What Should You Pray About?
Intro:
1. To grow up spiritually, you need to pray consistently. (I Thess 5:17) But how do you pray? What do you say? Do you simply memorize a little saying & repeat it every time you are asked to pray aloud?
2. Recite the Lord’s Prayer from Matt 6:9-13. Do you believe what you have just prayed?
3. Let’s look at the Lord’s sample prayer to see what kind of prayer pleases Him.
Luke 11:1-4
I. God Wants You to Prepare to Pray
A. v2 - Hallowed be God’s name.
1. God wants you to prepare to pray by reverencing His name.
2. You reverence His name by realizing who you are & Who you are addressing!
a. Hallowed = αγιάζω translates בָּרַךְ in LXX which means to kneel before. II Chron 6: 13 - Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. So - to dedicate or to make holy, so - a sacred respect. This is almost exclusively a Biblically influenced Koine word.
b. Name = ονομα. A person’s name referenced his whole being, who he is as a person.
B. v4 - For we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
1. God wants you to prepare to pray by making reconciliation with anyone who has contention with you.
2. Lord Jesus said that reconciling yourself to others comes before worshipping Him! (Matt 5:23-24)
3. Lord Jesus told a parable about what God thinks of an unforgiving person after he has been forgiven for all of his sins. (Matt 18:23-35)
II. God Wants You to Pray About Certain Things
A. v2 & Matthew 6:9 - God’s will to be done.
1. Where is God’s will to be done? In you! Col 3:15 - Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts . . .”.
a. The earthly part of the kingdom of God is the church - where His children are learning to obey His will!
b. The church is a support group who gather to adore Jesus together & help one another grow spiritually!
2. Answered prayer & righteousness are related. Prov 15:29 - The Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
a. Lord Jesus made you righteous when you trust in what He did for you on the cross! Gal 3:11 - The righteous will live by faith.
b. Your attitude needs to be right when you approach the Lord. ILL: Dwight L Moody quote.
5. Examples of people letting God rule in their hearts:
a. ILL: Moses at the Fiery Bush (Ex 3:1-5, 16 & 4:29-31).
b. ILL: The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace (Dan 3:1-30).
c. Examples of God’s will in the lives of the Apostles:
1. Beneficially - In the escape Peter made from prison (Act 12:6-10).
2. Adversity in the life of Paul (II Cor 11:24-28).
B. v3 - God giving you daily provisions.
1. God will because He promised He would.
a. He wants you to ask persistently (Lk 11:5-9).
b. He wants you to ask trusting Him (Matt 21:22).
c. Lord Jesus tells us that seeking God’s will results in His taking care of our physical needs (Matt 6:33).
2. Examples of God’s provisions:
a. In Matt 6:26, Lord Jesus said that God feeds the birds. But they have to go out & find the worms!
b. In Matt 6:28-29, Lord Jesus said that God clothes the common field flowers.
c. In Ex 16:13ff, God rains manna in the morning & quail in the evening for the Israelites every day for forty years. But they had to go out & gather the food!
d. God also provided water occasionally from a rock for them.
C. v4 - God granting His forgiveness.
1. Lord Jesus died on the cross so that your sins might be forgiven. (Rom 5:9).
2. You find that cross by seeking His kingdom & His righteousness (Matt 6:33).
3. You respond initially to that cross when you repent & are baptized (Act 2:38 & 22:16).
4. As a believer, you continue to seek forgiveness as sins creep into your life. I Jn 1:9 promises that if we genuinely confess our sin, He will forgive & cleanse us from sin each time. Each prayer ought to be confession time!
5. BUT - God wants you to be a forgiving person before you can expect to be forgiven by Him! ILL: The Unforgiving Servant! (Matt 18:23-35).
D. v4 - God’s direction away from temptation.
1. How does God lead you today? Primarily through His word & His providence.
2. How are you tempted? We are tempted by our own lust (Jam 1:13-14).
a. Satan is a player in all of this! (Job 1:6-12 & 2:1-7).
b. Some of the temptations are obvious: sex, drunkenness, recreational drugs, overeating, etc. We don’t need God’s direction away from that!
3. God’s word tells us that our tendencies are not righteously oriented:
a. Is 53:6 says we have all turned to our own way.
b. Dan 7 shows us that the great world empires are greedy, brutal & beast-like.
c. Jam 4:1 tell us that fighting & wars come from selfish desires.
d. It’s important to always have the right attitude when you pray. ILL: “We cannot pray . . . “
4. SO -
a. How does God deliver you from evil?
1. He promises a way of escape! (I Cor 10:13).
2. When Lord Jesus was tempted, He used the escape route! Memorized scripture!
ILL: Lord Jesus Overcame Temptation (Matt 4:1-11).
b. You need continual direction from God’s word!
c. The only way God will lead you is if you want Him to.
Surrender your life to Him!
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