July 7, 2019
Evening Service

This morning Jesus explained to us the attitude we need to have concerning our giving and about prayer.  Neither is to be done as the hypocrites “sounding a trumpet” to say “look at me and what I am doing.”  These are both to be discreetly, humbly and willingly with a grateful heart out of love for our Savior.  Our giving is to imitate our Savior and be done in a “cheerful” manner not as a burden or duty.  Our prayer life should be a treasured time of each day that we come openly and honestly into the presence of not only our Lord and Savior, but our best friend.  We come as we are and “cast all our cares upon Him, because He cares for us.”  Tonight we are going to look at probably the most familiar part of the Sermon on the Mount which is a prayer that we often call “The Lord’s Prayer.”  It is a wonderful prayer to memorize as many of us have done, but it really is a pattern for our prayer life to follow.  There have been books written on just this prayer as it is packed full of helpful guidance.  Let’s look together at it and see what the Lord has for us.

Mat 6:9-13 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  (10)  Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  (11)  Give us this day our daily bread.  (12)  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  (13)  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

            This gives us a quick overview that our prayers should include praise toward God, yielding of our will to His, our daily needs, and help for our struggles.  Let’s break each of these parts down and dig a little deeper with a magnifying glass.

 

Praise toward God:

            The phrase of “Our Father in heaven” indicates God in His dual role to each of us.   First, He is the Majestic and Holy Creator of this world who sits in heaven and holds the whole world within  the power of the sound of His voice.  “Hallowed be Your Name” acknowledges our reverence to who He is recognizing His divinity and transcendence.  As we enter into prayer, we are entering into a holy conversation that we should not take lightly.  We have a reverent fear of who He is.

Secondly, He is also our Loving and Caring Heavenly Father who invites and welcomes us into His presence as an earthly father welcomes his child to sit on his knee and call him “Daddy.”  We have a personal love for Him as we know He loves us more than we can even comprehend.  Just to be welcome in His presence is a blessing in itself.   

In respectfully acknowledging both of these roles that God fulfills in our prayers we bring Him praise and honor.  It is a fearful thing to come into the presence of the King of Kings, but also humbling to know that He desire us to come.  Our prayers need to include our praise to God, not only our requests.

 

 

 

 

Yielding our will to His:

            In praying for “His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we acknowledge that He is God and we are not.  We ask for His perfect will to be done not only in this day and at this present time, but also in the time in the future that we can all see rapidly approaching.  God’s will and desire is that “all men to be saved and to come the knowledge of the truth.”  (I Tim 2:4) We are committing ourselves to trust His plan that will give the opportunity to everyone to enter into that saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  Our heart, soul, and mind believe that in the end we will win and simply ask God to complete what He has started in our lives as well as with all mankind.  We desire His will to be done in the “big picture” as well as in our personal lives.

            When we come to Jesus, we come to die to ourselves.  The path that He calls us to walk may not be the path we would choose, but we yield our will to His.  He is the Potter and we are the clay.  He is in control and we are not.  Prayer changes things, but in the end it is God who says “Yes or No” just as He did to Jesus in the Garden and it us up to us to accept it.  He has a plan for each of our lives and our desire needs to be that He fulfills that in us for His glory.  We are just a tool in the Master Carpenter’s hand.  Our prayer life needs to reflect the yielding of our will to His.

 

Our Daily Needs:

            In asking our Heavenly Father to “give us this day our daily bread,” we place God as our Provider and Sustainer of the things that we need in this world to survive.  Jesus, later in this chapter asks us “Why do you worry about your life; food, health or clothing?  If He feeds and cares for the birds of the air and clothes the fields with flowers of great beauty, don’t you think He will take care of you?”  We often proudly want to think that we can care for ourselves, but in asking God to care for us we acknowledge our need for Him. Everything that we have has come from Him.

Our prayer also gives us the undivided attention of God. You have not because you ask not.  Don’t ever hesitate in asking God for your heart’s desire even a miracle, but do it in a humble manner.  There is nothing beyond His control.  He always seems to give us far more than we deserve.  Our prayers need to acknowledge our need for God in our daily lives.

 

Help for our Struggles:

            Jesus not only includes our need for God in our physical health, but also in our spiritual life as well.  We never need to lose sight that we are “sinners saved by grace” and need our loving and merciful God to forgive us of our shortcomings.  We recognize our need for a Savior.  We also call for the help of the Holy Spirit to assist us to forgive those who sin against us as well.  Forgiveness and mercy do not come naturally for us, but we need His Spirit to empower us to forgive as we have been forgiven.

  We also remind ourselves that we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to keep us out of areas of temptation in our lives and to deliver us from the ones we do encounter.  Our faith grows as we encounter “temptations or tests and trials” in this life and no one is exempt from them.  By asking God to help us recognize them as temptations, we are able to look at these times as an opportunity to shine for Christ rather than one for failure.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  (Phil. 4:13) Our Father is not only our Savior, but He is our Keeper as well.  Our prayer life needs to reflect our need for God to walk a life that pleases and brings glory to Him.

            The Lord’s Prayer is a great pattern for us to follow in our prayer lives, but it is also important that we are open and honest with God as we converse with Him.  In that time praise Him for who He is and what He has done for you.  Yield your will to His acknowledging that you trust Him to “work everything for the good.”  Ask for Him to meet all your needs and He will give you more than you deserve every time.  Seek His help and guidance in your spiritual walk as you strive to be all that God has planned for you to be.

 

Heavenly Father please strengthen our prayer lives to be the key to our growth in you.