Matthew 6 - Our Lord teaches us to pray Part 1

Now let’s look at Jesus’ teaching on prayer for us! We see His first teaching of course in Matthew 6 at the Sermon on the Mount....

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

The context of Matthew 6 of course is Jesus contrasting the ways of the Kingdom of heaven vs. this world (including its religious system).  This includes those that claim to follow and know God but show by their actions they really don’t.  Overall we see Jesus make this contrast between the outward display of religious devotion/ dedication vs. what is to be the inward reality displayed in those who are really devoted to the Lord and know Him.

The warning is clear.... don’t be a hypocrite!  In the Greek this word literally means a stage player, someone whose profession does not match their actions,... a pretender.  Jesus uses this word three times, in addressing all three ways of displaying devotion; alms giving, prayer and fasting.

The first thing Jesus is addressing here in prayer is motive.  Whose eyes are we living for?  Is it for the eyes of men or the eyes of God?  Paul said it so succinctly in Galatians 1 verse 10, where he said if he is seeking to please men, he is no longer a servant of the Lord.... they are diametrically opposed.

 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

To those who are truly His disciples, they are told where they are to find their place of communion, alone with Him.  This is the way of the Kingdom of heaven; if you want to be “seen” by the Lord you do it in secret. It’s the antithesis of the ways of the world, a world of self-promotion, and self-exaltation.   A world that wants everyone to see how “good I am” a world of social media that wants to post and make known ones life to all (some times almost every detail!).

The way of the Lord is a way of demonstrating He is our first love, by giving Him undivided attention and undistracted communion.  This is the bulls-eye of our lives.  If this isn’t being done, we are living out of order and will not walk in our full destiny.  Abiding with Him starts here.... and we know He said apart from Him we can do nothing.

The enemy will fight you tooth and nail here.  He will do anything to keep you from being connected to Him and from having this time.  As I said before, if you don’t believe in the reality of spiritual warfare, just determine to have more alone time with the Lord in prayer and tell me of your experience.  Pray until you pray.  Know that the Father delights to have this time with you more than you do, and it’s worth all your effort to contend for that alone time with Him.

To pray in secret to the Father, is a life that is rewarded.  Rewarded with a deeper sense of walking with Him and the nearness of His presence, favor, guidance, answered prayer, joy, vision, fulfillment to name a few things.  Is that time worth fighting for, protecting and cherishing?  With everything in you! With all that you have! Yes, yes, yes!!!

 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

I saw this first hand overseas living in West Africa.  All night prayer meetings in a sect of Islam, repeating the same phrase over and over for hours.  This is the evidence of a lack of relationship.  This is evidence of resorting to formula because you don’t know if you are really being heard or not.  However, in the reality of the new birth by the Holy Spirit upon belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are to know that we’ve been given the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.”

I would just say a couple of things to this “vain” repetitions in possible application for us though.  First let us be careful of “fillers” in our prayers.  In other words, constant words used repeatedly in prayer that are “automatic” but show not a natural conversation but perhaps used to prevent being stalled in prayer.  Such words as “just” or even using “Father” or “God” or “Jesus” over and over in a way you wouldn’t address someone naturally in conversation if you were talking to anyone else.  I myself used to use fillers, and was gently rebuked by a brother.  At first I was somewhat offended, but then God convicted me it was true and showed me my pride in being offended.

Second, in the area of speaking in tongues, let us remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14, “Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.  What is the conclusion then?  I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with understanding.  I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”  Let there be a prayer for understanding rather than just any form of automated disengagement in ones mind.

We’ll go into the prayer itself that Jesus taught next time...

Finding your voice in the Psalms

The Psalms are a collection of prayers that obviously availed before the Lord, and He wanted to be recorded for all time.  I believe they are one of the most important ways to learn how to pray.  Even our Lord Jesus prayed the Psalms and they were used to not only fulfill the messianic prophecies concerning Jesus, but I believe used to encourage Jesus while He was on earth in facing trials and temptations (“for He was tempted in all ways yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15)).  I believe Jesus, even as He quoted Psalm 22 from the Cross in the anguish of being separated from the Father when He became sin on our behalf, received strength in the rest of that Psalm and in how it ends (see v.21b-31).

