God. But sin caused man's spirit to die. “In the day you eat of the fruit of the tree you will die.” When Adam and Eve sinned, man’s spirit died. We still have a soul (that is the mind, the will and emotions) and we have a body. But there is something that's missing, or dead, which is the spirit.
For most people who are not saved, there is a sense of a "hole in their heart", something missing which they spend their life trying to fill. Unfortunately, they usually try to fill it with material things, or carnal things, which never can fill it, because what's missing is their spiritual essence of life. You may even try to fill that hole with religious things, because deep inside you might recognize that what is missing has to do with God, and yet you cannot by your efforts make your spirit alive again.
That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, "you must be born again." He went on to clarify that statement by saying that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Man without the spirit is spiritually dead. The way to be born again spiritually is to believe in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, by whom all things were made, and that He died for us so that we might have life through Him. By faith in Him and repentance of your sin, recognizing that you need to be made new, the Spirit of God will give you new spiritual life. Then and only then can you live a life which is satisfying, which is fulfilling, which has purpose and which produces joy. It's a life that is immortal and will never die.
Life without the Lord is futile. You can reject the truth through unbelief and try to find the answers to life somewhere else, but there is nothing else that can fill that hole in your heart because we were made to be spiritual beings who can have a relationship with God. And only through regeneration can we be made alive spiritually and be able to commune with God. If that has not become a reality for you, then the rest of this sermon is not relevant to you. The only prayer that God will consider in your case is “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. Forgive me, and give me a new heart, a new spirit, that I might have everlasting life.” Because until you have been born again spiritually, this teaching of Christ about how to pray as a means of communication with Him is irrelevant.
Now for those who are born again, who have spiritual life, Jesus teaches about prayer in two sections; the false way to pray and the right way to pray. Let’s look first at the false way. The wrong way to pray is wrong in it’s approach; it’s focused on ourselves. Jesus illustrated this in Luke 18:10 in the parable about the Pharisee and the publican who went up to the temple to pray. Jesus said the Pharisee prayed in the prominent place, and the publican stood afar off.
The error of the approach in this first illustration of Jesus is that the man wants to be seen, to be known as a man of prayer, as a religious man. And so he positions himself as to be in a prominent place at the hour of prayer. How we approach God in prayer is of importance. The Pharisees were very zealous about their religion, they prayed 3 times a day, 9, 12, 3. And in this sermon Jesus is saying rather than going to a private place to pray, to humble themselves before God at the hour of prayer, they made a show of praying on the street, to be seen of men.
There is a danger as indicated in this teaching, that some people worry more about how their prayer sounds to others, rather than how it appears to God. It’s possible to pray beautiful prayers for the sake of men, but which accomplish nothing with God. Be careful you do not find yourself praying in such a way as to be heard by men.
Secondly, in regards to how not to pray, Jesus says in vs7, "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” There is another danger that is indicated here, and that is long prayers for the sake of being seen by men to be spiritual. It’s sometimes the practice of preachers to reluctantly conclude their sermon, only to preach another one in their prayer. God isn’t served by giving Him the plan of salvation. Nor is He served by the wordiness of your prayers in which you go on and on about things that He obviously is already aware of, but for the sake of those hearing you feel obliged to sound out all the doctrine that you know.
But even more specifically, Jesus warns against vain repetition, which He relates to the practice of the Gentiles, in other words, the pagan practice of prayer. I believe that type of praying includes things like praying the rosary. God doesn’t care if you say it 100 times or 1000 times. It’s unbiblical through and through. For one thing, it’s praying to Mary. And we are expressly forbidden to pray to any one other than to God, and through no one other than Jesus Christ. So that’s in error. And the other thing is it’s meaningless repetition. Anything becomes meaningless repetition after you say it three times.
And one other thing that’s indicated here is that the length of our prayers are not to be a means of appealing to God. God isn’t concerned that you spend 3 hours in prayer simply as a method of an appeal to God. It is a great thing to spend time with the Lord in prayer, but not just in a mechanical way, but in an intimate way.
The bottom line is that Jesus says those that pray that way, in long, repetitious prayers, or ceremonial prayers, are done for man and not God. He said, “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." He says that they have received their reward. They wanted to be seen of men, and they were seen of men. And that’s their reward. God isn’t moved.
Now let’s look at what Jesus says is the right way to pray. Again, the whole secret is the way we approach God. That’s the essence of the Lord’s teaching. Vs6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.” And then in vs 8 "So do not be like them (those who use meaningless repetition); for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
The principle Jesus is teaching is this; we must realize when we pray that we approach a Holy God. That’s what is important. And then specifically Jesus gives us some details in how we are to approach God. First, He says, go to your closet and pray in secret. Now this is not a prohibition against public prayer. In 1 Corinthians and other places, such as James, we are told to engage in worship with prayer and supplications. But the principle is that you eliminate the distractions of the physical, you close your eyes to everyone around you, and you focus solely on the Lord.
