The School of Prayer | Part 2 | Prayer 101
We are there in Matthew 6 and last week we starting a brand-new series entitled “The School of Prayer”. We are going to be learning from the Lord Jesus Christ how to pray. We talked about last week how the disciples came to Jesus one day after he had got done praying and they asked him to teach them how to pray. And Jesus began to teach them to pray. And if you remember from last week, I preached a sermon entitled “Getting Schooled on Prayer”. But before Jesus could teach us how to pray, he had to teach us how not to pray. And he went through and taught on how not to do it and how not to be a hypocrite. He taught not to use vain and repetitious prayers. And we talked about that last week. This week we’re going to get into the section of his teaching where he teaches us how to pray and he’s going to teach us some positive lessons. Last week was negative, how not to do it. This is how to do it.
We kind of ended last week with this idea in Matthew 6:8 that Jesus said “be not ye therefore like unto them” in the sense that we shouldn’t be using vain repetition in our prayer. We obviously talked about the false religions like the Catholic Church that’ll teach to repeat prayers that are written down. And the Bible says that we are not to do that. It’s clear in verse 7 when he says “7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”. He says I don’t want you vainly repeating over and over these prayers. But he says there in verse 8 “8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”.
And last week we kind of ended on this idea. Often people that are disillusioned with prayer ask “Why should we pray if God already knows what we need? What is the purpose of prayer?”. We talked about the fact that when you ask the question “Why should I pray if God already knows what I need?”, this reveals that you have a misunderstanding of prayer. You have an improper view of prayer. You don’t understand prayer. And this is why Jesus says “I don’t want you to pray. Don’t do it this way”. And he explains to them how not to do it. Then he says I’m going to teach you how to do it. But before he teaches us how to do it, he is letting us know why we do it.
Let me say this, prayer is definitely asking and receiving and we’re going to get to that soon. But before we can get there, we need to understand the purpose of prayer. Matthew 6:9 “9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”. This is commonly referred to as the Lord’s prayer. Many people refer to this section of scripture and I’m not against people using that term and from time to time I’ll use that term just because I understand that it’s a term that people identify with but it’s not really an accurate term to say “The Lord’s Prayer”. Because it’s not the Lord Jesus Christ praying. Now there are other sections of scripture where we see the Lord Jesus Christ praying. The most notably is in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was praying right before his death. We see that in the gospels. We see it a lot of light in the Book of John. You know the high priestly prayer. If anything that’s really the Lord’s prayer, that really is the Lord Jesus Christ praying. Here Jesus is not praying to the Father but he’s teaching his disciples how to pray. In some ways it’s not really the Lord’s prayer as it is more of a model prayer. Jesus is teaching us not only how to pray but why to pray.
This morning we will tackle this idea of why to pray. What is the purpose of prayer? And the answer lies in this model prayer that Jesus taught us. Jesus says “9 After this manner therefore pray ye:…”. Jesus begins by teaching his disciples a pattern of how to pray. What the disciples are really asking is how to come to God and get what we want. If I was teaching a course on prayer and if you were teaching a course on prayer we might begin with “Give us this day our daily bread”. Because if we were honest with ourselves, isn’t that where most of our prayer time begins? Doesn’t most of our prayer time amount to us asking God to give us something? We often begin with “Give us God, I need Lord, I need this job, I need this raise, etc…”. We often come to God and begin with “give”. And Jesus says no. See, when we come to prayer, we need to start with “Our Father”. You say what is the purpose of that? It may be that the purpose of prayer is to remind us of God’s place in our lives, God’s place in our prayers.
See, when it comes to prayer, Jesus wants to remember our place and the place that God holds in our prayers and our lives. What is the place that God has in our lives? It is a place of intimacy. The wonderful privilege you and I have of prayer is that we get to come to God Almighty, the creator of the universe, the “I am”, the one that spoke the universe into existence, that formed you and formed me. We get to come to God in an intimate way as “our Father”.