With half of the Psalms written by David, we should be reminded as we read the transparency of his Psalms that this is what the Lord looks for in us as well.  David was said to be a man after His own heart, and we can see this most clearly as he pours out his heart to the Lord God Almighty.

We have been given this incredible resource and treasure in the Psalms.  The Psalms have been used over and over, to articulate what often is difficult to articulate in prayer during times of trail and hardship as well as expand our vocabulary of thanksgiving and praise in times of victory and answered prayer.

Find your voice in the Psalms.  The more you do, the more it will be a part of you and your prayers intertwining with the Word of God.  The more it will build your own faith up, that You are being heard by the Lord, even in the valley of the shadow of death, even in the times of great betrayal, loneliness and deferred hope.

For the next month may I offer you a challenge?  Would you read five Psalms a day, but not just read them, pray them out loud and make them your prayers.  Maybe take three in the morning, one at lunchtime and one in the evening (see Psalm 55:17).  Or however you want to do it....

Personalize them, take a moment and by the power of the Holy Spirit lift them up as your own heart felt prayer in Jesus Name.

Include your family on some of the readings, perhaps when you read them in the evening.  Or read a psalm as a family before your meal each evening (if it’s a shorter Psalm J).

As you read them...

 Declare the praises of God through the Psalms. 

Make confession through the Psalms.

Make known what has been troubling you through the Psalms.

Understand when the Psalms talks about ones enemies that it still applies to you and I because we know the enemy is spiritual and so pray it that way (Ephesians 6:12).

Claim the promises revealed by faith as you pray through the Psalms

Pray the truths of the Psalms as you read them not only over you, but over your family in Jesus Name.

Let’s believe the Father that these prayers will truly be answered, and let’s expect to encounter Him through this time of praying the Psalms over the next thirty days or so.

As you read them, perhaps a certain name or situation will come to mind as you read a particular Psalm.  Write it down in your journal with that Psalm number next to it, and believe God for His answer in that person’s life or in that situation.  Again let the Holy Spirit bring life into the Psalms as you read them.  Read them with unction, with energy and conviction.   Where it says “He” about the Lord, say “You” as you address Him personally coming before His Throne of Grace. Pray them out loud.  Pause as you read them to reflect on the words you are saying to the Father.

Let’s begin....

Next time we’ll go into the New Testament teaching on prayer...

2 Chronicles 7:14 - A principal for revival

If you are like me, you’ve probably heard this verse used a few times in prayer meetings, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

To be honest I saw the truths in this verse but I didn’t see or feel the impact until I heard of amazing testimonies of God’s response to people doing this very thing in recent times.  We were seeing the beginnings of transformation where my family and I were serving on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, but it was in meeting George Otis Jr. and hearing his testimonies, and those places covered in the “TransforNations” documentaries through the Sentinel Group that my eyes were truly opened.

I also had the honor of meeting Walo Ani, a dear brother and church leader from Papua New Guinea with still more amazing testimonies of transformation over towns and regions as God responded to this promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14.  I now see so much more of the weight of this incredible promise.

The truth of 2 Chronicles 7:14 also lines up with what we saw earlier already with Moses and Daniel’s prayers.  It’s not God’s people engaging with spiritual entities in the heavenly places that brings revival, but rather God response to His people humbling themselves in prayer, repenting and seeking Him!

I saw this first hand on the Indian Reservation we ministered on in South Dakota.  Year after year (and it had been going on much longer even before we arrived!) people would come to “engage in spiritual warfare” by binding the principalities and so forth.  We don’t have time to go into the unbiblical aspect of this at this time, but suffice to say it would do a lot of people good to read John Paul Jackson’s book “Needless Casualties of War” on this unscriptural practice.  So many came to do this “high level spiritual warfare” or formula driven prayers and declarations, but no change.

