Lord Teach Us to Pray

Luke 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Matthew 6:9-13 NASB

9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

Luke 18:1

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint— grow weary or exhausted. Praying is the business of man and answering is the business of God. God’s kingdom is important and he has invited us to join Him in His work. Jesus says that men ought always to pray! Don’t get exhausted, weary, irritated…

Luke 18:8

…Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Or will the disciples of the Lord fall asleep in the garden at the  most important time of their lives?

Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Hebrews 5:7

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Matthew 6:9-10

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Let’s just start with “Our Father…” and see how far we get.

That’s how Jesus addressed God, He called Him “Father…”

What greater intimacy should there be other than the closeness between a Father and His child? What can bring more comfort to the heart of a child than intimacy with His father?

Can you convince a child that his father is not the greatest thing on the face of the earth. Even if he is harsh or cruel, he will still be convinced that he is good.

Even if his father is weak, to him he will be the strongest man that ever lived. This child believes that his father can provide whatever he needs. If he can just get the attention of his father, if he can just get his father involved in the situation, the problem can be corrected and I mean quickly.

But God our Father is neither evil nor weak, and He longs to be included in our lives. But what is really amazing is that He has included us in what He is doing. He has a desire for us to ask Him to get involved in our lives and circumstances. He wants us to get involved with Him. But what He really loves is when our prayers begin to line up with His will. Then some things really start to happen:

1 John 5:14-15

14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

That’s the beauty of His word. Before I really started to read and get into the word of God, all my prayers were about me and what I needed. After, I started to read the word of God, my prayers changed to focus on what I could see He wanted. “Your kingdom come, your will be done…”

I have learned some things about living for God, and one important thing is that Jesus is in me, and Jesus in me, wants to live through me. And so how do I learn to do it Jesus’ way? In order to do what Jesus does, I must do what Jesus did. What did Jesus do? Jesus prayed…

“Our Father who art in heaven…”

Jesus was in Him and the Father was in Jesus and Paul said Jesus is in us:

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me...

And Jesus said that we are in Him and the Father:

John 17:21

that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:22-23 NASB

22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

So if He’s in the Father and the Father is in Him, and I’m in them, and they are Holy, and righteous and kind and longsuffering and He is healing the sick and walking in authority and teaching people how to live, then why don’t His people look more like Him? Don’t say it’s because we don’t know the truth, because we are some of the most overfed people in town, so that’s not it.

If you didn’t know before, I taught you last week that born again believers are partakers of the Divine nature, so if the Divine nature heals and sets free, why do so many of God’s people still issue out fountains of bitter waters?

We say we want to heal and help others learn about the love of God, but do we ever stop and listen to what we sound like? Can bitter and sweet waters flow from the same fountain. Well, they might be able to, but James said that it ought not be brothers and sisters.

Jesus said:

John 7:38

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

When living water flows, it brings life to what it touches:

Revelation 22:1-2

1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. The river of life produces the fruit of life and brings healing

So if we are well taught and know right from wrong and we know that we should allow the river of life and not rivers of death flow out of us, and we know that sweet water and not bitter water should flow, then why? What is the problem?

Could it be that while we know about our Father, we don’t really know Him? Could it be that we’re more like Job before the trial compared to how he was after the trial?

Job 42:3-6 …I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” 4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

Lord teach us to pray. Teach us to learn how to make a connection to our Heavenly Father, so that we can intimately know Him, His will, His heart, what He wants for this earth, what He wants for the people on this earth, how He wants to use me, and how He wants to use us as His church.

Lord, teach us to pray!

When I pray, I speak to Him, when I speak to Him, He speaks to me. The more I speak with Him, the more intimate, we become, the more intimate we become, the more sensitive I become to His voice, shhhh

Did you hear that? I know that voice. That’s my Father. The Holy Spirit is bringing me a word from my Father in heaven. I gotta let you go. The Lord is calling me.

I’m not talking about praying for somebody right now. I’m talking about praying to the Lord. I’m talking about spending time in God’s presence individually and corporately. Jesus said that His Father’s house would be a house of prayer, so we are going to pray in this church or at least some people are going to pray in this church. The disciples said, “Teach us how to pray.”

