Pertinent Perspectives on Prayer, Part 1

Nothing tells more about your spiritual life than your prayer life. Tonight, as you look at Matthew chapter 6.

Verses 5 to 15. We're not going to cover all those verses. We're going to only introduce the passage this evening. If you were with us a few years ago, we did a series on the disciples' prayer entitled, Lord, Teach Us to Pray. If you don't have that series, we'd encourage you to get that because it goes into great detail on each of the phrases about the Lord's Prayer. We're not going to do that this time around. Over the next three weeks, we're going to talk specifically about some preliminary comments on prayer.

From there, we'll move to what some of the principal concerns are about prayer, and Christ addresses those in verses 5 to 8. And then we'll look at the particular cont of prayer.

What is my prayer life made up of? What is it supposed to look like as I go before the throne of grace? This evening, though, I want to look at some preliminary comments on prayer.

And these might not be new to you. They might be something you've heard a million times over again. But I want to give them to you, and we probably won't get through all of them this evening, but we can always pick them up at our next time together. But follow along with me as we try to look at just some preliminary comments and see where you stand in relation to your God when it comes to praying alone.

With him. The first thing I want you to see about prayer is that it challenges our spirituality. It challenges our spirituality. In fact, nothing is more of a challenge to your spiritual life. Than prayer Christ says this in Matthew 6, our text for this evening, verse 5.

And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners. In order to be seen by men, truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. That is their answer. That is their reward. They want to be seen by men. They're not praying to commune with God. They're not praying to get alone with God. They're not trying to spend time understanding who God is. They let alone listen to what God has to say. They are more interested in what people think about how they look.

When they pray, Christ says, But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret where we pay you.

And when you are praying, Do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need. Before you ask him, God says, don't be like them.

Don't be like the hypocrites. And you know as well as I do that when you're around a group of people, when you're getting ready to say a prayer, aren't you really worried about what someone else is going to think about your prayer? Jesus says, You're a hypocrite.

That's what he says. If you're so worried about what other people are going to think about your prayer, who's your audience? Them or God? And God says, you're a hypocrite, because you're not really concerned about what I think.

You're concerned about what they think. And I am to be your lone audience. Some of us like to have the temptation of always praying. We want people to hear what we have to say. So we look for the opportunity. We look for the right phrases. We use big words. We use great Christian terminology. So people say, oh man, that guy. Can really rock heaven's gates. That man can really pray, and we want to have people say that about us. Now, we might not come out and say it, but in our hearts, we want people to think that about us.

Christ says, you're a hypocrite. You want the applause of men. Nothing will challenge your spirituality more than when someone says, Would you lead us in prayer? Will you pray for us? Do you sit there hoping nobody calls on you to pray? Do you sit there hoping that someone calls on you to pray? What is your attitude about prayer? Christ knows that when you make a commitment to prayer, you're going to be looking for quick answers and quick results. And if you don't find them, what are you going to do?

He was saying, Prayer doesn't work, man. I tried that. I was down that path. Doesn seem to happen for me. Maybe I should try something different. Oh, yeah? What are you going to try? What are you going do? Where are you going to go? But isn that not how it is? We pray for this, we pray for that, and things don't change, and things were just as bad this year as they were last year, financially. My husband just is obstinate and bullheaded this year as he was 10 years ago. So, what's the use of beseeching the throne of grace when there's no answer anyway?

The issue is faith. Do you believe in prayer? Do you believe that God will do what He says He will do? Prayer will challenge your spirituality. It will tell you whether or not you're a man or woman of faith. It will tell you the real true condition of your spiritual life. How much time do you spend in prayer to God alone, talking to Him only? Communing with Him in the privacy of your closet. Number two, it falls right on the heels of it.

Prayer not only challenges our spirituality, but it clarifies our loyalty. It clarifies our loyalty. There's nothing that will clarify Your loyalty more than your prayer life. Luke 18:1, men are always to pray. And not faint. Are you loyal to God? Then you're a prayer warrior. If you're not a prayer warrior, then your loyalty is not clarified. It says over in Ephesians 6. 18, pray at all times. Pray at all times. In all seasons. With all sorts of prayers. It says over in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 1, that text that deals with the order of the church.

In chapter 1, Paul gives some preliminary introductory remarks to Timothy. But beginning with chapter 2. He talks about how to set things in order in the church. That's what First Timothy is all about.

And the very first thing that the Apostle Paul addresses is prayer. He says this. First of all, above all else, in order to put your church in order, first of all, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf.

All men. If you're going to set your church in order, the very first thing you got to do is make sure that your people pray for all men.

