A Meaningful Prayer Life

8/8/10 Sermon by Minister Michael Johnson

A Meaningful Prayer Life

Matthew 6:5-8

I have a question for the Sunday School students. Have you ever wanted something really bad? I mean really bad. So bad you were willing to do just about anything to get your hands on it? Of course you have! When I was your age, I wanted things really badly too. If there was something that caught my eye and especially if a friend of mine already had it, I would ask my parents over and over again hoping I would get that new toy that I wanted so much. Every once in a while my parents would let me have the toy, but it didn’t always work out the way I hoped. It all depended on what it was and if they felt it was appropriate for me to have.

Even when I didn’t get what I asked for I was still thankful. Well, maybe not right away! But when I really thought about it, I was thankful my parents loved me. I was thankful for how they cared for me and by how much time they spent with me. I knew their love couldn’t be found on the shelves of Toys R Us. My love and thanks to them was not about what they gave me, but about our relationship. I hope this is like the relationship you have with your family. It sounds a lot like our relationship with God, too. We might want something really, really badly and ask God for it. In turn, He might give it to us. Or, He might not. However, He loves us all the time. We should love Him all the time, too. We should thank Him and praise Him. We should strive to obey His command. To help us, God has blessed us with a gift to talk to Him. We call this gift prayer.

Let’s look at the Scripture for today. Matthew 6:5 first tells us what prayer should NOT be. It says it should not be done for others? Why do you think this is? God doesn’t want us praying out loud just so others can hear us and think we pray really good prayers. That would mean that we weren’t praying to God but that we were just talking out loud so that other people could see us and think more highly of us. That’s called pride, not prayer! This doesn’t mean that we can’t say our prayers out loud. No, not at all! How many of you pray before eating with your family? I know I do. Praying out loud is not the issue. God just wants us to make sure we are praying out loud for the right reasons.

The Lord is not telling us to pray so no one sees, but to pray in such a way that is sincere. Praying in secret is to pray not so others will see, but because we have an honest desire to praise Him. Think about it this way. Some of you may have seen a classmate of yours gives his teacher an apple. This seems like something nice to do, doesn’t it? Here is the question: did he wait until the classroom was full and then present the apple to the teacher? If so, he might be making sure everyone in the room knows he gave the teacher the apple. So giving the apple isn’t really about doing something nice for the teacher but was only done for his fellow students to see. It is for the other students to see how “good” he is by giving the apple to the teacher. What this passage is saying about praying out lout in front of other people isn’t about praying out loud but about praying out loud just so other people see and hear you.

If someone is praying just for others to hear then this prayer is hypocritical. It is a prayer that is done to look good. It is so others will think the person is a good person. As Matthew 6:5 states, “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.” Their reward is simply the attention they get from those watching and not from the Lord. When you pray who do you want your reward to come from? Your Heavenly Father or from an observer? So when you pray, even when others can see, do so because you are worshipping the Lord with all your heart. Don’t do it so others might think how good you are.

Now that we know we are to pray with sincerity, the next questions might be, what do we pray for? We are to pray for forgiveness, to praise and thank the Lord, to bring to him our needs and concerns. Verse 7 tells us, “When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.” Prayer is not about how many words we can use. It is about coming before the Lord with all our praise and concerns with confidence: confidence that God will listen to our prayers. We must have confidence he will answer our prayer as he sees fit. Praying to the Lord with confidence means to pray exactly what we need. This means we are not to repeat the same words over and over again because we’ve run out of things to say or because our prayer has become a routine prayer we say every day. Instead, we are to pray in a straightforward manner, to say our thanks clearly and to ask the Lord for what it is that we need.

This touches on the last verse that tells us the Lord knows what we need before we ask. Therefore, the Lord does not us to pray like this. “So, ummm, there is this thing I want to ask for Lord, but I am not sure if it is something I can get or if you can give it to me or even if you want to give it to me. You see I really need to do well on this test and I need your help. It would mean a lot to me if you could help me out. I mean, I know I ask for too much but I really need your help this time.” The Lord wants us to pray like this, “Lord Jesus, I need your help on this test. I know you can do anything and I know you always answer prayer. Lord I put my faith in You that You will give me the knowledge to do well on this test! In Jesus Name, Amen!” This is a straightforward prayer that addresses the Lord for who He is. He is our Creator. If he created us don’t you think he can help with anything in our lives? Of course he can! If this is true then we need not beat around the bush, but pray our needs and praises directly to Him. He already knows what we are going to pray. He knows what we need before we do!

