Introduction
Today we are going to continue our preaching series focusing on the idea that we need to make time in our daily lives for prayer. Last week we looked at prayer through the lens of presence, specifically God's omnipresence as we unpacked the purpose of prayer, the benefits of prayer, and the things we can bring to God in prayer. Today we are going to spend our time looking at the idea of how God invites all of us to pray and gives us guidelines to help us draw closer to God.
Don't Get Stuck!
There was a news clip which appeared in the papers after blackout in one city. I don't know if was a misprint, a mistake or if it was true: "During the power failure many people complained of having gotten stuck for hours on escalators."
We can't go through our every day life with Jesus or God switched off. We won't make it. There won't be any power for living. We'll be stuck on the escalator of life and won't have the energy to walk up or down. We need to spend time in prayer. Prayer is our connection to the source of power in life, God.
How Then Should We Pray?
Prayer is that important. Prayer is our lifeline. And not just in times of trouble. It is one of the major sources of nourishment for our spiritual lives, our chance to communicate with God and He with us. So last week, after looking at what prayer is, the benefits of it, and what we can pray about, this week the question naturally becomes, how should we pray? Because if it’s this important, we want to make sure that we are doing it properly. The disciples had questions about this too. They followed Jesus around and listened to him pray and they wanted help from him in their own prayer lives. In our Gospel lesson from Matthew this morning we find Jesus, through his Sermon on the Mount, teaching people how to pray by giving them some guidelines and then models prayer.
The Guidelines:
1) Prayer should be sincere and personal
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men… But when you pray go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
This doesn’t mean we have to go lock ourselves away in private every time we want to pray. But it gets at the heart of the fact that prayer is not an exercise to show others how spiritual we are, but rather it’s designed to be a means of personal communication between you and God.
2) Prayer is not about the words we use
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
I know that a lot of people are uncomfortable praying in public because they are unsure of what to say, afraid of getting tongue-tied or not using the “right words.” But prayer is not about the words we use. There are no right and wrong words to use when we pray. God already knows the things we need before we ask him. The biggest part of prayer is about the spirit in which we pray. Bill Hybels tells the story of a time when he was at a conference with some of highest-level church leaders in the country. One day in particular, when lunch time rolled around, Bill was invited to go eat with them. As they gathered around this table to eat one of the men, a seminary professor, was asked to pray. This professor was a theology professor, and a great one at that. He began to pray, Father, I love being alive today. And I love sitting down with brothers, eating good food, and talking about Kingdom business. I know you're at this table, and I'm glad. I want to tell you in front of these brothers that I love you, and I'll do anything for you that you ask me to do.1
There were no eloquent, theological words. No rehashed phrases. Just honest, heart-felt words. It is the state of the heart, not the length of the word that is important.
The Model Prayer
Prayer should also be sincere and personal. Following these guidelines Jesus then prays, giving them a model of how to pray; what we call the “Lord’s Prayer”: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.’ (Luke 11:2-4 NRSV)
What a beautiful prayer. It is extremely moving, and meaningful. It can be powerful to a group of people as they say it aloud together. But Jesus intended this to be more than just the prayer that we recite. Especially since he had just cautioned the people against using repetitious phrases. I believe Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer as a pattern to use to suggest the variety of elements that should be included when we pray: Praise for God, Submission to His will, seeking forgiveness, asking for daily provisions, seeking guidance and deliverance.
Over the years, the church has developed other patterns to help guide times of prayer. The one that I find easiest to remember and helps me the most is the ACTS prayer model. ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
Adoration – This should always come first. God is worthy of our praise and worship. When we begin with this, it helps set the tone for the entire prayer and remind us that prayer is not just about ourselves. Some ways to do this might be: to list God’s attributes of mercy, love, providence, power; pray through the various names for God; pick a psalm of praise and read or say it to God. Take time to praise and worship God.
Confession – Next is confession. We need to confess our sins and remove anything that may be blocking or hindering our relationship to God. I encourage you to not make this confession a lump confession; “please forgive me for the bad things I did today”. Be specific. Name your sins. By naming them you become acutely aware of bad habits that may be forming or ongoing. And when you know where your struggles are then you can work more efficiently to change them. Do not just say sorry and forgive me, but rather I am truly sorry for this, spell it out, and be specific.
Thanksgiving – After confession is thanksgiving. All of us grew up being told it was good manners to say please and and thank you. It is no different in our relationship with God. Take this time to express to God how grateful you are for your blessings. Express gratitude for the things God has done; answered prayers, spiritual blessings, relational blessings, material blessings. And again, be specific. Even write them down. This will give you the ability to see concretely all the things God has done for you. And even better you can go back at later dates, re-read them and be reminded of God's incredible faithfulness.
Supplication – Finally we get to the “s”, supplication. Supplication is just a big fancy word meaning “asking for help.” Once we’ve done all these other things in prayer, then approach God with your “shopping list” of wants and needs. This is the part of prayer that most of us do well already and don’t need help with. You know, asking for things that you need and want for yourself, and asking for help for other people, family, friends, the sick, church leaders and ministries, world leaders, etc. And again, be specific. Remember God tells us to bring everything to God in prayer. No request is too small or insignificant. God already knows what is on your heart, so trying to hide it is a waste of time.
Conclusion
This is just one of many models that are out there to help us with our prayer life and our daily prayer time. It was given to us by God, through Jesus, and kept alive through the Holy Spirit, as a means of invitation. It was meant to help us begin that practice, that discipline of prayer. To help us break through any apprehension we might have about prayer so that we can be in communion with our Heavenly Father. I am blessed to be able to spend quality, one on one time, with each of my boys every morning as I walk each of them school. Parker first and then Wesley. That time where we get to talk and share and laugh and just be with each other is the high point of my day. It is the same for God with each of us. Spend that quality, one on one time, with God each and every day. God is waiting to talk, to share, to laugh, and to just be with you. You have been given the invitation, will you accept it?
[1] Hybels, Bill. Too Busy Not Too Pray: Slowing Down to be with God. (InterVarsity Press, 1998) p. 54
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