If you don't do that first, then you don't understand why your church is in your community. That's why we come together to pray on Sunday night, to pray for the weekend of Easter. We want to pray for the lost souls of men. We want to pray that God would do a mighty work. We want to clarify our loyalty. We are loyal to God. We are loyal to Him to a fault. So much so that we will do all it takes to pray without ceasing. Because we want God to be put on display. We want God to be magnified. We want God to be glorified.

I like what Richard Baxter said about 1 Timothy 2, verse 1. He said, oh, if you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor, ignorant, ungodly neighbors. Alas, there is but a st betwixt them and death and hell. Many hundred diseases are waiting, ready to seize on them, and if they die unregenerate, They are lost forever. Have you hearts of rock that cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you believe not the word of God and the danger of sinners, why are you Christians yourselves?

If you do believe it, why do you not bestir yourselves to the helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, so you be saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves. For it is a frame of spirits. Utterly inconsistent with grace. Dost thou live close by them, or meet them in the streets, or labor with them, or travel with them, or sit and talk with them, and say nothing to them of their souls? Or the life to come? If their houses were on fire, thou wouldst run and help them, and wilt thou not help them when their souls are almost at the fire of hell?

We need to pray for the lost souls of men. We need to pray that God will save their souls. We need to clarify our loyalty. God, we are loyal to you. We are so loyal to you that we will come together and we will pray continually without ceasing. We will pray at all seasons. We will not faint. We will pray all the time because you are our consuming passion. And so we direct our prayers toward you. We petition on behalf of our fellow men. The point is, we need to be loyal to the commands of God. And God says, first of all, you pray.

We've got to ask ourselves, are we that loyal to God's commands? You can clarify your loyalty by saying, God, I will pray. First of all, I will commit my life to a ministry of prayer.

Number three, prayer not only challenges our spirituality and clarifies our loyalty, but it certifies our dependency.

It certifies our dependency. Turn with me over to Luke chapter 5, if you would. Remember John 15, 5 says, Christ said, without me you can do nothing. So in order for us to certify our dependency, we need to realize that we've got to be prayer warriors. People who are independent don't pray. People who are dependent pray. People who don't see themselves as beggars don't pray. People who see themselves as spiritual p P Pray They are dependent upon someone else who is greater than they are to sustain their life.

And Christians ought to be that way. They are children of the living God. Yet they need the power of God to sustain them. They need the power of God to control them and move them. So when you pray, it certifies your dependency. Over Luke chapter 5, it says this in the verse number 1. Now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes. He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. They sat down and began teaching the multitudes for the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But at your bidding, I will let them the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish. And their nets began to break.

And they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that he fell, saw that, he felt that Jesus. Feet saying, Depart from me, for I am a sin man, O Lord. For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon. Now understand. Peter was a great fisherman.

There was probably no one who knew the fishing business better than Peter did. And you might not be a fisherman. Maybe you're a banker. And nobody knows banking better than you do. Maybe you're a coach and no one knows athletics better than you do. Except God. He knows a lot better than you do. And Peter realized that in the area in which he was the most eff was the area he needed God the most. That's the point of Luke 5. You see, isn't that true that the area we are the most sufficient in, we think we don't need God.

God help somebody else out. I'm okay here. I can make it here. I can do this kind of thing. And God says, in the area you are the greatest, or you think you are the most eff, is the area you need me the most.

We don't look at it that way, though, do we? We look at it differently. We look at those real weak areas we're in that we can't accomplish, and we go, Oh, God, I need you here.

God says, You don't need me here, you need me in the area you think you don't need me. And that's when you realize your dependency upon God for all things. For all things. I like what G. Campbell Morgan said when a lady came up to him and said, This, Do you think we ought to pray about even the little things in life? Now, let me ask you a question.

How many times does somebody ask you that? Do we need to pray about the little things? Do we need to pray about a parking space at the mall? Do we need to pray about sunshine tomorrow and no rain? Do we need to pray that God takes care of my My bad perm. I don't know. I'm just trying to think of little things here. Yeah, it's big for most of you, isn it? Sorry. But, you know, people always ask, you, does God really care about the little things? And so this lady said, G. Campbell Morgan, a great preacher, do we really need to pray about the little things in life?

You got to love his answer. Listen to what he said. He said, Ma'am, can you think of anything in your life that is big to God? Think about it. I mean, we think, you know, I pray I don't need to pray about this parking spot, but I got to pray about the tumor, man. It's big. I got to pray about my tumor. I mean, it could be malignant. I could die. That's a big thing. Is it really that big to God? Not even a life. Just a small thing to God. No big deal. God takes care of all those things. But see, in our little pea brains, our finite mind, we think, man, this is a big thing, and this is a little thing over here.

