LORD TEACH US TO PRAY
Prayer can be intimidating. It was to me. When I would hear others pray so eloquently, using what seemed like all the right words and phrases, I knew that I would never be able to pray the way they did. I always avoided praying in front of others. When someone would ask for prayer volunteers, I’d be the first to put my head down, hoping that if I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me, kind of like a game of peek-a-boo with a toddler. What I failed to realize is that prayer is about relationship, not religion. Prayer should be from the heart, not from the head. Jesus made this very clear to His disciples when teaching them how to pray. Jesus said the following about prayer: Don’t pray for the acclaim of men (Matthew 6:5). Jesus isn’t telling us that we shouldn’t pray in front of people. Corporate prayer is an important part of the Church (Acts 23:24). He is asking us to examine our heart motives. If we are praying in front of people so we can appear more “spiritual” and obtain the praise of people, then our heart motive isn’t right and the reward we get here on earth is all the reward that we will receive. God does not reward hypocrisy Find a place alone for private prayer (Matthew 6:6). Jesus often went away by himself, away from the crowds to pray. He would go places like a mountain (Matthew 14:23) or the wilderness (Luke 5:16). The Lord tells us to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). What better way to be still than to be alone with Him, communing with Him, whispering the secrets of our heart to Him and listening for His response. Don’t repeat the same words over again (Matthew 6:7). There is no need to repeat a mantra to Him. Saying the same thing over and over again is religion, not relationship. Just be sincere and pray from your heart. You wouldn’t have an intimate conversation with a friend saying the same thing over and over, again, would you? No, probably not. Neither should you with God. Just be yourself. Use your own words, your vocabulary. The “Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Notice Jesus doesn’t say the Father knows what you need so you don’t need to ask Him. No, he says before you ask: But why? First, God wants a relationship with us. God is not a supernatural vending machine. Prayer is more than asking and receiving. Prayer is building a relationship with God by actively communicating with Him. Communication is key to relationship. Second, God works through Believer’s prayers. He is sovereign. He doesn’t NEED us to accomplish His will, but He sovereignly CHOOSES to use us to accomplish His will on earth. The method he has chosen to accomplish His purposes is the prayer of a believer. Model of Prayer Jesus set out a model prayer for us in Matthew 6:9-13. This prayer is not meant to be repeated over and over but is meant to be a model to follow when we pray. We will call it the ARMOR model of prayer. Adoration (Matthew 6:9) The Divine protocol for entering the presence of the Father is to start your prayer with praise and worship. Praise and worship focus your attention on God’s attributes and draw your heart to God! God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Reaffirm God’s will (Matthew 6:10) Reaffirm that God’s will be done in your life and the life of others. There are 5 areas that you can pray God’s will for. 1.God’s will is for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Pray for salvation for the lost and that all men know the truth. 2.God’s will is that a believer’s life produces the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Pray for fruit in your life and the life of others. 3.God’s will is that you be set apart/sanctified (1st Thessalonians 4:3). Pray Philippians 4:8 over your mind and the mind of others. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”. Pray 1st Corinthians 6:19-20 over your body and the bodies of others. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” 4.God’s will is that we live peaceful and quiet lives (1 Timothy 2:1-3). Pray for those in authority: your government leaders, church leaders, work leaders. 5.God’s will is that the church grow in peace, strength and numbers (Acts 9:31). Pray for your church. Manna (Matthew 6:11) Pray that the Lord give you your portion of spiritual bread for the day. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35). Jesus also said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This bread is the revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ. Also pray for the real bread you need to sustain you physically. Jesus assures us that all we need will be provided for as long as we seek His kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). Offer-up mercy, forgiveness and grace to others as Jesus gave to you (Matthew 6:12). Unforgiveness, bitterness, and resentment are characteristics of unhappy people. People who harbor these things cannot experience the fullness of joy that God offers to us. The Kingdom of God is built on the principles of love, mercy and forgiveness. Rescue (Matthew 6:13) Satan’s kingdom is real. We are tempted by Satan,