Romans 8:15 “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.”. If you are saved, you were born again into the family of God. You received the Holy Spirit of God. You’ve received the spirit of adoption. The Bible says “…whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”. The word “abba” is a transliteration of a Greek word here. I’m not sure there is a perfect translation of it but it is similar to saying “father”. It’s like a child saying to their father “daddy”. It’s intimate. It’s close. It’s not just the position of Father, although it is “our father”. But the Bible says that when you got saved, you got the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit of God allows you to draw nigh. The Bible says that we were once afar off but are made nigh by the blood. We get to come to him with the spirit of adoption and we get to cry Abba Father.
Galatians 4:6 “6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”. When they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus begins by showing them the problems they need to correct. He tells them what not to do. He schools them on prayer. Then he moves on and says let me give you the manner in how to pray. You think “Oh great. He will teach me how to get what I want.”. But he begins with showing us our position. When you come to God, you need to remember and realize the position that God held in prayer. What position is that? “Abba Father”. We get to come to God, the Almighty Creator, as intimate as our father.
Go back to Matthew 6. Not only does God hold the position as intimate but as infinite. Notice verse 9 “9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”. The word “hallowed” comes from the same root word that we get the word “holy”. It means to be set apart. Hallowed means that God is a part. See, these 2 terms “which are in heaven” & “hallowed be thy name” show that God is above. Please understand this, yes God holds an intimate position but we need to hold him in reverence as he is set apart in heaven above us. Like I talked before, God is high, holy and lifted up. God holds a position of separation. He’s separate from us. Please understand this, God is not in the same league as you and I. God is not in the same league as anyone else. This is why God should never be equivocated. God should never be put in a place where he is equal to us.
I don’t like it when people use this prayer “Well we ought to do this for God and country.”. God and country are not on the same level. They’re not equal. God is separate and God is above. The Bible says that God looks out on the nations of the Earth and they are as a drop of a bucket. God looks out on the nations of the earth and they are as a drop of a bucket. God should only ever be equivocated with himself. It is God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Why? Those are equal. They are eternal. But other than that, there is no nation on earth and there is no person on earth that God should be equal to. Why? Because he is hallowed. He is holy. He is separate and he is high. There is an intimate and infinite position that God has to us.
What is the first lesson on prayer that Jesus is trying to teach us? Here’s a lesson on prayer. We should be careful how we approach God in prayer. We should be careful how we approach prayer. People want provision, pardon, protection, etc… But Jesus shows us that before we get there, he shows us how we should approach God in prayer. “Our Father which are in heaven hallowed be thy name”. The next time I do a series on prayer, I’ll probably go through the individual prayers in the Bible. Because when you study the prayer in the Bible, when you study the men of God who prayed in the Bible and who were filled with the Holy Spirit of God and who spoke the word of God, you will find something very different in their prayers. When they come to God in prayer, they come to God with a realization and with an almost obsession of who God is. And I have to ask you this question. When you pray, do you take time to consider who it is you’re praying to?
In Isaiah 37, we have King Hezekiah. He receives a letter with some bad news. Isaiah 37:14 “14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.”. I think it’s always good when you physically receive something that you’re praying for. There have been times that I received letters that I realize are problems and things that have to be dealt with. You can spread it before the Lord. Perhaps you receive a diagnosis and you really need to go to God in prayer. Notice how Hezekiah starts this prayer. “15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, 16 O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the Cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.”. Notice how Hezekiah comes to God with reverence. This is similar to the manner Jesus gave us of “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”.
What is happening is that the King of Assyria has come and sent them a letter that they are going to destroy them and take them captive and mess up their life. This is why Hezekiah is praying. But notice, when he begins, he does not begin with his problems. He begins with the position of God. He says I have an Army problem but you are the Lord of Hosts. I’ve got a nation problem but you are the God of Israel. I’ve got an earthly problem but you dwell in between the Cherubims. He says “…thou art the God, even thou alone,…”. He says at the end of verse 16 “of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.”. You’re the creator. He says “17 Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.”. He says “Lord, please. I know you’re hallowed. I know you’re in heaven. I know you’re high and holy and lifted up but if you would hear my prayer then incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear”.
