What Jesus Said About Prayer
Matthew 6:1-13
Someone has said, "Prayer is the language God speaks and listens to attentively." Some of you here speak Spanish, some speak Mandarin, some speak Indonesian, some speak Tagalog, some speak Japanese and others speak dialects of English with accents varying from posh and proper English, Scottish, American and Fair Dinkum Aussie. Since God universally speaks prayer as His common language, if we wish to talk with God we must speak His own language.
It is significant that this is the Lord's Model Prayer. It is not a prayer He prayed specifically nor do the words form a prayer He said we should pray. Although I do not object to the passage being respectfully read, recited or repeated individually or collectively in a prayer like manner, we should al- ways remember that such rote repetition does not necessarily constitute prayer.
A survey of the gospels will reveal that Jesus often prayed. After His baptism He began His public ministry by being led into the wilderness for forty days of fasting and prayer. Surely we can see that through prayer to the Father He received the strength needed to meet the tests and temptations Satan would thrust upon Him. Again and again, when pressed by the cumstances of a busy and hectic ministry, he sought a quiet place to speak to and hear from His Father, God. When momentary popularity moved the masses to seek to make Him King and He faced the crisis of a choice between a crown and a cross, He slipped away to pray. When the masses then rejected Him because of His stern stand for the truth and He turned His face to the garden and Golgotha, He sought solace of the Father in prayer. He prayed early before His disciples rose and all night while they slept.
He prayed in moments of great decision and crisis. Before choosing and sending out His followers, He prayed. Before raising Lazarus, He prayed. We all know He prayed in the garden as He faced the greatest transaction of time and eternity, the cross. It is consistent that His last public prayer re- corded in the Word of God is His prayer for His people in John 17, the night before He offered Himself a sinless sacrifice for our sins.. This prayer could truly be called the Lord's Prayer. Of course, He did prayer again from that cross. He cried out, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.." And again, "It is finished. Into thy hands I commend my spirit.."
As His followers observed His consistent and constant prayer life, it is significant they would approach Him as He was praying and say, "Lord teach us to pray.." Notice they did not ask Him to teach them to preach; even as important as the proclamation of the Word might be. They did not beg Him to teach them to worship and praise; even as beautiful and glorifying to God as good music is and as fulfilling as real worship and praise to God can be. They simply said, "Teach us to pray.." That simple request implies they wished to learn to pray as He prayed and commune with the Father as openly and effectively as their Master.
In our crisis prone world we too need to learn to commune in a Christ- like way with our Father. We need to establish an easy rapport with our Redeemer. As we are dropped into the test tube of trials and trained in the school of hard knocks and then move on into the college of crisis and end up in the university of adversity, we should not delay in seeking the most vital training of all in the school of prayer. It is dangerous to live like the one who, being overwhelmed by a looming crisis cried out to God, "God you know I have not bothered you for ten years now. If you will answer my prayer and get out of the mess, I will not bother you for ten more."
Constant and consistent communication with God through prayer can open the door to God's presence and power in our lives. God will not force Himself upon us. Our refusal to approach Him daily deprives us and dimin- ishes our potential in life. When we pray we are getting in touch with God's potential. We are fixing our frailty with His fullness. Someone has said, "Prayer is linking our free will to the wisdom, love and power of God."
But do we, as the disciples, need to learn to pray? Is prayer not a natural exercise something like breathing? Is it not in our genes? Are we not born, or born again, with the inherent ability to pray powerfully? Evidently not or our Savior would not have taught His disciples to pray. Prayer seems to be a learned exercise. Since prayer is the language God speaks it seems we too must learn to speak it. Let us look at the principles our Saviour shared about speaking God's language of prayer.
JESUS SAID OUR PRAYERS SHOULD BE THEOLOGICALLY TRUE. In order to pray correctly and effectively we must first understand the very nature of God. Understanding something of the nature of the Trinity is helpful. Approaching the Father always involves all three Persons of the Holy Trinity. We know the scriptures teach there is one Mediator between God and man, the Son, Christ Jesus. He is Mediator because He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. In order to approach God in the first instance we must be drawn to the Father through Christ and convicted, convinced and converted by the power of the Holy Spirit.
If we who are Sons are to make contact with the Father, we must also come in the same manner. The writer of the Hebrew letter tells us we can approach His throne with boldness and confidence, if we come through His Son. Paul tells us that, if we do not know how to pray or what to say the Holy Spirit, Who constantly searches our hearts and minds, will even utter our unutterable requests to the Father through the Son.
But more than anything else, the Lord is teaching us we must understand the real Fatherhood of God if we are to speak to Him succinctly and successfully. What does a Father desire to do for His children? He loves them deeply and unconditionally; warts and all with no strings attached. He lives to show this love to them and to shed it abroad in their hearts that they might demonstrate it to the world around them. He wishes to protect them from unnecessary harm. He wishes to provide the necessities of life for them. He wants to give them good gifts.