Pray with Boldness: Knowing Your Righteousness in Christ
Many people don’t pray because they believe that they are not worthy to approach the Father in prayer. They think the Father will not receive their prayers and that He will turn them away because of their past mistakes and indiscretions. They’ve heard about what Jesus did for them on the cross, but they fail to appreciate the significance of His work on the cross. They fail to understand their righteousness in Christ. To be righteous means to meet God’s standard; to be right with God. No one can be righteous by their own efforts, no matter how hard they try: no one except for Jesus. God made Jesus who had never sinned to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2nd Corinthians 5:21). Through His work on the cross, Jesus offers us the gift of His righteousness. All we must do is accept the gift by believing. Understanding Your Righteousness Will Deliver You from Fear, Condemnation, Guilt, and Shame There is no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment, a consequence that children of God will never face because they are FORGIVEN (1st John 4:18). You must truly grasp deep in your hearts that you owe nothing for your sin, that your debts are forgiven. “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The penalty for our past, present, and future sins is not held against us since Christ paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. Once you grasp this, you will be delivered from fear and condemnation and be able to confidently approach the Father in prayer. God doesn’t look at us through the lens of what we did but through the lens of what Jesus did on the cross. If you keep thinking about your past failures, you’ll begin to see yourself as a failure and the guilt and shame of your past will prevent you from confidently approaching God in prayer. One of Satan’s greatest weapons he uses against us is our past. Past sins that we have repented from are FORGIVEN. When you understand what Jesus did for you on the cross, you will not approach the Father in prayer with fear, condemnation, guilt, or shame. Instead, you will approach Him with boldness. When you understand that you are a child of God, you will have the confidence that whatever you face, God will move on your behalf. When you know that you are the righteousness of God, you will no longer feel distant or separated from God. When you know you are righteous in Christ, you will enjoy peace, quietness, confidence, and assurance forever. So what is stopping you today? Fear, condemnation, guilt, and shame cannot stand against the truth of God’s Word. Speak the truth of God’s Word to those lies and boldly approach God in prayer knowing that you will receive mercy and find grace in your time of need.
Everyone is Called to Pray
Everyone is called to regular prayer but not everyone prays regularly. Prayer is just an afterthought for many – hidden away until some test or trial forces us to bring it out of hiding and dust it off. What we fail to realize is that without prayer, we will not walk in the complete victory God has made available to us. According to the Gospel Coalition: The Bible mentions prayer 650 times The Bible records God’s answer to prayer 450 times The Bible shows us 25 instances of Jesus praying during His earthly ministry The Bible records Paul discussing prayer 41 times The Bible is our instruction manual for living. Like with any instruction manual, we shouldn’t ignore, or skip-over instructions that the “instructor” considers important enough to repeat. Let’s say you’re assembling a desk but choose to ignore the repeated instruction to check that the pieces face the right direction; you shouldn’t be surprised when the desk drawers won’t open and close correctly (OK, there may be a desk in my house like this…). How is not following the instructions of the Bible any different? If the Bible repeatedly instructs us to pray and we ignore these instructions, we shouldn’t be surprised when our lives just don’t work the way they should. If the number of times the Bible talks about prayer doesn’t convince us of the importance of prayer, then maybe this will: the Son of God and the man who wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament prayed and repeatedly instruct us to pray. Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23), “…spent the whole night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12), “in the early morning…got up… went away to a secluded place and was praying there” (Mark 1:35),”and fell on His face and prayed” (Matthew 26:39). Paul tells us to “pray continually” (1st Thess. 5:16), “devote [our]selves to prayer” (Colossians 4:2), “be…faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12), and “…in everything, by prayer and petition…present [o]ur requests to God” (Philippians 4:6-7). We are to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1), and Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Jesus prayed often. We, as imitators of Christ, should also pray. We should “armor up” with the Word!