God doesn't differentiate between the little things and the big things. What does he say? Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. The point is not to care. The point is, do you cast? That's the point. Right? Do you throw it upon God? That certifies your dependency. That says, God, I am dependent upon you for all things. I'm dependent upon you for my health. I'm even dependent upon you for the parking spot at the mall. See that? Prayer is that one thing that certifies our dependency more than any other thing.

So prayer is that which challenges our spirituality, clarifies our loyalty, certifies our dependency. I like this one. It catapults our productivity. There's nothing that catapults your productivity more than prayer. Nothing. If you want to see things happen, you've got to pray. If you don't pray, you're not going to see anything happen. But if you pray, great things will happen. Remember Acts 1? 1 people got together and they prayed. They prayed for ten days. Ten days. Peter preached for ten minutes.

And 3,000 souls were saved. If you folks got together and prayed every day for 10 days, my sermon probably would be shorter on Sunday. And thousands of souls probably get saved. Think about it. Ten days of prayer, ten minutes of preaching, and 3,000 people come to Christ. There's nothing that catapults productivity more than prayer. Nothing. True, heartfelt, serious prayer about what God can and will do. Jeremiah:. What's it say? Call upon me, and I will show you great and mighty things that you don't even know.

How about Ephesians 3, verse number 20? He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that? I hope you do. I hope you understand what God can do through prayer. In 1830, there was a preacher by the name of Charles Finney. And in Rochester, New York. In one year, there were 1,000 people who gave their life to Christ in a city that had 10,000 people in it. Finney had a prayer partner. That prayer partner's name was Abel Clary.

And Finney wrote, Mr. Clary continued as long as I did and did not leave until after I had left. He never appeared in public, but gave himself wholly to prayer. One man who all he did was pray. Committed himself to be a prayer partner with Mr. Finney, and 1,000 people in that city in one year gave their life to Christ. That's what prayer can do. In 1872, in London, England, there was a preacher by the name of Dwight L. Moody. In ten days, in a series of sermons, 400 new converts came to the church where he was preaching.

He had a prayer partner, one bedridden girl. Her name was Marian Ald. And she had read a clipping about Moody's ministry in Chicago and prayed that God would send him to her church. When he came, all she did was pray. And their productivity multiply. How about you? What happens when you pray? Anything? In 1934, Mordecai Hamm, a Southern revivalist, was in Charlotte, North Carolina. And many people in Charlotte were deeply, deeply moved, including a farmer's son named Billy Graham, who was converted.

Mordecai Ham had several prayer partners. Along with Billy Graham's father, they sp a day at the Graham's farm praying that God would touch their city. Their state and their world. Billy Graham's father prayed. Billy Graham came to saving faith. And you know the story. The world was ultimately touched, the gospel. We need people who will commit themselves to doing nothing but pray. That's all. If you commit yourselves to prayer, don't do anything else in the church. Just pray. Don't teach Sunday school.

Don't teach class. Don't sing in the choir. Don't take up the offering. Just pray. Just pray. And God will raise up people to take the offering. God will raise up teachers to teach classes. And souls will get saved. But are you one who will commit your life to doing nothing but prayer? It's a big challenge. It will challenge your spirituality. More than anything else. But God wants to do a mighty work. Over in Exodus 18, you know the story. Jethro and Moses. Jethro said, Hey man, you're doing too much.

All these people are coming to you. You're trying to settle all the disputes. What you've got to do is go before God, before the people. You've got to pray, Moses. You're not praying. You pray, and got to do a great work. And sure enough, Moses began to pray. And Moses chose some men who could help him do the work, and a great work was accomplished. But if he would not have prayed first, Nothing else would have taken place.

How about you? Do you pray? How long do you pray? How much do you pray? When you pray, what do you pray for? What are you asking God to do? What are you asking God to do that is humanly impossible? What are you asking God to do that most people would never believe would ever happen? God wants his people. To pray. Next, we must understand that prayer not only challenges our spirituality. clarifies our loyalty, certifies our dependency, catapults our productivity, but commences our ministry. It commences our ministry.

There should never be a ministry that doesn't begin with prayer. Ministry flows out of prayer. And so you've got to have people who will pray. The text is found over in Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9, verse number 3, and Jesus was going about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. And seeing the multitudes, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers they are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers in two. Is harvest. You got to pray. You want a ministry to reach the unbelieving world? You got to beseech the Lord of the harvest. Paul will say over in Colossians 4:2-4, pray, man, be devoted to prayer, and pray for me that God will open the door that the gospel might go forth. Pray that a ministry will happen. Pray the hearts will be touched. That's what we're supposed to do.

Prayer commences. Our ministry. It was Ian Bounds who said, Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men. Think about it. We've said it before, we'll say it again. If on your tombstone there were the words, he just pray. What a powerful legacy you would leave.