However, I happen to believe that there is a great value in a special place that you go to pray. Jesus went on the mountains to pray, especially at night when everyone else was sleeping. Daniel went three times a day to an upper room which faced towards Jerusalem. Paul tells us to pray at all times, in all places. I like to pray when I go for a run or when I walk early in the morning. I believe it’s an advantage to pray aloud, or at least audibly, if not loudly. Jesus says God knows what you need before you ask him. David said in the Psalms that before there was a word on his lips God knew what he was going to say. So God hears the prayer of our hearts. Speaking audibly doesn’t help God, but it does help me to pray more effectively. And I believe it discourages the devil. Because he is certainly around when we pray. But regardless of where you pray, pray to God alone, to God exclusively, blocking out everything and everyone else.
Secondly, we are to pray realizing that we are entering into the presence of God. We pray to the God of creation, the Lord of all the earth. I’m afraid that many of us enter into the throne room of God with more casualness than we would enter into the Oval Office to speak to the President of the United States. We must realize who God is and come to Him in reverence.
And related to that, and almost contradictorily, we must come to God as our Father in heaven. Jesus said to “pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” It’s an amazing privilege to consider the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Great Almighty, is also our Heavenly Father. That the Lord of All is also our heavenly Father who loves us as His children. He knows us intimately, even to the very numbers of the hairs on our head. He has said that nothing can separate us from His love. It’s a very privileged relationship to have God as our heavenly Father.
And because He is our Father, Paul says in Ephesians 3 that “He is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think.” So we don’t just go through the motions in prayer. We don’t just count the beads. But we have a confidence born out of our relationship to Him, that since He hears us, since we are His children, He will answer us.
Now we come to Christ’s example of prayer. I want to point out that He doesn’t instruct the disciples to pray this prayer, but to pray in this way. In other words, it’s an example of proper prayer, not a prayer to be used by rote. Listen, prayer is the highest expression of the spiritual man, the greatest activity of the human soul, to be engaged in conversation with your Maker. And so it’s not something that is to be mechanical, or just reading what others have written, or recitation of learned prayers. But it’s to be honest, sincere, humble communication from your heart to God. When you are alone in communication with God it should be something that speaks from your heart, unhindered by pride and how you might appear towards others. But a genuine expression of your heart to God. It’s a spiritual communication that has no par on earth.
I believe it’s possible to miss out on a lot of the blessings of our Christianity because we don’t know how to pray. And so Jesus has given us some general principles in regards to prayer, and now He gives us an example of prayer, that we might know how to pray as God would have us pray. It’ interesting that it is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. But the Bible never calls it that, in fact, it would be better to call it the disciple’s prayer. Because it is meant to be an example of how the disciples are to pray.
As in much of what Jesus has covered in the Sermon on the Mount, the principles He teaches is of more significance than the particulars. It’s an example and by that example we learn principles regarding how to pray. It’s not intended to be a word for word kind of thing which we have to recite again and again.
Notice that the first principle seen in this prayer is regarding the right approach. The first principle is that you come to God on the basis of a relationship; His relationship to you as your Father in heaven. I am told that this is the first recorded case in the Bible of a prayer being addressed to God as Father. Through Jesus Christ we are able to have an intimacy in relationship that surpasses that of the patriarchs and prophets of old. But only those who have by faith appropriated the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and have been born again by the Holy Spirit are truly the sons of God. And so that is the basis by which we can call God our Father.
It’s important to place that phrase “our Father,” with the ensuing phrase, “which art in heaven.” It’s important because our idea of fatherhood has been greatly debased by our understanding in the physical realm of fatherhood. Many people today do not have a very high regard for their earthly fathers. For some, their earthly father has forever disparaged that title. But Jesus gives us this complete title, to remind us that our heavenly Father is holy, He is perfect, He is good, and He loves us. We have our life from Him. And so we can trust in Him to hear us, and to help us in time of need.
The second great principle in this example prayer is that the priority of our perspective as Christians should be the glory of God and the exaltation of His kingdom and purpose. He prays, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The priority of God’s agenda takes precedence before my agenda. Our needs don’t come first, but His kingdom is first. Our will is not paramount, but His will be done. Only as His will is done, can my needs be met. Because we are made for Him and by Him, and for HIs purpose.
Jesus wants us to pray with the desire that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven there is no rebellion to God’s will; on earth there is disobedience and rebellion against His will. The citizens of Jesus’ kingdom will want to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven because that is the way the kingdom of God will come into fruition in the world. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And so we should be praying for men and women renounce their rebellion, renounce their attempts at self rule, and bow to the authority of Jesus as King.