Three Reasons Why You Should Pray
Everyone is called to pray, but not everyone prays. Some don’t pray because they believe that God doesn’t care about the smaller details of their lives. Others don’t pray because they believe that God doesn’t hear their prayers, and even if He did, He wouldn’t move on their behalf. All of these are good reasons not to pray, if they were true, but they aren’t. They are lies; lies which can easily be exposed by looking at the truth of the Word. God cares about every detail of our lives, no matter how big or small God cares so much about us that He knows the number of hairs we have on our head (Luke 12:7). When Jesus walked this earth, He didn’t just “show up” when it was a matter of life and death, but He also “showed up” when it wasn’t. Jesus cared enough about the details of a wedding that when the wine ran out, He made more (John 2:1-10). He cared enough about a crowd missing lunch that He multiplied a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish to feed 5,000. God cared enough for me that when I asked Him to help me find a lost cell phone, He showed me where to find it. If it matters to us, it matters to God; we can pray about everything and anything, and we should. God Hears Our Prayers How do we know that God hears our prayers? His Word says that He does. Psalms 34:15 reminds us that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.” In Jeremiah 29:12, God tells us that when we pray, He will listen. In Jeremiah 33:3, God tells us to call to Him and He will answer us and tell us great and unsearchable things. 1 John 5:14-15 urges us to confidently come to God in prayer because when we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. If it were true that God doesn’t hear our prayers, why would He spend so much time encouraging us to pray? God moves on this earth in response to believers’ prayers Sometimes when we pray, it seems God is not moving, but in reality, things are happening in the spiritual realm that we cannot see. Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days, waiting for God to move. For 21 days, he cried out to God, but there was only silence. Finally, an angel appeared to Daniel and said to him, “from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them..…” (Daniel 10:12). Daniel had no idea that from the moment he uttered the first word of his prayer, God began to move in the spiritual realm towards the answer. God heard Him. Sometimes we must wait longer than we want for the answer, and sometimes we don’t receive the answer we want at all. Instead of letting doubt take hold, we must trust that God is moving on our behalf and that He always has our best interests at heart. You are called to pray. You are called to communicate with your lifeline, with your one true path to peace, your heavenly Father. God cares about you and every detail of your life, no matter how big or small. God hears your prayers. He wants you to talk to Him. He wants a relationship with you. Don’t lose faith. Don’t lose hope. Sometimes it seems God is not moving on your behalf, but the truth is, you can’t always see Him moving; you can’t always see what He is setting in motion. Even in those times of silence, you can be assured that God is working things out with your best interests at heart; that He is working to give you hope and a future!
Focus on the Promise Not the Problem
When we face a problem, how many times do we find ourselves searching frantically for the answer, only to realize later that the answer was right there in front of us? We fail to see the answer because we are too busy focusing on the problem. That is exactly the situation a Samaritan woman found herself in one afternoon. Jesus was resting near a well in Samaria when a woman approached the well to draw water. Upon seeing the woman, Jesus offered the woman living water; water that if she drank, she would never thirst again. The woman, having no idea who Jesus was, answered: “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?” Instead of focusing on Jesus’ promise of living water, the woman focused on the problem that she saw standing between her and the living water: Jesus’ lack of a rope or bucket to draw the water. Her focus on what was not there kept her from seeing what was right in front of her. Jesus was patient with the woman and did not give up until she understood that the living water was Him! Her understanding came when she finally took her eyes off the problem and focused her attention on the promise. When my oldest daughter was a senior in High School, she served on the board of her high school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. As a board member, she was chosen to emcee the induction ceremony. Upon finding this out, fear plagued her. She didn’t want to speak at the event. She wanted to pass on this amazing opportunity. Thoughts ran through her head like “I am afraid to speak in front of my class, so how can I speak in front of hundreds of people?” “What if I forget what I’m saying?” “What if my voice shakes?” What if I mess the whole thing up?” “What if people know that I am afraid?” She spent time focusing on her fears instead of on God. The more she focused on these fears, the bigger they grew and the less sure of God she became. When she realized that focusing on the problem (her fear) did not help her find her answer (peace), she decided to adjust her focus. She began praying God’s promise of 2 Timothy 1:7. “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” By praying this promise, she began seeing past the problem and focusing on the bigger truth standing before her. She set her eyes on Jesus, not on her fear. Because of her renewed focus, her faith began to rise inside of her and her fears began to subside. On the evening of the ceremony, I approached her to give her my best wishes. She looked at me and said, “Mom, I’m not afraid” and she wasn’t. She went on stage in front of hundreds of people and spoke. Her fear was gone. She gave all glory to God because she knew and still knows that He gave her the spirit of power and love and enabled her to face this deep-rooted fear with His confidence and peace. The next time you find yourself toe to toe with a problem or circumstance that you can’t find your way around, stop focusing on the problem and start focusing on the Promise. For every problem that you face, God has the answer. God will speak to you and encourage you through His Word. Open your Bible, find His promise for your situation, and pray that promise. Focus on His promise and let it take root inside of you and before long your problem will not be able to stand – it will have to bow under the weight of the truth of the Promise. What are some of the promises that you are standing on? I’d love to hear from you.