Real fatherhood's primary purpose is to impart the good things of his own nature, being, understanding and wisdom to his offspring. He wants to see them grow up to be balanced and mature sons and daughters. He not only sees to their material and worldly needs, but to their emotional and spiritual needs as well. He instructs his children and teaches them the ways of life. He seeks fellowship with them.
It is easy to see the parallel here. God, our Father, desires to have us grow up in the full image of His Son. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son,.." It is clear then that the Father desires all that is required for full spiritual growth for His children. Prayer, Bible Study, faithfulness and fellowship, to say the least.
Since we are His children we can share in His great and awesome Godly attributes through prayer. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. Through prayer and study we can grow in spiritual stature through seeking His knowledge and wisdom in His Word. Paul said, "..may grow up into him in all things, . ." Through faith and prayer we can also share and appro- priate His powerful nature. After all, He promised His power to serve Him and carry out His commands. Through prayer we can enter into His eternal presence in a very special way. Through our High Priest we can approach Him in prayer and bow ourselves with boldness before His very throne of grace. The power of prayer can become real when we know we are speaking to a loving Father Who knows, loves and cares for us. A Father Who can and will do what is right and good for us. (Ro. 8:28)
But in all this we should not assume that our loving Father will always say yes to our requests. Loving fathers don't do that. They consider and evaluate and then respond in the way they feel is best for their child. They sometimes must say no. After all giving a child a want rather than a need might be harmful. Or there might be others to consider. The hard and heavy rains that are falling at the moment might bring displeasure to those who wish to holiday in the beautiful sunshine of the Gold Coast. But the farmers are dancing with joy in their hearts that the long drought is being broken. Caring fathers sometimes say wait as well. The timing might not be right. It gives a loving father joy to be able to say yes to a good and sincere petition uttered in His will and in the name of His Son as well.
Paul gives us a great example of this. He prayed three times for the Father to remove a thorn from His flesh. Three times the Father lovingly said no. Then He said, "My grace is sufficient for thee.." Paul prayed for the subtraction of test and trial, God gave him the addition of grace and spiritual growth instead.
What does it mean to pray to a heavenly Father? The word usage indicates we are to pray to the Father Who is eternally present in three heavens. The first heaven surrounds us on earth. We see this heaven by day every day. The second heaven is on out into observable space at least. We can best see this heaven at night. This is the one that boastful man feels he can explore and conquer. The third heaven is in that special paradise where God exists and dwells. (II Cor. 12:2) This heaven is best seen by faith. That is the city whose builder and maker is God. That is the place where our Savior is preparing for us. When we go there we will pass through the air with Jesus through the first and second heavens and be escorted into that land that is fairer than day that we can see by faith from afar.
What does it mean to pray to a Holy Father? The term means holiness and perfection is His Name. He is the one who never has and never will make a mistake. We can truly trust Him with all the concerns we have on this earth. We can trust the truths of a Holy God. He will not deceive us or detour us from the ways of righteousness. We can trust the tools of a Holy God. He will always give us what we need to know and do His will.. We can trust the techniques of a Holy God. Although His ways are not our ways and we can never fully understand all the reasons why, we can know He is working all things out for our eternal best interest. We can trust the timing of a Holy God. His times are not our times, but we can know that He will make all things beautiful and perfect in His time.
JESUS SAID OUR PRAYERS SHOULD PROMOTE GOD'S PURPOSE AND PLAN. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He does know the beginning from the ending. We can pray to a God Who understands and holds the whole world and the whole future of man in His Holy and perfect Hand. Through prayer we can gain understanding and insight into His plan for man and where we may fit in the tapestry of life here on earth. There is not a sparrow that falls in a field without His knowledge and permission. The very hairs on our head are noted and numbered by our Sovereign. The conundrum about a tree falling in the forest making a sound if there is no one there to hear it, loses its impact when we consider that God is always there
After all, as someone has said, history is His story and His Word and prophetic insights are just His history written in advance. The details of God's plan and operation are being acted out by man each day on the stage of life. There is not one single line spoken, action taken or scene acted out that was not included in His plan from the beginning. He conceived the story line. He wrote the script. He is producer and director as well. The Hebrew writer tells we can come before Him with faith that He is eternally existent and is always operating and directing His scheme of things on earth.
There can be motion without perception. Sometimes we are not aware of movement. I can recall puzzling as a young boy about the movement of the hour hand of a clock. The earth is rotating on its axis at a speed of over 1600 kilometers an hour, yet we do not see its movement. The space ship called planet earth moves around the sun at a speed in excess of 100,000 kilometers per hour, yet we do no feel its movement. When I knock on this desk three times, we will have traveled over 40 kilometers. Some say the universe is expanding at the speed of light, some 300,000 kilometers per second. If so, in one sense we are all traveling at the speed of light and are completely sensually oblivious to our motion.