However, the impact of what happened when the church in that reservation came together in unity (across denominations) and humbled themselves in repentance for the churches sins and asked for God to heal the land and touch the people was both immediate and undeniable in its impact.  Within weeks of this happening, one of the sun dance trees was pulled up from the ground by a whirlwind (even though the  base of the tree are buried 7 feet into the ground!) and another was struck by lightening (and disintegrated not just burned!).  There was a change in the atmosphere and more people were notably coming to the Lord or open to hear the Gospel then before.

I encourage you to see the “TransforNations” videos yourself to build your faith and see first hand how Almighty God has responded to His promise in recent times.   A clip can be found here....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X42oZ1O8hAk&t=13s

As we stated last time, judgment begins in the household of God, not with the unbeliever.  It is the believers who are called priests.  It is the believer who is heard by God and has a responsibility to pray not only for their families, but even kings and those in authority (1 Timothy 2).  It is the believer who is called to intercede and stand in the gap in Jesus Name and for His glory.

What is Father attracted to?  What does He respond to?  Humility.

Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;

You will prepare their heart;

You will cause Your ear to hear, - Psalm 10:17

For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite." – Isaiah 57:17

And of course James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 that God gives grace to the humble and many others...

In fact, for His glory, we are called to humble ourselves (1 Peter 5:6). 

Notice two things also in this verse of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

First we are called to actively be seeking the face of God.  There is a responsibility on our part to seek HIM.  This takes time and focus and energy and doesn’t have strings attached.

Second notice the order, it doesn’t say, “turn from their wicked ways, and seek My face...”  I believe this from the Word and from experience, that we don’t even know how blinded we are to our own compromises that God calls wicked, until we behold the light of His countenance as we seek Him.  Just like Isaiah who I’m sure was a “righteous” man in his desire to live according to the Torah, yet, when we saw God high and lifted up, he immediately recognized the sin of things he had spoken that were unclean in His eyes.

Its in seeking God that many times also the things we fill our time with can be exposed as idols or distractions.  It is in seeking God that we demonstrate our sincerity of wanting Him above all others, that I believe God then honors by drawing near and revealing His heart and His glory (which is His character, His essence).

This brings us to a place of repentance.  To the place of sincerity in our desire to turn from what is wrong and turn to what is right.  The place of genuine renewing of the mind, and a righteous anger to not return to what has not brought Him glory and honor and has grieved His Holy Spirit.  It’s time to seek the Lord.  It’s time we humble ourselves and take full responsibility for where He has placed us, and those He has surrounded us with.  May we ask for others to join together in this, and see true transformation take place in our communities, schools, cities and nation.  It starts with you and me.

Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

Break up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. – Hosea 10:12

Daniel - The beloved of God and his availing intercessions

I’ve been around a lot of prayer meetings, and one thing you begin to notice some times, are people praying out phrases they’ve heard from others that sounds good but if you’d ask them, “Where is that in the Bible?” They wouldn’t be able to tell you (nor could they because it’s not in the Word).  There’s also a lot of declarative prayers, declaring to the “principalities and powers” what they need to do and “binding” them over a city or country or so on.  Although a few verses will try to be used, one will not find such prayers in the Bible.  And where is all the fruit from such ongoing prayers?  Are they seeing Biblical results?

What are the prayers that moved the hand of God in the Old and New Testament?  What are prayers that move the hand of God today?  What we see are prayers of repentance.  Prayers of faith?  Absolutely, but in faith, prayers of humility and contrition. 

There’s such a presumption today in the church that you can actually hear people telling God what He is do in prayer meetings.  Or some who begin to blame God for inaction.  Where is this coming from?  I believe it’s coming from a culture that has bred entitlement, pride,  and a demanding impatient spoiled shallow spirituality.  What was God’s response to Job?  We need to teach this in our churches.  What was Paul’s response?  He quoted from the Old Testament (Psalm 51:4) when he said in Romans 3:4 that God would be found true but every man a liar that “You may be justified in Your words, and my overcome when You are judged.”

