Apostles Church

Matt 6:1, 5-8. Lord, teach us to pray. Prayer is simply communicating to God. Prayer is not natural and most of us struggle with it. No one ever thinks that they pray enough (can we just all admit that). In this series we want to be liberated from the crushing guilt we all feel about our lack of prayer and learn how to pray so that we can move forward in our relationship with God. 

Prayer is a privilege secured for us by Jesus.  It is not primarily a duty. Seeing it as a duty leads to feelings of guilt that result in short spurts of attempts at prayer meant to alleviate our guilt. it is a Privilege that we are to delight in; an opportunity to speak with the most important person in the Universe, not primarily an obligation.  Hopefully this perspective inspires and awakens desire for prayer in us. Secured by Jesus. Jesus has purchased this privilege. We pray “In Jesus’ name." What does that mean? Merit. Because God is Infinite, great and holy and we are small and weak and sinful, we do not have the right to approach him and enter into his presence. Is 59:1-2. But Jesus has made a way for us to enter God’s presence confidently. Hebrews 10:19-23. Christ has suffered and died to purchase this privilege for us. That alone should move our hearts to prayer. (God never promises to hear the prayers, let alone answer the prayers of those without Christ.) Mission. I John 5:13-15. Is this request in line with what God would want; in line with what he is doing in the world? In Jesus name, not a mantra and you don’t need to tag it on at the end of our prayers for them to be affective. It is about your hearts posture not about your vocabulary.

Prayer is about Communion not Control. Some pray to manipulate others. The text says that some pray to be seen by others so as to manipulate other's opinion about them. Hypocrisy: When public display exceeds our private devotion. These prayers have no value with God. Some pray to manipulate God. This views God as a vending machine. We get disillusioned and bitter when God does not deliver. Prayer is communing with, relating to God. in our inner room, away from others, we pray to our father as children, intimately, personally, honestly to know him. Wayne Grudem writes, "When we truly pray, we as persons, in the wholeness of our character, are relating to God as a person, in the wholeness of his character…It is only natural that God would delight in such activity and place much emphasis on it in his relationship with us." – Systematic Theology. In Paul Miller's, A Praying Life, he likens prayer to a family meal, pushing the dishes aside and lingering over coffee or tea in conversation. We have a hard time praying because we are focused on praying instead of God. Jesus tells us not to worry about using the right words. Family meal, we don’t focus on the act of  communication or using the right words, but we focus on who we are talking to. Miller, Prayer is the means of communing with God. Focusing on prayer “is like looking at the windshield instead of through it. It freezes you.” Apple Facetime commercial is moving and brilliant commercial. But we miss the point if we can’t see past the technology and connect with the people. Focusing on its features and how it works instead of whose life it allows you to enter into is to make the means the matter.

            This frees us from “Prayer doesn’t work.” (we will deal with this in the series.) That is vending machine, not family meal. Meal is always more nutritious. God is our Father, intimate, personal, wise, involved. Reward. There is a reward when we approach prayer correctly. The reward is Him, and the calm confidence knowing that He is attentive, interested, active, and involved in our lives and we are going to be OK. How to make prayer always fruitful? Make time with God the reward; see it as an occasion to acknowledge God’s active presence in your life. Christ died so you could have this privilege.

Application: There are 400 million users on Facebook; over 500b minutes per month. Over 1/3 women 18-34 say FB is the first thing they do in the AM, even before the bathroom. Connecting to so many people. But not very connected to God. What if we disconnected a little. The series challenge: During this series, begin the day with at least 7-10 minutes in prayer. Don’t focus on right words; focus on God. Revisit him throughout the day.