It is important we don’t only pray for things we want, but also praise Him. The Lord has saved us from our sin. He deserves our praise. Psalm 103 is a prayer that starts, “Praise the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me praise his holy name.” The very last verse in the book of Psalms says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” Our praise is not to be partial or half-hearted. It is to be with all our soul. It is to be with all our being that we praise God. We can praise Him for anything. We can trust Him for anything. Even when things don’t go our way we can praise God because we trust he will carry us through. Again, when you pray, pray with humility. Don’t say to the Lord, “Look what I’ve done for you, I am not like the sinners of the world.” However, we pray, “Lord, I am a sinner and yet you bless me, thank you Lord for your grace and mercy.”

This type of prayer leads us to praying for the forgiveness and deliverance of our sin. We are to pray to the Lord that he forgiveness of our sin. You might have had a fight with a parent, brother or sister, your spouse or a friend. You may have been disobedient at home or made a mistake at work. Whatever the sin, we are to ask forgiveness from the Lord. Also, we are to pray that they Lord deliver us from the temptation of doing it again. Yes, this means that we are to ask the Lord to help us not sin even when we are tempted.

So what is the benefit of prayer? Well, it brings us closer to the Lord. If we do not pray then how can we connect with God? Consider this example. Think about a person in history that left behind writings or journals or something along those lines. It can be a king, an explorer, an athlete, a poet, a president, your great grandparents, or anyone. Do you have this person in your mind? Can you picture holding the letters they have written in your hand? In the letters they describe their personality, what food they like, what clothes they wore, and the fun things they like to do. They paint a clear picture of the world around them and the issues of their day. The letters tell stories of their childhood and adventures they’ve had. They even provide examples of how to treat others kindly. However, you don’t really have a relationship with this person, do you? This person is not present in your life to help guide you other than what you can extract through their letters. You cannot ask them for help or even ask follow up questions. You can only say, “I wonder what so-and-so would do in a situation like this.” It is only when you are able to communicate with that person in the present that you have a relationship. The same is with the Lord. Anyone can read the Bible and know what the Lord expects from us, His creation. However, without prayer there is no relationship.

Now think about someone you know really well, like your family or your friends. Perhaps it’s the person sitting next to you today. How do you stay close with each other? You talk to them! Let me address the Sunday school students first. How often do you talk to your parents? Do you wake up, get yourself ready for school, make your own breakfast, walk to school, walk home and then, when it’s time to eat dinner, thank your parents for the food on the table, eat dinner, and then say “Good night!” as you hurry off to sleep? No? That’s not how it works in your house? But is that how often we talk to God? Do we just thank Him for the meal we are about to eat and then rattle off a quick prayer right before we nod off to sleep? Is that a close relationship? Nooo!! We talk to our loved ones first thing in the morning, sometimes throughout the day and all the times we are together. But the Lord is even closer to us. We can talk to him at any place, at any time. At work or school, we can talk to Him without having to text him or leave a voice message or send an email. We call on His Name and He is there for us.

When we pray, we step into His presence and become closer to Him. This is why we pray in Jesus’ name. Jesus tells us that no one can come to the Father but through Him. John 14:16 states, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We don’t just add “in Jesus’ name” to our prayers as though they are some kind of magical words that grant us our every wish. Jesus is our Savior, not our servant. He called us into relationship with Him. Not the other way around. When we pray in Jesus we are acknowledging who we are in Christ and that because of Christ we can enter the Holy presence of the Father. When we enter His presence in the right spirit we draw near to Him as He draws near to us. We are shaped by our prayer life. If you pray to the Lord only for what you want or need then your relationship with Him will be only about what He can give you. He would be nothing more than a magic genie that serves you. If you pray not only for wants and needs, but also for forgiveness and a life that is more like Christ’s then you will have the kind of relationship you are supposed to have as His son or as His daughter. It will be a relationship that grows. It will be one of kindness, gentleness, and humility. You will not fear the world, but rely on the Lord. You will remember all His good works. You will be drawn ever more closer to Him.

So what can we take home about prayer? First of all it is important to pray not only for what you need, but also to confess sin and thank our Heavenly Father for His blessings. It is important to pray in a manner that is not timid or shy. We must pray trusting He will hear our prayer and answer it. We must pray knowing that how He answers our prayer will be according to His will and not ours. We must not pray to Him with many words that might sound good to others. Instead, we should pray directly, intentionally and in humility. He wants us to be in relationship with Him. We are to approach Him boldly and with confidence, knowing that we have been invited to have a relationship with Him through Christ our Lord. We must enter into the presence of the Lord with reverence. He will answer our prayer in the way He sees fit to answer. Like my example in the beginning, the Lord will only give us what He deems appropriate.

Ultimately, our prayer life will shape who we are in the Lord. Praise the Lord we do not need to feel separated from Him. Praise the Lord that He answers our prayer. Praise the Lord because He is our God and our Savior. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me praise His Holy name

⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.