I want you to notice the focus of Hezekiah is not on himself. It is on God. He said you are Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, the one that dwells between the Cherubims, the God of heaven, God alone, above all the kingdoms of the earth who made heaven and earth. Then he says this “…and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.”. Hezekiah is not focusing on himself but saying that Sennacherib is reproaching God. This is where he begins to kind of dialogue with God. He says “18 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,”. He said it’s true that the Assyrians have a track record that they have taken over nations, they have bullied nations, they have laid waste other countries.
“19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.”. Notice verse 20 “20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.”. You see, we would have started with requesting from God. But verses 14-19, there is no requesting by Hezekiah. In verse 20 he requests from God but brings it back to the reason of people knowing that God is the true God.
Why does God ask us to pray when God already knows what we need? Didn’t God already know Hezekiah needed help? Didn’t God already know that Assyria was threatening them and Sennacherib was attacking? Didn’t God know they had sent a letter? We think that we need to remind God of what we need. “God, I don’t know if you are paying attention. I’m not sure if you noticed but I’ve got this problem. This whole Coronavirus thing and the vaccine mandate and I have this diagnosis and my kids aren’t serving you God.”. There is a place for that in prayer. But it may be that the purpose of prayer is not to remind God but for God to remind us who he is. Maybe that we may come to God in prayer and say “Our Father”, intimate. “which art in heaven”, infinite. It may be that the purpose for prayer is to remind us of who God is. “20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.”. You say what is the purpose of prayer? Why should I pray if God already knows what I need? I believe that one of the purposes of prayer is to remind us who God is. To remind us of his power and of his might and of his position. He is intimate. He is infinite. And it would behoove us to always pray and approach God understanding who God is.
In Deuteronomy 9:25, we have another prayer. This is a prayer of Moses. This is what we would refer to as an intercessory prayer. God wants to destroy the children of Israel for their complaining and their murmuring. Deuteronomy 9:25 “25 Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you.”. He’s telling the children of Israel that he went up to God because God was going to destroy them. Notice verse 26 “26 I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin: 28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.”.
Notice the emphasis of Moses’s prayers on God. Moses doesn’t say that he has had it rough or they have had it rough. He focuses on that if the people are destroyed then it will result in people criticizing God and saying that God wasn’t able to bring them into the land. Moses says “God, if you destroy the children of Israel in the wilderness, the Egyptians will say that you led the people out but were unable to lead them into the promised land.”. Moses prayed with this focus of who God was and what God wanted and what was best for God.
The first lesson is that we should be careful how we approach God in prayer. We should be careful when we approach God and realize that we are approaching the creator as intimate, “our Heavenly Father”. As infinite, “hallowed be thy name”. See, the sad thing about prayer is that in many instances as Christians we have turned prayer into a formality. Isn’t it true that you have somebody to pray for the meal “Heavenly Father, thank you for this food and have it bless our body. Amen”? We say that as the spoon is coming up to our mouths. It’s a formality. Sometimes I hear preachers say “Turn your Bibles and go with me to Romans Chapter 4 and while you’re turning there let’s pray.”. What that turns into is just a simple formality, simply something you must do right before you preach.
Here’s all I’m saying, Jesus teaches us that when we come to God in prayer, we should come with the understanding that we are coming before God Almighty. It’s not a formality. It’s not something we do. It’s not a religious, vain repetitious thing that we have to pray. When we pray, we are coming to God our Father in heaven. I’m not saying we need to make a big show out of prayer. What I am saying is that before you enter into prayer, you should pause for a second and realize who you’re speaking to. I’ve heard it described this way “There should be a holy hush before you pray”. Think about who you’re speaking to and in whose presence you are about to enter. We should realize that we get the privilege to come into the throne of grace and prayer and it may be that the purpose of prayer is not to remind God about the things we need but for God to remind us of who he is.
Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”. We can come boldly because he is intimate “Our Father”. He is also infinite “King of Kings”. Hebrews 10:19 “19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,”. Do you realize when you say “Let’s pray” and then you bow your head that you are spiritually entering the holiest of holies in heaven. The throne of God’s grace in heaven. When you pray “Heavenly Father. Thank you for this food. Bless our bodies. Amen.”. That is casual. I’m not telling you to make a big show out of it. This is why Jesus said don’t be like the hypocrites that pray on the street corners and make a big show. But what I am saying is that we must realize that prayer is communication with an Almighty God and we may just want to pause for a moment and realize that we are speaking to the intimate and infinite creator. Jesus told us to pray after this manner.
Let me just give you a little bit of prayer etiquette just to help you out and especially those of you who stand behind this pulpit and pray. You need to listen right now. The Bible teaches that we should direct our prayers to the Father. Now obviously God the father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all co-equal in coexistence. But when Jesus was asked to pray and to teach his disciples to pray, he said “I want you to do it this way”. “Our Father which art in heaven. Our prayers should be directed to God the Father. Now that’s not to say that there is never time that your prayer is directed to another member of the Godhead. For example, and this is just my opinion, but what we call the sinner’s prayer or when somebody calls upon Christ for salvation, that prayer should be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re calling upon Christ for salvation. But after you’re saved, Jesus says direct your prayers to your Father. So when you pray, direct it to God the Father.
Let me just give you a little bit of prayer etiquette. The Bible says that the reason that you and I get to come to God in prayer is because we are sons of God. Why are we sons? Because we receive the spirit of adoption, the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ. He is the reason we get to come to God in prayer. So the Bible says that we are to end our prayers in this way. “in Jesus’ name”. Why do I get to come to God in prayer? Not because of my own righteousness but because of the name of his Son Jesus Christ. And look, I’m not mad at you. I’m just trying to help some of you out. Some of you end by saying “in our name Amen”. You start by praying in the Father’s name but some of you end by praying in the Father’s name. I’m not mad at you. I’m just telling you that we aren’t Oneness. We direct our prayers to the Father and we close the prayers in the name in which we get to pray “The Lord Jesus Christ” in Jesus’ name Amen. You can say something like “in the matchless name of Christ” or something else also. But realize that there is a theology to our prayers. We pray to the Father in the name of the Son. The Holy Spirit brings those prayers to God. This is the theology of prayer. So be careful about this. Now the other extreme can happen when you preach a sermon like this. People can make it way too over the top and make a big show of prayer. I’m not saying we should make a show of it but we should check our own heart and ask if prayer just a formality in our lives something. When we pray before we eat, is it that we actually believe we are communicating with an intimate and an infinite God or is it just a formality.
You might be thinking “This is too long. I have a lot of needs and I don’t have time to get down on my knees and raise my hands up to heaven all the time like Hezekiah did to acknowledge who God is and his power.”. Remember that your Heavenly Father already knows what you need. The purpose of prayer is not to remind God what you need but to remind us of who God is and what his place in our lives is. Then there is a 2nd purpose of prayer. Matthew 6:10 “10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”. The purpose of prayer is not only to remind us of who God is but it reminds us of who we are.
When we pray, we have to check ourselves a little bit. Your prayers have to be filtered through this idea “thy kingdom come”. What does that mean? It means that I’m not building my kingdom. I’m building God’s kingdom. When I pray, I’m not building my ministry. I’m building God’s ministry. When I pray, I’m not building my business. I’m building God’s business. When I pray, I’m not building my family. I’m building God’s family. When I pray, I’m not building my life. I’m building God’s life. Do you understand? See, we often are thinking about “give us”. But Jesus said that before you get there, realize that God is intimate and infinite. God can do anything. Before we start asking God to do anything, we need to remember that we must filter through “thy kingdom come”. We need to want to get on God’s plan and program. Because if we are honest, isn’t most of our prayer about trying to get God on our plan? Getting God on our agenda? If we were honest, most of our prayer is “my kingdom come”. God build my life, build my business, build my kingdom. I believe that most of the time that our prayers don’t get answer, it is because we’re not aligning our prayers to the kingdom of God.
