SERIES: When We Pray
TEXT: Matthew 6:5-14
MESSAGE: “Learning How To Ask”
How does it end?
“…And so the woodcutter did not change his lot. He did not become a king. His purse was not filled with gold. He was only too glad to use his remaining wish in restoring his poor wife to her former state.” — Charles Perrault (The Ridiculous Wishes)
Q: How do we ask for what’s best for our lives?
“In the original Greek, Jesus’ admonition to “pray this way” was a “present imperative” which makes this a command that we are to always and continually obey. Jesus was serious about our need to learn to pray according to this pattern.” — Daniel Henderson
Here’s the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer: (Henderson)
- Upward to God — (v. 9 — Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be your name)
- Downward in humility (v. 10 — Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done)
- Inward for needs (v. 11-12 — Give us this day (resource needs), forgive us our debts (relationship needs)
- Outward for battle (v. 13 — Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” — Matthew 7:7-11
TEXT: Matthew 6:11-12
Q: How do we ask for what’s best for our lives?
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that God knows our…(1. Daily Needs 2. Resource Needs 3. Relational Needs)
- Daily Needs (v. 11a)
“Give us this day…”
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” — Acts 17:24-25
“Give recognizes that our basic food is not the result of our unaided endeavor; it is the gift of God, while today is important as pointing to a day-by-day reliance on God. The prayer encourages a continuing dependence on God; it does not countenance a situation in which the disciple asks God for a supply for a lengthy period, after which prayer he can go on for some time in forgetfulness of God. He depends on God constantly, and this dependence is expressed in this prayer.” — Leon Morris
“For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” — 1 Corinthians 4:7
- Resource Needs (v. 11b)
“…our daily bread.”
“Christians therefore should pray daily for the next day’s provision of life’s essentials as they recognize that all sustenance for one’s life comes from God and that he makes no long-term future guarantees. The average affluent Westerner more than likely plans and prays for “annual bread” except perhaps in times of extreme crisis. It is also worth noting that the prayer makes request for our needs and not our greed.” — Craig Blomberg
- Relational Needs (v. 12)
“…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” — Ephesians 4:32
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” ― C.S. Lewis
“This certainly does not mean that our forgiveness of others earns us the right to be forgiven. It is rather that God forgives only the penitent and that one of the chief evidences of true penitence is a forgiving spirit. Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offense against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offenses of others, it proves that we have minimized our own.” — John Stott
TAKEAWAYS: How can we learn to grow in prayer?
- Prayer Grows Through Prioritizing
“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” – Corrie ten Boom
- Prayer Grows Through Persistence
“After I had arrived in Ireland, I found myself pasturing flocks daily, and I prayed a number of times each day. More and more the love and fear of God came to me, and faith grew and my spirit was exercised, until I was praying up to a hundred times every day and in the night nearly as often.” — St. Patrick (Autobiography entitled “Confession”)
“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” — Matthew 26:39