But I don’t like to pray like that. Annndddd you’re kind of getting on my nerves with all this talk about prayer. Well, if you don’t pray, you’re probably getting so irritated right now that you want to get up and walk out. I remember those days. When I didn’t pray and the preacher preached on prayer and my flesh got irritated. If people get bristled about prayer while they’re sitting in a church, it  can’t be anything but flesh.

If I preach about Halloween, Mardi Gras or AA and you like those things and it makes you mad, that’s one thing, I may not agree, but I can at least understand, and I’m going to still speak what I believe is right.

But I’m a preacher in a church and I’m preaching on prayer. If your flesh is irritated about that you have a serious, serious spiritual problem right now, but you came to the perfect church, to get some medicine for that problem. I’m believing that the Lord will break you out of this spiritual problem that you have right now in the name of Jesus!

He’s going to open your eyes, He’s going to make you a man or woman of prayer, and you’re about to be set on a path of hope, you’re about to be put on a path and a trail where the fire of God will follow behind you, you’re about to become a witness with the zeal of the Lord burning in your belly. If you would just learn to pray— young people. You don’t know it but the devil is scared of you! What are you going to do?

You start acting like the person you spend the most time with

If you spend time in His presence, you’re spending time in the presence of the Potter. And the Potter’s job is to mold a lump of clay. And your Father in heaven already knows what He wants you to look like.

Romans 8:29

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

The Father in heaven already sent the prototype. He has the blueprint. He plans to mold and shape us into the image of His dear Son, but the longer we delay, the longer it takes, and the longer it takes, the more of God’s precious time we waste!

And the longer we will feel irritated because we imagine that nothing is going our way. And that’s the problem, we haven’t taken the time to get into God’s presence and pray His will instead of seeking our own.

Listen church, if the Lord tarries, some of you won’t be here next year. I mean you may be in another town with another job and in another church, or you may buy the lie that you don’t need to go to church.

But if you don’t learn how to pray and learn intimacy with the Father and learn how to hear His voice and let Him unveil His plan for your life, you will be in another city, with another job, in another church, and while it’s fresh, it will seem good, but give it some time because the worms are going to eat that too.

If you don’t learn how to make an intimate connection with God and learn how to let Him speak to you and change you and get you on the same page with Him as far as what He’s really doing on this earth, then you’re not really serving God; instead, you’re playing church!

“Are you saying if I pray, I won’t be irritated?”

No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying if you pray, your source of irritation will be Satan trying to make you quit praying, but your source of strength will be the Holy Spirit empowering you to keep praying and when that’s going on now you’re actually in the battle! Now, you’re being conformed into the image of the Father’s Son and actually acting like a true Christian instead of sitting on your couch watching television and complaining about how everyone else is doing everything wrong.

The father made it possible to pray— access!!

He made it possible for you to cry out to heaven and to be heard, because He made it possible for you to be His child, and this Father listens to His children.

Pamela was talking about the privilege of being able to have access. She spoke about her grandpa and that at times, he would let her come into his workshop, and she felt like that was a privilege to be able to be in there with him. I told her she was privileged. My shop story was different. My dad looked at me through his hungover eyes and said, “What do you want boy? Get the _____ out of here.”

I don’t tell you that, so you will feel sorry for me. I tell you that, so you know I don’t know where I’d be if I had not learned through the pain and sorrow of my sister how to connect with God through prayer. And part of what He did, He did so I could tell others! My poor dad didn’t mean to hurt me. He got caught in the trap, so many of you are pained by your past, by the way your father’s have acted and treated you, but they didn’t want to do that. They got caught in the snare of the Fowler. You can pray, I can pray, God heals when we do!

I have good news. You don’t have to worry about getting kicked out of your heavenly Father’s workshop. He wants you in there. That’s why He sent Jesus. He sent Jesus to die, so that you could become His child:

John 1:12-13

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

When Jesus died, the veil was torn, so that you could enter in, as a side note, let me just say that your Father really, really wants to get you in that workshop if you know what I mean. He has some adjustments He wants to make!