Pertinent Perspectives on Prayer, Part 4

God wants us to speak with Him. God wants us to come before Him and bring our petitions to Him. The question is: when you pray, how do you pray? And so, what Christ has done for us in Matthew chapter 6 is lay out for us what is called a pattern for prayer. This is how we are to pray. You don't pray like the hypocrites do, you are to pray. This way. And so I just want to read it through for you. You know it very well. For those of you who have been in church for any length of time at all. It says, Pray then this way, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if You forgive men for their transgressions. Your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your. Transgressions. That's the pattern for prayer. And you must understand that there are two basic elements to that prayer.

One is a recognition of who God is. And second, a realiz of man's need. And unless you understand who God is, then you don't know how to ask Him for the things that you need. So God in his sovereignty explains to us what a pattern for prayer is like. Our responsibility is to look at the prayer and see how our prayers line up with how God wants us to pray.

So he says, you pray this way. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Name. He says, I want you to be consum with my preeminence. I want my name to be hallowed in your life. I want my name to be revered in your life. I want my name to be the sacred element of your life. Who I am, what I'm about. What makes me who I am as God, I want you to revere and honor and respect. We talked about that last time. And we come back and ask the question: are we consumed with God being that preeminent aspect of our lives?

If not, then we can't even begin to further our prayer life. Because if we're not consumed with His pre, if we're not consumed with who He is, who are we consumed with? We're consumed with us. And if we are consumed with us, James tells us that when we pray, we pray to consume upon our own lusts. So unless you are consumed with God and His preeminence in your life, that His name be hallowed, that His name be honored and not dishonored, that His name be displayed in and through your life, then your prayer life will be extremely impotent.

That's what he wants us to understand. We need to be consumed with his preeminence. And then it goes on to say, Thy kingdom come. That means we need to be concerned with his program. Concerned with God's program. Kingdom is another word for rule. Thy rule. Come. The word bas means to reign or to rule. This is a cry of invitation. Our Father who art in heaven is a cry of adoration. Hallowed be thy name is a cry of consecration. Thy kingdom come is a cry of inv. We are crying out and inviting the kingdom of God to come to earth, the rule of Christ to come To this earth, now we must understand that Christ reigns universally.

We know that because the Bible says in Psalm 103, verse number 19, these words: The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his sovereignty rules.

Over all, so God rules over everything universally. God is the ruler of the world. The problem is, is that mankind has not subjected themselves to his rulership. And so our cry of invitation focuses in on the spiritual aspect of that kingdom. Why? Because you want Christ to rule and reign in the lives of people. Romans 14: says this. That the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When Christ came, he came preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

In Luke:, he said, I must preach the kingdom of God. In Luke 17, 21, he says, The kingdom of God is in the midst of you. The rule and reign of Christ is the apex of human history. And while Israel refused to recognize Christ as their king, God is still ruling and reigning in the hearts of people. And so when we pray for God's kingdom to come, we are praying that God would set up his rule in my life, and I, as a child of God, would be subject to that rulership. We know that God is a ruler of the world because the Bible says so.

And just because he has not set up his literal 1,000-year reign upon the earth, in which one day he will. Right now, he's ruling and reigning the hearts of people. So we ask ourselves the question: if I pray for God's kingdom to come, what does that mean? That means that I pray for lost souls. That means I pray for people to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, that they might learn to subject themselves to his rulership, that he might set up his kingdom in their hearts. We also pray that somehow my life will reflect his rulership.

Paul said over in 1 Thessalonians 2. That we are to walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls us into his kingdom and glory. Do you walk that way? Do you walk in a manner that's pleasing to God? Do you walk in a manner that would demonstrate that you are a child of the king? That's what it means to pray for God's kingdom to come. And of course, it also means that you look and you long for the return of Christ. I'm afraid that there are many Christians today that really aren't longing for Christ's return.

We long for other things, but not for the return of Christ. But those who are serious about the kingdom rule of Christ want him to come. They look to the blessed hope. As Paul would say in Titus 2, verse number 13, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Is that the way you pray? Are you consumed with God's preeminence? Are you concerned with His program so much that you want His program to rule in the life of people and you want His program to be set up here on this earth?

That's what it means to pray for God's kingdom to come. Is that the way you are? That's how God wants us to pray. He wants us to be consumed with his preeminence. He wants us to be concerned with his program. And thirdly, he wants us to be committed to his plan.

Committed to his plan, thy will be done on ear as it is in heaven. And this is where the rubber meets the road in your prayer life and in mine. Do we want God's will accomplished in our lives? Are we willing to pray? And Lord, I want your will to be done right here on earth, right here in my home, just exactly as it is in heaven. Now, to understand this, you're going to have to get the tapes we did on the Disciples' Prayer to understand the implications of this request, because I'm not going to go into great detail this evening.

