by Bruce Mackay | Download PDF | Purchase Hardcopy

When we Pray

While Jesus was teaching His disciples and the multitudes of people that gathered on the mountainside, He taught on one of the most basic yet most helpful, vital and essential privileges for all humans – prayer and communicating with the living God. Prayer is a vital reality and necessity for a relationship between mankind and God.

As we discuss what Jesus taught, we will see that prayer is not some mystical event reserved for the elite religious devotee. Prayer is a simple conversation to those who will acknowledge God as their Father in Heaven.

Jesus began His teaching about prayer by saying, 'And when you pray'. He didn't say, 'And IF you pray'. It was, 'When you pray'. Could we ask that question first up? What is it for you? 'When you pray' or 'if you pray'? 'If' implies that you may or may not, but 'when' clearly implies that it happens regularly. Have you ever lifted your heart to your Father in heaven and expressed worship and praise or made a request to Him? Perhaps you did as a child but feel too grown up for prayer now? Maybe during a crisis point in your life you resorted to prayer? Were you heard? Is it just the imagination of the mind? Will God listen? If He does, how will He answer? These are just a few of the many thoughts and questions most of us have asked or have at least thought about.

Before we Pray

In Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, Jesus spoke about three important areas that we must give attention to before we pray.

Matthew 6:5

'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.'

He says that we must not be hypocrites. Prayer is not a show or a performance. It is not something we just act out to make an impression on other people. We cannot use words to God and about God and then go off and live in a totally different way. God hates hypocrisy. That does not mean we must be perfect before we pray. Quite the opposite, we pray because we are not perfect. We pray because we do need God. But it is being a hypocrite to make out we need God and pray to Him and then go and live and do things as if we don't need Him. We must approach God with a humble and remorseful heart attitude, with no boasting rights of our own. We come to Him as ones who are honoured to have an audience with the living God. Jesus said, 'When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites'.

The following story was told by Jesus teaching us how to approach God and have our prayers heard.

Luke 18:10-14

'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'

Secondly, Jesus said, 'When you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place'. Prayer is very personal. Prayer is to be spiritual. Do you have a close relationship with God? Are you His child? Do you know Him as your Father?

We are not automatically children in the family of God. Jesus said we only belong in the family of God if we are doing the will of God. In other words, unless we have made a decision to stop doing our own will and have turned from that to seek to do the will of God, then we are not His children. The Bible also says that, 'as many as received Jesus it was them that He gave the right to be His children.' As children of the heavenly Father, there is a special place in our heart and our life where we can meet and communicate with our Father in heaven.

The third thing that Jesus highlighted was that we must be a believer and not an unbeliever. We will not persuade God that we are true believers because of the many words we use by prayer. God is interested in the attitude of the heart, not the words that we use. God already knows our needs. He is not hanging out to see how well we make our requests known to Him. He is a living Father longing for a genuine heart-to-heart relationship. The Bible also says that 'when we come to God, we must first believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.'

How we Pray

These are the exact words that Jesus said,

Matthew 6:9-13
'In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.'

It is known to most as the Lord's Prayer. Many of us grew up repeating it but if others were like me, it meant little more than a rhyme or anything else I learnt by rote. We must realise that Jesus didn't give us a prayer to say by rote and just rattle off. That would contradict everything He said about prayer. He said, 'Don't use vain repetition'. Jesus was not giving us the words of a prayer, but rather the clear elements that we should include when we pray. We will now look at these various aspects of prayer as we look at the Lord's prayer statement by statement, and learn from Jesus how to pray.

'Our Father in heaven'

Jesus was teaching us who to pray to. We are not talking to another human or a figment of our imagination. Neither are we talking to ourselves. We are relating to our Father in heaven.

When God made Adam in His image and likeness, we see God's desire for relationship. God was a Father to Adam and Eve and would walk and talk with them in the Garden of Eden. This is a little glimpse of what prayer is - walking and talking with our heavenly Father.

Have you chosen to be His child? Or have you left the heavenly Father out of your life? When did you last go into your room and speak with Him? He loves you. He longs to talk to you. He so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to die for your sins. Through Jesus, we can find our way back to the Father. Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me.' Right now you can begin to be restored as a child of God. You can come to the Father in Jesus' name and open your heart to Him. You can speak out to Him all that is on your heart. He will receive you, love you and direct your life. A good place to start is to thank the Father for sending Jesus to save us.