When we read Daniel’s intercession for the nation of Israel, we find a humble repentant heart that identifies with his people in confession.  We would be wise to follow His example. Isn’t this how Jesus taught us to pray?  “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..”

So what do we see in Daniel’s prayer of Daniel 9?  A prayer that got the attention of heaven so much he was visited by none other than Gabriel himself immediately in response with divine revelation.

We read such things as this;

v 4 O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

As we saw before, the prayers of others, like Abraham, Moses and Hannah, start with praise and an understanding of His character.  His holiness, His benevolence and His mercy.

5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

Daniel acknowledges there are consequences to rebelling against God’s Word. There is false teaching today in churches that say there are no consequences and nothing is altered in our relationship with God if we sin or don’t sin.  Really?  When Paul said in Galatians 6 to the church, that God will not be mocked, what a man sows that will he reap.  If he sows to the flesh he will reap destruction.  Or who can say there are no consequences and judgment when one reads of Jesus’ words to the churches of Revelation?  Or His warnings in the Gospels to those who do not do what He says but only confess Him with their mouth?  Or John in 1 John stating the way we demonstrate we really know Him is obedience? (1 John 2:3,4).

Do you see the first step in a prayer of repentance here?  It is taking full responsibility.  There’s no true humility or true repentance as long as we are like Adam and Eve in the Garden, casting blame on another.  WE must take responsibility, WE must acknowledge we have strayed far from God’s plumb line as a church.  We must return to a corporate identity in our prayers, in the face of a society that has trained and conditioned so many to be individualistic and detached from the corporate church.  Again, that’s not how Jesus revealed He views it in Revelation 1-3.  He is sees the church represented in that city.

7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

We’re taught today you shouldn’t feel shame in many churches.  True there is wrong shame, where one may feel shameful if we’ve done no wrong.  Or being tempted to feel shame for ones faith and being set apart for Jesus.  Or continued shame when we’ve confessed our sins to the Lord and have turned from them.  Yes, we reject this kind of shame.  We are not to be ashamed of the Gospel, of our Lord. 

But there is a shame that comes when we do wrong!  And this opens our eyes and understanding to flee from compromise, from immorality and dishonoring the Name of our King!  This is what the New Testament reveals as well as the Old!  (See verses Hosea 4:18, Ezekiel, Romans 6:21, 1 Corinthians 6, 15:21, 2 Thessalonians 3:4 for examples).

This sorrow, this godly sorrow leads us to repentance, (2 Corinthians 7:10) to reject the lie to just accept status quo, or have a fatalistic attitude about our lives or our society.  No, we are to rather take personal responsibility of bringing His Kingdom around us, and humbling ourselves in prayer for anyway we’ve misrepresented God’s Name and character, and ask Him to cleanse us by His blood, and use us to glorify His Name in all the Earth!

10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

 Daniel has this understanding because he knows the Law, he knows the Word of God. The more we are familiar with God’s Holy Word, the more familiar we are with Him.  His Word leads us to know His heart.  From this we have His perspective and will repudiate sin, we’ll have a deep desire to align ourselves with Him and His will.  Total submission, for He is worthy of nothing less!

16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Again do you see the focus of Daniel’s prayers?  It’s not about him, it’s not about his demands or a self focus.  He, like Moses, is concerned with the city that is called by His Name, Daniel asks for God’s sake not his or Israel’s.   

The Bible states clearly in 1 Peter, that judgment will begin in the house of God.  Not the LGBT community, or in Hollywood, but in God’s house!  It’s time we take full responsibility of our sins, and repent.  Repent not only of our own sin, but the sin of the churches in our city.  We too, in appealing to God’s gracious character can see mercy, and His answer come quickly.  In our next time together we’ll address this in one of the most well known verses of the Old Testament....