Matthew 6 - Our Lord teaches us how to pray Part 2

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Just as we see Jesus focus on the secret personal aspect of prayer with the Father, so we see from His teaching the expectation and normalcy of corporate prayer by starting out with “Our Father.”  We also see Jesus, as the author and finisher of our faith, invite us into the same relationship that He modeled in addressing God as “Father.”  This should cut through a lot of divisive rhetoric of calling God by His “proper” name.  Whether that is Christians speaking strongly we must address Him as “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” or even “Yeshua” the word used by our Lord to show we have relationship with Him and unity of spirit, is simply calling Him our “Father.”   That’s even a point to make for Jehovah witnesses who say God must be called “Jehovah”, you can simply ask if Jesus was our model according to Hebrews 12:1 (to which they will agree) and then to ask how many times did Jesus refer to Him as “Jehovah?”  The answer of course is “zero.” What a freedom it is to know we are heard because of relationship with God through Jesus, and we have the assurance to come before Him and call Him “Papa,” our Heavenly Father.

The first thing we see is recognition of where our Father is.  What would have come to the disciple’s minds at the thought of “heaven”?  I believe their minds would have raced to the two primary passages.... Ezekiel 1, and of course Isaiah 6.

I submit to you the first thing we must do in prayer, is to behold Him as He is revealed in Scripture. Seated on His throne, reigning in power, surrounded by fiery angels crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” the temple filled with glory (Isaiah 6), the sound of rushing water and the sound of like a tumult of an army (Ez. 1:24).  A throne where the One seated on it looks like glowing metal with the appearance of a rainbow around the Throne.  And now for us the further insights we have from the book of Revelation of the Throne room and how awesome He is! (Lightening and Thunder and voices,.... this is our God!)  When we behold Him as we begin to pray we are reminded of His omniscience, His omnipotence, and omnipresence.  We are reminded nothing is difficult for our King!  We are reminded He is in control, and He has all power to change anything, and we can fully trust in Him.  Faith arises as we behold Him!  Perspective changes as we behold Him!  And we are less likely to come flippantly or half heartedly when we behold Him.

The first thing we see in Jesus teaching on prayer, is praise.  We enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Psalm 100).  We praise Him for His sacred Name.  To the Jew, the name of a person is their character.  You can’t separate the two.  To declare someone’s name was to declare who he or she is.  So it is with our Father!  When we speak His Name, we declare Who He is!  And how as He revealed His Name over the ages through the Scriptures?

JEHOVAH/ YAHWEH- “THE SELF EXISTANT ONE” EXODUS 3:14, JOHN 8:58

YAHWEH YIRAH-  “THE LORD WILL PROVIDE” GENESIS 22:13,14, ROMANS 5:6-11

YAHWEH MEKADDISHKEM- “THE LORD WHO SANCTIFIES” EXODUS 31:12,13, 1 PETER 1:15,16

YAHWEH NISSI- “THE LORD IS MY BANNER” EXODUS 17:15,16, EPHESIANS 6:10-18

YAHWEH RAPHA- “THE LORD WHO HEALS” EXODUS 15:25-27, MATTHEW 8:17)

YAHWEH ROHI- “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD” PSALM 23, JOHN 10:11-18

YAHWEH SHALOM- “THE LORD IS PEACE” JUDGES 6:22-24, HEBREWS 13:20

YAHWEH SHAMMAH- “THE LORD WHO IS PRESENT” EZEKIAL 48:35, MATTHEW 28:20

JESUS (YEHOSHUA)- “JEHOVAH SAVES/ SAVIOR” MATTHEW 1:21

Take the time to praise Him, to praise His Name as He has revealed it, but know that all of these ways He has revealed His character is to reveal ultimately the truth of the meaning of “Father.”  A Father Who protects, provides, heals, is present, etc....  this is what the Perfect Father looks like, let us rest in how He defines fatherhood, and let those who have had a distorted view of what a father looks like because of their earthly fathers, come to now recognize and embrace the true definition as the Creator defines it.  HalleluYah!  Take the time to praise Him for His character and thank Him for how you’ve seen Him demonstrate this in your life.

10 

Your kingdom come.

As others have pointed out, Jesus didn’t come to start another world religion called Christianity.  He came to bring the Kingdom of God. He is the King of that everlasting Kingdom.  This was His first message in Matthew 4, and this is what He taught and demonstrated throughout His life, and this is what we see carried on with His followers (ex. Acts 8:12, 19:8, 28:13, 31).  A Kingdom of course is where the King reigns; everything is subject to His reign.  Everything is to be submitted to His rule.  What a joy that we serve such a benevolent, loving, good King! HalleluYah!

I would submit to you, when we are praying for God’s Kingdom to come, which is a now, but not yet fully reality (His Kingdom is advanced as souls come to Jesus and impact comes through His influence but won’t be fully realized until He comes back), we must first make sure everything in our lives are showing they are submitted to His Kingdom rule. 

This part of the prayer I believe is reminding us to examine our lives, and make sure everything is under His authority.  When we are walking in truth, it is then that we can rightfully pray and be used to see His Kingdom come through our lives as well.  Areas that we must examine to make sure are submitted to God are: our possessions/finances, our families, our relationships, our future, our health and our reputations.  There are three emotions that will often be revealed if these areas our not submitted to God; fear, anger and anxiety. If you see these emotions rising up, it’s demonstrating your need to surrender, and declare His Lordship over that area of your life and yielding to His control.  His will is that we walk in peace. 

From this place we are asking God’s Kingdom to come, and that we would be used to advance His Kingdom wherever He has strategically placed us for such a time as this.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus, by His own disclosure, was preoccupied and consumed with doing the will of His Father.  He said He didn’t do anything of Himself but what He saw the Father do (John 5:19), He said He had come down from heaven not to do His will but the One Who sent Him (John 6:38).  If Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (which He is), then we are to have that same disposition, standard and focus.  It’s not about us.  It’s about the will of the Father.

So in that, our daily prayer,....again our daily prayer, is to pray that not our will be done but His will be done.   This is fundamental, and if we miss this, we will be found wandering, disillusioned, frustrated, confused and depressed.   When we are praying this foundational prayer of surrender and by faith believing He will indeed have His will be done in and through us, we walk with purpose, a sense of destiny, in peace, and with joy even in the face of pain (just as David could pray with such confidence in Psalm 23).

And how do we know what the Father’s will is?  Through His Word, and more specifically the One Who is called “The Word of God” Jesus Christ our Lord.  If you want to see the will of the Father, study and emulate the life of Jesus.

In saying this, one challenge that was given that has stuck with me, came from a Bible teacher named Ray Vanderlaan.  He talks of the Jewish understanding of discipleship, and how the disciple is to imitate everything the rabbi does, to be as it were in his dust, because you are so close in observing his every move and action.  When Ray was in Israel studying the Torah, the teacher gave a challenge (although he himself was not a follower of Jesus), that anyone that claimed to be a follower of Yeshua, who did not study His words of the four Gospels at least once a week, couldn’t possibly know their rabbi like they claim to.  Ray submitted the challenge, are we even acquainted with Jesus to read one Gospel a week to observe, study and pray to imitate how Jesus lived and interacted with people?  I have taken that challenge at different times and found it most profitable.  I encourage and challenge you to try it for a couple of months at least, and then as you do, be praying with understanding, “Father, let Your will be done on earth, through me, through Your church, as it is in heaven, let us do Your will as Jesus modeled to us.” 

Let us take note on some recurring things seen though from His life; self denial, compassion, humility, power, truthful speaking, eternal perspective, giving and fostering true community...

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