A Pattern For Prayer Matthew 6:7-13 Last Sunday we spoke about seeking Gods Face instead of just seeking

His hands. I want to thank the many of you who dropped me a kind note this week to share how last weeks message both blessed and challenged you. It was clear from your remarks that prayer is something that many of us struggle with. And many of feel the frustration of not experiencing significant life change. I read a report from The Barna Research Group that stated: 78% of Evangelical Christians pray at least once per day. Now that sounds pretty good until you realize that 10% of Atheists and 18% of Agnostics say they pray at least once per week. The report goes on to say that even though 78% of Christians are praying once per day, there is no measurable difference in the life change between the atheist and the Christian. This is a shocking conclusion and perhaps even a little discouraging for us to hear. What this suggests to me is that many Christians are really kind of superficially interested in spirituality, rather than interested in experiencing significant life change as a result of their relationship with God. When you think about it, it becomes clear what we must do if we are going to experience an Empowered Life in Christ. We must change our approach to prayer. We must take the focus and attention off of self and begin to place it on seeking the FACE of GOD, the presence of God. I believe seeking Gods face means to have a humble spirit that submits our lives to Gods control. The result is that we will experience His power and we will grow in our understanding of Him and thus experience a close and intimate relationship with God. The bottom line is that when we seek His Face there will be life change! We will not only experience the difference but people will be able to see the difference. A great example of that is the story of Moses after he came down from spending time with God on Mt. Sinai. The Bible says When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. [Exodus 34:29-30 ESV] I have no doubt that spending this time with God will truly leave its mark on us. But unfortunately I think it can be said that many believers are not marked from spending time with God. It is not clear to others that we are spending time in Gods presence and many of us feel like we are missing something spiritually in our lives. Did you know that only 16% of Protestant pastors are very satisfied with their prayer lives? The Grey Matter Research Report went on to state that 37% of pastors are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their personal prayer life. Perhaps this morning you can relate to these feelings of dissatisfaction with your prayer life. And you feel like you have tried everything to grow in your prayer life. You have read books and talked to friends but still you feel like you are missing something.

I can relate! I would like to try something different this morning. I would like for us to look at the model prayer of Jesus and look at the pattern He taught His followers to use while praying. After all, who better to teach us about how to talk with God than Jesus! Perhaps we will discover a few things that will influence our prayer pattern and lead to life change that will be satisfying and fulfilling. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: "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 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [Matthew 6:7-13 ESV] So lets get started! From this text we can learn some principles of prayer that will influence our pattern of praying. I. WE MUST HAVE A DESIRE TO LEARN [Luke 11:1] Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." [Luke 11:1 ESV] I have a feeling it didnt take the disciples long to figure out that there was something special about the way Jesus spoke with His Father. Seeing the way Jesus prayed created a hunger within them and so they approached Jesus and revealed to Him their desire to learn how to pray. One indisputable truth is that we wont have the desire to learn about prayer if we dont recognize any deficiencies in our own prayer life. The disciples saw the need to learn how to pray more effectively. So with great transparency and humility, they asked their mentor, teacher, friend to help them learn how to pray. I love that Jesus [and I imagine with compassion and love in His eyes] begins a lesson on prayer. I think it is important to note that Jesus was not giving them a secret formula for how to get what you want from God. Rather Jesus was teaching them how to approach God and He gave them a pattern they could follow. A pattern is simply a guide that you can add to and make as personal as you want. I would suggest that this pattern would be very beneficial for us to incorporate today. II. RECOGNIZE WHO GOD IS [Matthew 6:9] Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. [Matthew 6:9 ESV] There are couple of things to remember when approaching God in prayer. First, may we never forget that God is indeed our Heavenly Father. I like the intimacy reflected in the word father. It reminds us that God does love us and has a desire to have close fellowship with us. But the word Father also reminds us of the respect we should have for Him. If the Bible tells us to respect our earthly parents then how much more should we honor our Heavenly Father? And when you add the word heavenly to father you begin to get even a clearer understanding of who God is. When my father was alive, I knew that I could approach him with any request and know that he would do anything he could to help me. And while I believed that my father was