Fundamental to our prayers then is the desire that God’s will would be done. I would remind you that even Jesus prayed “your will be done” when He was in the Garden, being in such agony that He was sweating drops of blood, He was concerned that the will of the Father be done. I would also remind you that often I have said there is no safe place outside of the will of God. And that should serve to instruct our prayers for God’s will to be done. We can ask that God do such and such, but our desire should be that God does what He thinks is best, because we cannot know the future, and we can’t always know what is the best. But there is peace for the person that trusts in the perfect will of God, because he knows the character of God, and that God will do what is best and what is right. Hallowed be your name reminds us that God is holy, and righteous, a pure, and all that ensues from Him is good and perfect. And so on the basis of who He is, we can call for His kingdom to come to fruition, and His will to be done in the earth.
So the first section of prayer has to do with adoration. The second section has to do with petition. We need to recognize this divine order to our prayers, and model them after this example. First God’s will, then our needs follow.
Someone has said that the petitions could be divided up into three components. 1,“Give us this day our daily bread. 2, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 3, And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Our whole life found in those three petitions. In just three statements, Jesus has covered the whole life of the believer: our physical needs (the body), our mental needs (the soul), and the spiritual needs. And that addresses the whole man, body, soul and spirit.
The tragedy of the world we live in today, informed by evolution and science that there is no God, there is no spirit, leaves mankind without hope. I would suggest this is the root of our social troubles in this world, it’s the root of depression, of drug use, of alcoholism, so many of our world’s ills are due to the fact that they refuse to recognize that man was designed to be spiritual as well as a body and soul. But Jesus includes them all as needs that God alone can fulfill.
It’s interesting that Jesus starts with the body. But when you think about it, you realize that without food, without water, the body would soon perish. And so there is a rightness in that petition for God to supply us with the food we need to survive. And then He goes on to deal with the cleanings from defilement sin and the guilt of sin, and then the need to be kept from the power of sin.
So bread means real provisions for our physical body. We can pray for God to supply our physical needs and believe that He is concerned about that. And then our debts are our sins, which we receive forgiveness for through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s important that we understand that prayer is an opportunity for confession and repentance. David said, “if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” So the power of our prayers is in some measure due to our recognition and confession of where we have sinned and asking for forgiveness. That’s a vital part of our prayer.
James as well says, “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” Many a prayer I believe falls flat because we have unconfessed sin in our life. God sees all that we do, no matter how well we might have hidden it from others. And if we hold onto that sin, then we lose that fellowship with God through which we can be certain that He helps us in our petitions.
So confession is important and so also is our forgiveness of others. If we fail to forgive others as God has told us to do, and as God has shown Himself to do, then is that not sin? Is it not regarding sin in your life if you fail to forgive your brother? This is such an important principle that Jesus repeats this teaching in vs 14 saying, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” So forgiveness is not just a quid pro quo, but it is a matter of unconfessed sin in your life that needs to be confessed and repented of. Our willingness to forgive others is proof of the fact that we have been forgiven, that we have a new spirit, and that we have the nature and character of Christ.
And temptations refers to that which is a test, and in that testing that we would have power over sin. Listen, Christ died on the cross not just to give us forgiveness of sins, but to give us power over sin. Jesus said on another occasion to the disciples, “watch and pray, that you be not led into temptation.” There are situations which are dangerous for you as a Christian to be found in. Watch and pray, be anticipatory, be on your guard, stay in a sense of prayer as you go through life, in reliance upon the power of God.
Coupled with that is the phrase, “deliver us from evil.” The power of the devil is deceit and the snare of deception. He is a liar and the father of lies. And so we pray for God to deliver us from evil. Deliver us from the lie of Satan. I pray all the time that God would deliver my kids from evil. Because the lie is flattering, the lie is deceitful, the lie of the devil sounds plausible, it looks good, it tastes good, and if God doesn’t keep them from falling for it then they will certainly fall into temptation, and then a snare, and then into captivity.
That’s the way the devil has strategized to cause us to lose fellowship with God. And if we are not in fellowship with God then we are ripe for destruction. We are blind, we are helpless, we are wandering around in the darkness without constant communion with God. But as we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with the Lord. 1John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Walking in fellowship with Christ gives us power over sin, and that’s victory for the Christian.
Finally, there is the postscript, of the conclusion of the prayer. Some translations leave this part out in favor of other translations which they say are older. I believe it should stay in. I think it’s a fitting doxology. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” That recaps succinctly I believe the primary points of the prayer, the sovereignty of God’s kingdom, the resources we have through His power, and the future glory that we shall share with Him for ever as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven.
I hope that God is your Father in heaven. What a wonderful treasure it is to know God, and know that He has called us His children, and given us of His life, that we might be with Him forever. If you have not been born again by the Spirit of God, then on the basis of His gospel, I extend to you today the offer of salvation which has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. Believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of His Holy Spirit, that you might have eternal life in His name.
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