1st John 5:14 “14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”. The key mentioned is that it is in his will. Maybe prayer is not reminding God about what you want. Maybe prayer is God reminding you about what he wants. “thy kingdom come”. What does that mean? It means that I’m building your kingdom, I’m not building my kingdom. I’m building your ministry; I’m not building my ministry. This is not my ministry. This is not my family. These are not my finances. This is not my business. This is not my health. Whatever you are praying for, we should make sure that we are pushing God’s kingdom and not our own.
Matthew 6:10 “10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”. What does that mean? It means that we are pushing God’s agenda and not our agenda. And again, if you ask the question of “Why should I pray if God already knows what I want?” then you don’t understand the purpose of prayer. Prayer is not us reminding God about what we need. Prayer is reminding us who God is and it is reminding us who we are in God’s plan. I’m not praying to get God on my agenda. I’m asking that God would put me on his agenda. God only answers prayers that are according to his will. If the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Savior of the universe had to go to God in prayer to align his will to the Father’s will then you better realize what the purpose of prayer is.
Matthew 26:36 “36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”. Did Jesus in his flesh want to die? Did Jesus in his humanity want to go to the cross? No he did not but he aligned himself with God the Father’s will. Verse 42 “42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”. What if the purpose of prayer was to remind you who God is and to remind you of the purpose of prayer? What if the purpose of prayer was not to get God to align himself with us but to get us to align ourselves with God? You might find that some of your prayers start getting answered. See, we must pray according to the will of God. We must pray according to the kingdom of God. We must pray, not that God would build our kingdom but that God would build his kingdom. Here’s why our prayers don’t get answered. Because they’re selfish.
James 4:2 “2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”. Sometimes your prayers don’t get answered because you’re not praying. That’s why your prayers don’t get answered. But a lot of times when we do ask, we ask in the wrong way or for the wrong things. “3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”. Our place in prayer is to remind us who we are and to align ourselves with God.
So the question is this. Why pray when God already knows what we need? “Your heavenly father knoweth that you have need of these things before you ask”. The carnal Christian that’s walking in their flesh, the Christian that does not understand prayer says “If God already knows why ask? He never answers my prayers anyway.”. It reveals the fact that you have a misunderstanding of prayer. You think the purpose of prayer is to try to talk God in to getting on your plan. And Jesus says no. Before we talk about what we can get, let’s align ourselves with God. Let’s remember who God is. “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”. Let’s align ourselves and remind ourselves of who we are. It’s not my agenda. It’s God’s agenda. “Thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”.
So here’s your homework assignment. Last week we gave you a homework assignment. We asked “When do you pray? Where do you pray? Why do you pray?”. I hope you’ve been praying this week. Here’s your homework assignment. I want you to pray through the Lord’s prayer. Now don’t misunderstand what I said. I don’t want you to pray the Lord’s prayer. We’re not Catholics. Go to Matthew 6:7. “7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”. I don’t want you to pray the Lord’s prayer. I want you to pray through the Lord’s prayer. So what does that mean? That means that you’ll take some time this week and you’ll approach God in a loving and reverential way. You don’t have to quote the words from the Lord’s prayer but you will remember that God is your Father, he’s intimate, God is hallowed and high, holy and lifted up, infinite. And you’ll say “God, I have a lot of needs. I may not have time to go through all of them. The good thing is you already know what I need. But I want to take some time to remember who you are and who I am. And like the Lord Jesus Christ, would you help me to align myself to you. Thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”.
I want to encourage you to come back next week because next week we’re going to get to the part of prayer that most of us want. We’re going to get to the “give us”. Now a little bit of a spoiler alert. You’ll notice that Jesus does not take prayer requests. He doesn’t start asking “Well what do you want?”. In fact, Jesus begins to direct us in different categories as to how we should ask. I’ll give you the thoughts. He says we should pray for provision, pardon and protection. Next week we’re going to learn how to properly ask God in prayer. Because prayer is asking and receiving. But for now I just want you to remember this verse. Matthew 6:9 “9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”. It may be that we have the incorrect idea. We think prayer is us working on God. And God says no. Prayer is me working on you.
Let’s pray.