But understand that there are two different words for the word will. The word bu speaks of the decrees of God. The word the speaks of the desire of God. When you pray for God's will to be done, you are not praying for God's decrees to be done. You are praying for God's desire to be done on earth as it is in heaven. You don't need to pray for the decrees of God. They're going to accomplish themselves anyway because God has already set them in motion. God's decrees never change. It says over in Acts chapter 15 verse number 18 known to God from eternity are all his work everything that God has designed to take place throughout eternity Throughout the course of history, was taken place and mapped out in eternity past.

The decrees of God are never going to change. But you pray for the desire of God to be accomplished in your life. Lord, I want your will to be accomplished in my life, in my home, in my family, in my workplace, just like it is in heaven. I want your desire, Lord, more than my desire. That's the prayer. Is that the way your prayer life is? Do you want the will of God accomplished in your life? Do you want God's desire for you? The Bible says that this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse number 3.

Is that your will? Is that your desire? I want to live a pure and holy life. That's your desire for me, Lord, and that's what I want more than anything else. I want your desire in my life to happen just like it happens in heaven. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:1 that the will of God is that we give thanks to God.

That 's his desire. His desire is that all men give thanks to him. All men don't do that. His desire is that all men give thanks in every situation they find themselves in. That's his desire. Is that your desire? Is that what you want for your life more than anything else? When you pray thy will be done, you pray this. Lord, I am willing to yield to the decrees of God. Whatever they may be for me, whatever your plan is for me, I will yield to your decree and I will yearn for your desires. That's what it means to pray, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So, once you recognize who God is, point number two is we need to realize what our need is. And they come in three categories. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Those are man's needs. So man begins to pray in that line. And so, as you realize man's needs, point number one is this: you need, first of all, to rejoice in his provision.

You rejoice in his provision. Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Now that's a great prayer. It's not give me this day my daily bread. It's give us this day our daily bread. If you're more concerned about your daily bread than you are your family's daily bread and your brother's daily bread, then you're not praying as Christ wants you to pray. We're so concerned about our income. We're so concerned about our house and our money and our belongings that all we can pray about is all kinds of things.

And the Bible says, give us this day our daily sustenance. Lord, it's all of us. It's our Father, not my Father. We're all in this thing together. We're all part of the kingdom of God for those who have given their life to Christ. And so when we pray, Lord, give us this day our daily bread, we recognize that God cares for our daily needs. Give us this day our daily bread. It helps you understand your dependency upon God every single day. It's not give us this day our monthly bread or our yearly bread, it's our daily bread.

God, we need you every single day. And so we want to be able to rejoice in the provision that you bring our way. That's the point. So, when we pray this prayer, we are praying a prayer of dependency. We realize that God is the one who provides all things, and so we want to rejoice in His provision. Father, thank you today for my daily bread. Thank you today for how you've supplied all of our needs. Thank you, Father, for the provision you give. See, sometimes the provision God gives is what our soul needs, isn't it?

Sometimes your soul needs affliction and adversity. That's your daily bread. But we don't like that kind of bread. We don't want that. It's like sitting down to dinner and grandma and grandpa giving you black-eyed peas and grits. Well, you don't like black-eyed peas and grits. They say you need to eat your black-eyed peas and grits. But I don't want, I don't like that. But grandma and grandpa know better than you do. They know black eyed peas and grits are good for your soul. They're good for your stomach.

They're going to make you strong. They're going to make you big like your uncle. They're going give you big biceps. So you eat those things up. We don't like what our parents give us sometimes. We want to eat ice cream and we want to eat candy and if we could eat the sweets all the time, boy, that would be just exactly what we need, we'd think. But God gives us the daily bread, and sometimes the bread He gives us we don't like, but it's for our provision. And we got to be able to pray, Lord, you give me the bread this day that will satisfy my soul.

That's the point. Do you pray that way? Do you pray that God will satisfy your soul with His bread? That's what we're supposed to pray for. In the next phrase, Matthew 6 says this: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven. Our debtors. Man's first need is to rejoice in God's provision.

His second need is to receive. And respond to God's pardon to receive and to respond To God's pardon. Christ says, when you pray, you pray this way: Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven.

Our debtors. Before we can ever ask God to lead our relationship with Him, must be right. We must be on clean terms with God. Have you received his forgiveness? And how have you responded upon receiving that forgiveness? This prayer is a prayer that intensifies my consciousness of sin. It int my consciousness of sin. To ask forgiveness implies that I've done something that needs to be forgiven. To ask forgiveness means that I have seen God for who He is. You see, the more you see God, the more you sense sin.

And the more you sense sin, the more you seek forgiveness. You see, if you're not sensitive to sin, it's because you haven't seen God for who He is. When Peter saw him in Luke 5, verse number 8, after Christ said, cast your nets on the other side of the boat, Peter and Peter said, Well, we've already fished here. There's no more fish in this lake. And Christ said, Do as I said. Peter did. And there were so many fish, he couldn't believe it. And he fell down and said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.