In somewhat the same manner, God is moving slowly, surely and imperceptibly to bring His Kingdom on earth. We are to pray for its coming. We are to pray for the ultimate consummation of His plan for the ages. It is
the only real lasting solution for man's problems and dilemmas. The crises of our day such as pollution, population explosion, terrorism, violence, wars and rumors of wars, can only find a solution when His perfect Kingdom comes to earth when He comes back again. We can only pray with real faith and effectiveness when we understand that the headlines of today are in the hands of an eternal God.
JESUS SAID OUR PRAYERS SHOULD RECOGNIZE OUR UTTER RELIANCE UPON GOD. Whether we always concede and recognize it or not, we are to pray for our daily bread. We are just as dependent upon the hand of God for our food supply as was Israel of old in the wilderness. He still must open His hand if our needs are to be supplied. How different it might be if we knew if God did not send the manna as dew during the night we would not eat the next day. How challenging to our prayer life might it be if we had to look expectantly to the horizon for a flying flock of quail in order to have the protein necessary for health and life.
We should recall that some complained of the plainness and the taste of the manna. They even indicated that were willing to return to slavery in Egypt in order to have a more seasoned sumptuous fare. In His model prayer our Savior did not teach us to pray for fancy foods or first class feasts. He did not say we should plead for daily delicious pies or delightful and delectable deserts. If God throws in a few tasty morsels we certainly should praise Him for His graciousness. We should see every bite and fragment of our daily bread as a precious gift of life from God. I remember in the olden days some would say that they just, "Lived from hand to mouth..." We who are His should remember we live from His hand to our mouth each day of our lives and our prayers should always reflect our gratitude for that daily provision.
Can we trust the almighty and awesome eternal God to be so concerned with such mundane and ordinary things as our daily bread? Again, we should think of the words of our Saviour on the subject about the lilies of the field, the helpless little birds and the hairs on our head. Although He is the God of the infinite, He controls and is concerned about the finite. We should not be afraid to ask our great God for little things. In doing so we link our finite frailty with his infinite fullness. We yoke our weaknesses and inabilities to His strength and ability.
We are to recognize this every day of our life by praying daily for our daily bread and necessities. It is good to start our day this way. Recognizing our need of Him to get us through the day safely and committing the day into His hand. We do not begin a journey without making preparation. He who waits until the end of the trip to top up with petrol is doomed to run out of petrol along the way.
JESUS SAID OUR PRAYERS SHOULD FOCUS UPON FORGIVENESS. If there is one vital prayer ingredient confirmed by the writers of the Word, it is the focus and function of forgiveness in prayer. We cannot even approach and make connection with God through Jesus Christ without complete repentance, confession of sin and having hearts and hands cleansed by the blood. This is true of service as well as salvation. David said, " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear [me]:" Isaiah said, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear." (Isa. 59:2) John said, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrightousness." (I John 1:9)
Daily confession and forgiveness is absolutely vital to a vibrant prayer life. Confession involves the concept of complete and utter sorrow for sin. We are to confess our sins to Him, holding nothing back, ignoring nor ex- cusing even one so-called small or besetting sin. We are not to regard sin our heart. We are not to place a pet sin upon an untouchable pedestal and delay dealing with it.
Just as we do not eat all week and stack all the dishes in a sink without washing them, neither should we allow our lives to be filled with dirty and unforgiven sins before we come before God seeking forgiveness and cleans- ing.. God's spiritual therapy requires daily confession rather than repression. Even secular psychologists recognize the benefit of getting offenses off ones chest. It is called ventilation. In one way God is being so good to us when He calls us to daily confess and ventilate our soul before Him and have it cleansed by His gracious forgiveness; based upon the blood of our Savior. Many, even Christians, are always looking for ways to deal with anxieties, worries and even depression. They turn to pills and medications and even drugs and alcohol. We are a pill prone people living in a place of pill proliferation. People of prayer can find an inner peace that passes un-
derstanding and a joy unspeakable and full of glory. They can confess their sins and seek forgiveness and cleansing from the good, gracious and forgiveing God of the universe.
JESUS SAID OUR PRAYERS SHOULD GIVE GLORY TO GOD. His is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and forever. We should not leave our prayer closet without humbling ourselves before the great God in abject acknowledgment and confession that He is Lord. He is Sovereign. He is always on His throne. We should assert that with God in His heaven all can be right with His world. We should affirm that life and all its benefits issue forth from Him. We should admit that it is but by the grace of God I am what I am.
The Psalmist not only sums up the whole matter by saying:
"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and ten- der mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good [things; so that] thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The LORD executeth righteousness and judg- ment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The LORD [is] merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep [his anger] for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor re- warded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, [so] great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth [his] children, [so] the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust." (Psalm 103:1- 14)