Zeal for Our Father’s House – John 2:13-21
Shortly after Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana, Jesus and His disciples traveled to Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover celebration. Once in Jerusalem, Jesus and thousands of other Jewish people made their way to the Temple, the holiest place in the Jewish world. Upon entering the temple courts, Jesus “found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” As a convenience to those traveling far, sacrificial animals were sold in the temple courts. However, to purchase these animals and pay the required temple tax, visitors needed to present an acceptable currency. Money changers stationed themselves outside the Temple to offer currency exchange services for a premium. Jesus, when seeing this, “made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my father’s house into a market.” John 2:13-16 The temple courts had become a place of buying and selling instead of a place of worship. Jesus Caused A Stir in the Temple Courts Imagine the disciples’ surprise when Jesus made the whip and began driving out thousands of cattle and sheep from the temple court, scattering coins and overturning tables. The disciples had not been with Jesus very long. Now Jesus was causing a stir in the temple courts and publicly declaring that He was the Son of God. John 2:17 says that Jesus’ actions reminded the disciples of the Messianic Psalm, which says, “for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” Psalm 69:9 Jesus’ actions made it very clear that selling sacrificial animals and changing money in the temple courts was insulting to God and, therefore, insulting to Him. He certainly showed His zeal for His Father’s house, the Temple. The Temple was to be a holy place, a place of worship, yet the men selling the cattle and sheep were there to make money, not to worship God. When Jesus began driving out and scattering their profit, why didn’t they resist? Why didn’t the temple guard or nearby Roman soldiers stop Jesus? Sacrifices Are To Be Valuable One possible reason that Jesus was not stopped in the Temple is that when those in the Temple heard His words, “How dare you turn my Father’s House into a market,” they felt convicted. They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew that the Temple was a place for worship, not profit. They knew that selling sacrifices was not keeping with God’s purpose behind requiring sacrifice. A sacrifice was to be valuable to the person offering it: that is why God required the sacrifices to be the best of a person’s flock or his field, not something that a person would feel no “sacrifice” in giving. It wasn’t until after Jesus drove out the animals, scattered coins, and overturned tables that the Jews questioned His authority: They “demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’” John 2:18 Jesus answered them in a parable of sorts: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jew’s response was one of disbelief: “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” John 2:19-20 Jesus often used parables to explain spiritual things using earthly ideas. This time was no different. These words were prophetic to what would happen to Jesus. The Temple he spoke of was His body, which would be destroyed by death and then raised again in three days. Our Bodies Are God’s Temple Our bodies are also God’s Temple: although destroyed by sin, when we believe in Jesus, we are raised to a new life in Christ Jesus. Before Jesus’ death, God’s presence resided in the Temple behind a curtain and could only be approached by priests. But when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, this curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, and God’s presence became available to all through Jesus Christ. Matthew 27:51 Instead of a temple in Jerusalem, God now resides in all who believe in His Son. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” 1st Corinthians 3:16-17 We are God’s house, His Temple! Zeal for Our Father’s House When Jesus began driving out the cattle and sheep from the Temple court, scattering coins, and overturning tables, His actions were meant to “cleanse” His Father’s house, the Temple. Like Jesus, we should have zeal for our Father’s house. Instead of being complacent and allowing those things to corrupt us which do not honor God and do not accomplish His purpose, we should speak up and take action. God’s house is meant to be a place of worship and sacrifice, a holy place, a place that honors God. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1 Stop and ask yourself today: Does zeal for my Father’s house consume me? Am I offering my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God? I urge you not to be afraid to cleanse yourself of anything which distracts you or keeps you from focusing on your true and proper worship of the one who gave it all for us, Jesus!