Sermon Central
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Teach Us To Pray
Contributed by Troy Voyles on Feb 17, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: In this message I go into the heart of what we call the "Lord’s Prayer".
Teach Us How To Pray
This morning, I want to talk to you on the subject of prayer. I believe in these days that we must have a prayer life, because if we don’t, we will struggle. Sometimes we go through things, and if there is no prayer, there will be no victory. There are people in our lives, our family, our friends, loved ones, who need prayer, and we got to learn how to pray, how to stand in the gap.
We must get away from this microwave Christianity that the church has adopted, because sometimes it just takes hitting the knees for days, for weeks, for months, and even years before we see things come to pass. This new generation has lost sight of that, and we need this older generation to help us get over the humps, get over the mountains.
So, how do we pray? This morning I am going to dissect what we call the Lord’s Prayer, so that we might all learn what real prayer is about.
It’s something to see that in Luke 11, one of the disciples came to Jesus after he got done praying, and he asked him to teach him how to pray. Why is that? Why did he ask such a thing? Maybe because Jesus was healing the sick, he was casting out demons, these prayers of Jesus was working, and the disciples marveled because it one area of the gospels they couldn’t cast out a demon, but yet, Jesus did.
So the beginning here, they are saying teach us how to do what you do. You know, you got to want to crave the supernatural realm, you got to want to learn the things of the Spirit. Some people are perfectly happy about not even venturing out at all into the deep, they are simply happy with staying in the shallow water, but, I want to ask you all this morning, who wants to venture out into the deep? Who wants to know how to pray?
First of all Jesus tells us what prayer is not. He talks about the hypocrites. The Pharisies and religious leaders would often pray out in the streets, so that everyone could see them, so they could look holy, sound holy, but many of them were indeed hypocrites. But Jesus said thay when you pray, you need to enter your prayer closet.
Because when you are in your prayer closet, wherever that might be, when there are times of intense spiritual warfare, many times you don’t want people to hear what your praying about. Maybe there is something you need deliverance of, maybe your interceding for your children, your spouse, friends, when you do this, it’s not for the streets where everyone to hear, it’s between you and the Lord.
Vain repetitions- Keep repeating the same things over and over and over. Some people just pray nonsense and think that God doesn’t know that your praying nonsense. God is more than an answering machine, God is all about relationship, He desires a relationship, not a bunch of nonsense and garbage.
BRUCE ALMIGHTY- Jim Carey in heaven talking to God (Morgan Freeman)
Let one of your kids get struck with a life threatening illness or a car crash and I guarantee that real prayer will come out of your mouth. Just be real
1) The Person- Our Father
I want to start off with the word our. God is not just my Father, I am not an only child, but He is a Father to many. It’s not just about me, and what I want, and if I don’t get my way I am going to throw a tantrum, or a fit.
Father- You are not praying to spirits in the universe, but when you pray, you better know who it is your talking to. Understand who He is to you and me. Our Father says that I am a son, not a slave. You are a child of the King. Our Father defines my relationship to Him, and His relationship to me.
I have been here over 4 years, and I never 1 time heard Chad or Chelsea call Pastor Kevin Pastor, they called him dad, and they called Pastor Debbie mom, not Pastor. They were the only ones who could come to Him like that in the church, and it’s the same with our God Jehovah.
When we come, He is our Father. A non believer can’t call Him father because that’s not God’s son, that is until He receives Jesus into his heart.
It’s never your condition, but your position. Regardless of where you are in the Lord, rather you are backslid or not, He is still your Father. Again, it’s not your condition, it’s your position. Doesn’t matter if you’re the black sheep of the family or not, your still a son or daughter.