Our praying continues as Jesus taught us, 'Hallowed be Your name,' God is holy and He is without sin and is worthy of all honour and worship. If we are to live as His children in relationship with Him, we must worship and serve Him and Him only. When we pray, it is the opportunity to once again establish and settle that reality in our own lives so that if our heart has turned away, we can be restored.

'Your kingdom come'

Through Jesus coming to earth, the kingdom of God has come in flesh. We are to pray that the kingdom of God is established in our flesh; that we live according to the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of Satan, who is the god of this world. This is why Jesus said, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'. Our self- centred way causes us to live by the kingdom of this world, which is by pride, selfishness, lying, jealously and deceit, to name a few. We judge all matters and all people by our righteous standard. We are to turn from that and pray for the life of the kingdom of God to be alive in us. Read Matthew 5:3-12 for the attitudes of the kingdom of Heaven.

'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven'

If the kingdom of God is in us, then we can do the will of God now on earth. Jesus was teaching us to pray that we will fully please the Lord. That we pray, 'Not my will, Your will be done'. We each need to meet God daily and ask Him to be working in us, so we do what pleases Him.

'As in heaven as on earth'

In heaven, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit submit to one another, reveal the other, glorify the other, love the other and thus God's work is done. It is in this same manner that we will do the will of God.

Jesus was our example as He only did what He saw the Father do. Jesus did the will of God on earth exactly as it was in heaven.

'Give us this day our daily bread'

Instead of taking for granted that we will have enough food for the day, we should pray about it. Otherwise, we take it upon ourselves as if we are our own little god, with the strength and ability to keep ourselves alive, and as if all things come from our hand.

When we pray for our daily needs, we face the reality that it is God who gives us breath. He holds all things in His hands. He gives or withholds the rain. He causes the sun to rise. He created the miracle of the seed that is sown and multiplies to give us crops. But we are not to pray only for the bread that nourishes our body but the food to strengthen our soul and spirit. Our nourishment for our soul and spirit comes by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is for this we must pray; that we may hear His word and obey it.

'Forgive us as we forgive others'

We all need God's forgiveness. Yet God will not forgive us unless we forgive others. Prayer is the opportunity for us to still our heart and mind and let God examine our attitudes. If we have unforgiving attitudes toward anyone, we must let it go and freely forgive. Don't hold on to wrong attitudes. Don't leave our room where we are praying until we have let go of every unforgiving attitude.

Jesus continued saying, 'And do not lead us into temptation'. There are multitudes of things that tempt us daily. There are the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life. We are also so drawn by the rights and wrongs of life. We assess every person we relate with according to what we believe is right or wrong. Jesus said, 'Pray that you are not drawn this way'. When we are drawn by these assessments we stir up sin in us and our love for one another is affected. This leads to the next aspect of prayer that Jesus taught.

'Deliver us from the evil one'

The evil one works by both flattery and accusing. He accuses us before God day and night. Jesus said, 'Pray that you be delivered from being an accuser of others and in like manner a flatterer'. God doesn't just throw out accusations. He clearly convicts us about something that we have done that we may turn from it. He doesn't accuse others to us, so we must not. God gives honour to reality, not flattery to puff us up. Let us pray that we are delivered from both modes of functioning.

Jesus concluded His guidelines to prayer by giving the glory, honour and praise to whom it belongs. 'For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.' Incidentally, 'Amen' simply means, 'So let it be done'. So concluding prayer with 'Amen' is an affirmation that you believe and agree with what is prayed.

In another conversation about prayer, Jesus said, 'Men ought always to pray and not faint', and 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak'. Because of the truth of this, we must not give in to our own weak and tried attitudes. Rather, daily give ourselves to pray as Jesus taught us God relates. If you find yourself in a situation where you have not lived by Jesus' teaching, where your behaviour has caused broken relationships, whether this is in your marriage, your family, your church, your workplace or even with your neighbour, then Christ can bring you back, freeing you from that behaviour. You can be set free from your alienated position and be joined to Christ. As you are joined to Christ, the love of God can work in your life. Being joined to Christ is being established in His body, the Church. In such a relationship, God is able to work in our lives and recover what was broken, and join us according to His purpose and will. But it will take our willingness to be restored, to face up to and work through every broken relationship, being fully accountable for our responses. However difficult that seems, the love of Christ is working in you to bring it about.

Author: Bruce Mackay | Citywide Christian Fellowship - Cairns | CCFC
Published by Vision One at Toowoomba Christian Fellowship | TCF
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