superman and could do anything, the truth is that even my dad had some limitations. I know what that feels like. There are times that I feel those same limitations as a dad. I want to meet all the needs of my daughters but I am a mere mortal, with all the limitations that come with mortality. BUT GOD is our Heavenly Father and His love and provisions for us are limitless. Second, take note of the phrase hallowed be your name. This means that Gods name should be kept holy and that He should be approached with reverence. It means that all that God stands for should be treated as holy and honored because He is holy and good. III. WE MUST RECOGNIZE WHO WE ARE NOT [Matthew 6:10] Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. [Matthew 6:10 ESV] I think this part of the model prayer gives us some insight into why we often feel like we are not living empowered lives. Unfortunately, much of our prayers are about seeking our will for our lives rather than Gods will for us. The problem with this approach to prayer is that we are seeking plans and desires that originated in our finite minds, rather than seeking the plans and desires of an infinite God. No wonder our lives seem so mundane and uninspired. We must realize that we are not God and learn to approach Him with a humble and submissive spirit that honestly desires to seek His will for our lives rather than just trying to talk God into validating our will and plans. It is clear to all of us that He is God and we are NOT! We are here to glorify Him. We are here to serve Him. We are here to carry out His will and represent Him to a world that is careening out of control. We cant carry out His will if we are too busy trying to live out our will. Even though many of us wouldnt articulate that we are more concerned about our plans I think the evidence is overwhelming and we cant mount much of a defense. Practically, our approach to life reflects what William Ernest Henley wrote in the poem Invictus: I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. To live an empowered life we must know that He is God and we are not, and therefore value His will over our will. IV. LIFT UP OUR REQUESTS [Matthew 6:11] Give us this day our daily bread [Matthew 6:11 ESV] Okay, I realize that you are now thinking Great now we are starting to get somewhere. Well before you get too carried away with making your requests, and asking God for your wants, we have to keep this whole point in context. The first three points described believers who have a healthy, humble relationship with God and who care more about His will being done than their own. So in light of the context you can argue that Jesus is telling His followers that their needs will be considered when they are living lives in submission to their Heavenly Father. Now I realize that I have just thrown some cold water on your plans to ask for a new boat! But what God desires for us is so much better than a new boat, house or car. Gods desire for us is to live in agreement with His plans for our lives and, frankly, I think His plans are in our best interest.

I am so glad that I wasnt in Solomons shoes when God appeared to him and told him he could ask for anything he wanted. I am almost positive that my list of requests would have seemed very insignificant in comparison to the requests Solomon made. But Solomon had a heart for God and wanted nothing more than to honor God as he lead the people of God. So because Solomon had a heart to honor God most, he asked God for wisdom to lead in a fashion that would glorify God. When we acknowledge that we are here for Him and not the other way around it changes the nature of our requests. Instead of asking for the blessings that we want we begin to desire and ask for what God wants. And the good news is that when recognize and experience Gods plan, then we can expect the blessings of God to follow (which are far more than we could ask or imagine). Just ask Solomon. V. Give Grace to Others [Matthew 6:12] and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [Matthew 6:12 ESV] Jesus reminds us of a couple of truths in this verse. First, Jesus reminds us that sin is a debt. And anyone who carries a large debt (even financial debt) can tell you that debt can be overwhelming. Todays television commercials about refinancing debt or consolidating debt are speaking directly to a large segment of our population who understand the burden that debt can create in our lives. Just as financial debt can create a burden and zap your zeal for life, so can your spiritual sin debt. The Bible teaches us that all have sinned, that sin has affected each of our lives. Nobody is perfect and every person has sin in his or her life. The Bible also teaches us that sin separates us from God and that the punishment for sin is eternal separation from God in a literal hell. And because of this I am so thankful that the Bible also teaches us that God is rich in mercy and He sent Jesus to not only show us the nature of God but also demonstrate Gods love for us by dying on a cross to pay this huge debt that sin has caused. This is why we are so emphatic that there is no eternity in heaven without forgiveness and there is no forgiveness without Jesus. This is why nobody can get to heaven without Jesus. Secondly, Jesus reminds us that if we are going to receive forgiveness then we must also be willing to offer forgiveness to those who have offended us. For the past few months I have been trying my best to take this admonition seriously and to make things right with people who I have either offended or who have offended me. To this point I feel very blessed that the efforts have been received very well and I have been experiencing the blessings of God as a result. At times it has been difficult and even humbling to admit that someone who is a pastor struggles with the issues of bitterness and un-forgiveness. But God has reminded me, through His word, that I have received a great gift GRACE. And because I have received GRACE I need to extend GRACE. But it goes even a bit further if I dont extend GRACE then Id better not plan on receiving the forgiveness that I so desperately need. The text says, forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. Let me ask you How would you feel if God forgave you based on the way that you forgive those who have offended you? This is a sobering thought. VI. TRUST IN HIS PROTECTION [Matthew 6:13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [Matthew 6:13 ESV]

If anyone understands the strategy of Satan it is Jesus. You see, Satans strategy is to tempt us, seduce us, to act on sinful desires and lusts in our lives. Satans goal is simple to weaken our walk with God. So Jesus gives His disciples practical and effective instructions for overcoming these temptations. Jesus tells them to ask for Gods strength and protection. Strength so we dont give into temptation and deliverance from the evil one who seeks to devour us. What is sad is that this practical counsel is not utilized nearly enough. We have to remember that whenever we give into temptation it is not because we didnt have any other options. When we give in, we only have ourselves to blame. If we could learn to follow Christs example in the wilderness and follow His directions in our prayers then perhaps we could begin to experience empowered living. CONCLUSION The model prayer ends by reminding us of who deserves all the credit and focus God. Jesus said for Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. You cant end a prayer without giving God the praise that He is due! What a great way to end a prayer and what a great thought to have in your mind as you get up from your knees and begin to face lifeYours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. What a privilege to speak to a God like this we should never take it for granted. So before we bow in prayer lets remember the pattern for prayer that Jesus taught and implement these truths that can transform our lives.