You see, he saw God. When you see God, the very next thing you see is your sin and how wretched you are. Isaiah was the same way. Woe is me. Woe is me. Cursed I am. I'm a cursed man because I've seen the living God. And everybody around me is cursed because I've seen God. And so it intensifies my consciousness of sin. We talked about it earlier in Matthew chapter 5, verse number 4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Those who mourn over their sins are the ones who receive the comfort of God.

But not only does this request intensify my consciousness of sin, but it inspires my confession of sin. Once I am conscious of my sin, what I do is confess my sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When we confess our sins, we acknowledge that we are sinners. We say the same thing about our sin that God says about our sin.

And when you acknowledge your sin, you glorify God. Because you recognize that he has a right to chasten you for your sin. The Bible says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

Whenever I sin, it mars my communion with God. Whenever one of your children is in sin, you don't have communion with that child. Until that child comes and asks for forgiveness and repents of their sin, there's no relationship between you and your child. Now, you are still the father of that child, and that child is still your daughter. That position never changes. If I sin against my God, I am still His child, He is still my father. That position never changes. But I must go to him, seek forgiveness, so that the relationship between the father and the son is clean and clear, so that we can commune together.

He who covers his sins, he who conceals his sin shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall find mercy. Proverbs tells us that. And so we must go to God and ask Him for forgiveness. Not because judicially I need forgiveness, no, that's already taken place at the cross. But relationally, I need to be forgiven so that we can have a relationship one to another. Which leads me to point number three.

When I ask for forgiveness, it ensures my commun with my Savior. It ensures my communion with my Savior. And with my brothers in Christ. The text says this: and forgive us our debts. As we forg our debtors. That 's literally how it reads. For us our debts as we for our debtors. Now listen very carefully. The point is this: before we seek forgiveness of our sins against God, we have to have already forgiven those who have sinned against us. If you have not forgiven those who have sinned against you, then you cannot have forgiveness from God in a rel s.

And this right here is the number one problem. People don't have joy in their walk with God. This is why people don't have a vibrant walk with God. They hold grudges, they're bitter, they're resentful, and they won't seek forgiveness from their brother, even though God says, You got to forgive.

This prayer assumes that you've already asked forgiveness from your brother, and you've already forgiven your brother. This prayer ensures your communion with your Father in heaven and with your brother on ear. How are you supposed to forgive? Ephesians 4:3. We forgive as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us, right? Where's the illustration? The illustration is Luke 23, 1 Simon 34. When Christ was hanging on the cross, what did he say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what. They do. You see, the cross is more than the atonement.

It's an example of how we, the children of God, are to forgive. That's how he forgave. He was the king who had a disposition that by his nature he was a forgiving God. And when we become his children, we become partakers of that divine nature, we too then are by nature forgiving kind of people. If you are an unforgiving kind of person, if you are a bitter kind of person, one who holds grudges and is resentful, you've got to ask yourself the question. Are you a partaker of the true divine nature? Because you see, the true divine nature is a forgiving nature.

And God has implemented his life in you. And you've got to be willing to forgive your brother's sin. No matter how great it is. And then it says this: and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This is a prayer that rests in God's protection. It rests in God's protection. Lead us not into temptation. Parasm is not an evil thing. Let me check.

Lead us not into trials. Lead us not into trials, but deliver us from literally the evil one. It's a prayer that says, Lord, don't lead us into a situation that it's so great that I succumb to the temptation and sin against you. It's not a prayer, Lord. Have no trials come my way today. That's not what the prayer is, because, folks, trials are going to come your way. Man is born into trouble as sparks fly upward, Job said. They're going to happen. 1 Peter 4:19 says, They are according to the will of God that you suffer trials.

All right? So it's not a prayer that trials don't come my way. It's a prayer that, Lord, when the trial comes. I don't succumb to Satan and his devices and lead myself into sin. That's what the prayer is about. When you pray, Matthew chapter 6, verse number 13, Christ provides an answer already. You know that, don't you? 1 Corinthians 10:1. The way out of the trial is never around it. It's through it. And God takes you through that trial. But that trial that you have will never be so severe. That God and his faithfulness won't provide a way for you to escape.

Over in 2 Peter 2, verse 9, it says, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. Hebrews 2:18 says that, For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. He's able to come to your aid that you might escape through the exit that he provides. And then the prayer closes with this. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Some of your Bibles might not have that in there. Some of them will be in parentheses.

Some commentators say, Well, this was never really a part of the prayer. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But the point is, what is said is absolutely true. It's an echo of Revelation 4, or excuse me, Revelation 5, verse number 13, of the four living creatures. And also, it's an echo of 1 Chronicles 29, verse 11, of David's prayer and doxolog. The point is that what is said in this doxology is absolutely true. For thine, God's, is the kingdom, God's is the power, and God's is the glory forever and ever and ever.

Amen. That's God's pattern for prayer. That's how He wants you to pray. How about you? Is that the way you pray? Will you make a commitment to pray God's way that you might see God work in a supernatural way in your life?