We‘re in the third week of a series called “Established”, where we’ve been talking about how to be more effectively rooted and established in the love of God.
The first week we talked about knowing God. Last week, we talked about how to hear God, and today I want to discuss talking with God or praying.
I will outline three principles of prayer that I believe will help us all improve our prayer life and thus be better established in God’s love.
The three principles are these…
1. Be With The Father
2. Be Yourself
3. Invite Him Into Everything
So first, let’s discuss the concept of Be with the Father.
Did you specifically notice the word “with” in this phrase? To “be with” someone implies something personal, something relational, something intentional.
When the Bible talks about prayer in the New Testament, it’s not talking about a religious experience or action or requirement. The Bible says prayer is about being INVOLVED in a loving relationship with God the Father.
When we think about prayer, don’t think about it as a chore or requirement; instead, think of prayer as a personal way to be with your heavenly Father, who loves you.
As we read in our Gospel lesson today, Jesus taught us how to pray as part of His Sermon on the Mount. He simply says in verse 9, ”This is how you should pray,” and then He begins to teach us how to pray with what we today call “The Lord’s Prayer”.
The first petition is “Our Father in heaven”, followed by “hallowed be your name”. Jesus is simply saying when you pray, FOCUS on the Father. That IS what is most important.
We are obviously very familiar with this prayer since we pray the Lord’s Prayer during all of our Worship Services. But did you know that when Jesus told the people of His day to start this prayer with the phrase “Our Father,” it was SHOCKING.
In fact, for many of them, it was OFFENSIVE. This kind of talk is one of the reasons why the Jews arrested Jesus and crucified him.
It is important to always remember that Jesus was NOT crucified because of WHAT he did. He was crucified because of WHO he said he was.
He said, “I’m the son of God. I and the Father are one.”
Jesus was telling his followers, “I am a child of God. I am the only begotten Son of God. I and the Father are one.”
And now Jesus is saying here, “If you put your faith in me, you too can call God your father and become His child.”
But if you were one of the people of Jesus’ day, you WOULD NOT even say God’s name … because it was too holy. In the Old Testament, there are lots of names for God, but the common name, the primary name for God in the Old Testament is Yahweh.
When the scribes were writing the Old Testament, when they needed to write the name of God, they wouldn’t because Yahweh was too holy to write down.
They would just put a symbol for the name of God. Now, all of a sudden, you have this son of a Jewish carpenter, who is gaining prominence as a rabbi, very publicly calling God … “Father.”
More than that, he says, “If you believe in me and trust in me, you TOO can become a child of God, and you TOO can call the Almighty … The Most Holy One … Father, as well.”
Everybody was shocked. But for us today, here’s what Jesus is getting at. Prayer is NOT just a religious command or experience or action. Prayer is the mechanism for a loving relationship between you and your heavenly Father.
Now, when most of us think about our relationship with God, we may not be thinking about it the way Jesus taught it. We may NOT FULLY understand what Jesus actually taught us. In fact, I suspect many people may HAVE a misunderstanding of what it means to have a relationship with God.
Most of us think that a relationship with God is ALL about our performance, and out of that performance COMES punishments and rewards.
God is either going to punish me, or He’s going to reward me BASED on my scorecard for the week. For example, is the value of my good things greater than the value of my bad things this week?
But Jesus did NOT EVER say, or even suggest, that salvation is somehow a cause-and-effect plan by God. Jesus only EVER taught that God wants to have a loving relationship with you … just like a loving father and child relationship.
Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray … “Our Father.”
When it comes to earthly fathers and sons, there is training and discipline of course, but generally, it’s all about wanting to have a loving relationship with our sons, so that they will learn to trust us.
Then, we can help prepare them for their future life experiences. And that is exactly how your Heavenly Father loves you, and He wants a trusting relationship with you.
Jesus teaches that when you pray … FOCUS on the Father. However, for some of us, when we talk about God as Father, you may have a hard time with that because your earthly father was not that great.
In the best-case scenario, maybe your earthly father was performance oriented. It was punishment versus reward. Not a lot of love. Worst case scenario, it could have been your father did some terrible things to you.
If you have a challenge in calling God Father, here’s what I would encourage you to do. Call God what Jesus literally called him when he walked this earth. In Romans 8, Jesus called God … “Abba”, an Aramaic word, which is an intimate term meaning father.
But you DON’T have to say father. You can say Abba because my guess is you never called your earthly father Abba. But when you think Abba, here is what you should think.
Think about everything that you wish your earthly father would have been. Your heavenly Abba loves you far beyond what you could ever ask or imagine. He cares for you, and He wants this wondrous, loving relationship with you.
This is why Jesus died on the cross and rose again. It is not about punishment and reward for those who are followers of Jesus.
Why? Because Jesus took care of ALL of that on the cross. Jesus absorbed ALL the punishment that you and I deserve … on the cross. He covered all sin for all time.
Then, three days later, he rose again, conquering death, hell, and the grave. This is truly the GOOD NEWS for ALL people.
What God wants with you – your heavenly Abba – is a personal relationship. Be a child of God. Walk in that assurance. It is not simply a religious experience or expectation. It is a loving exchange with your heavenly father, Your heavenly Abba.
Jesus obviously wants you to “Be With the Father”, but Jesus also wants you to Be Yourself.
What do you think the term “be yourself” means? I think it means to be honest, and don’t try to fake it with God.
God cannot have a relationship with who you are pretending to be. Because that person does not exist. You should just be yourself with God.
Jesus teaches that we are to become more like little children. But He did NOT mean to become childish, since that is just immaturity. Jesus says we are to be more childlike … more trusting in God … as our Father.
It is impossible for you to disappoint God as a follower of Jesus. Disappointment is all about unmet expectations.
Meaning when you are disappointed in somebody, you expected one thing and they did something else.
Here’s the thing, God knows ALL of your sin. What you HAVE done, what you are DOING, and even the sin you DON’T KNOW about yet.
God transcends time. 2000 years before you ever existed, God made a WAY for you to reconcile with Him through the person of Jesus.
Romans 5:8 says, ”God proved His love for you in this. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.”
This means that God knows all our sin for all time, and still He made a way for us through Jesus. You cannot disappoint a God that knows the future.
When you confess, “Oh man, I really made a mistake this time.” Do you really think God ever responds, “Are you kidding me? I’m shocked.”
God knew it was coming, but He still made a way for you through Jesus. The Bible teaches this to you and me as children of God.
In 1 Peter 5:5, our Scripture lesson for last week, Paul says, “Clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
To be PROUD, to be DISHONEST, to NOT BE authentic is opposite of God, because God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Listen to the next verse in 1 Peter 5, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter Chapter 5:6
The biblical definition of humility is honesty.
Pride is about PRETENDING, while humility is about REALITY … not faking it.
The key is BE YOURSELF when you talk to God. You can’t play poker with God. He always knows what’s in your hand. Don’t fake it. He can’t love who you’re pretending to be, since that person does not exist.
Talk to him about your thoughts. Talk to him about your feelings. Express your gratitude, your joys, your frustrations. He knows everything already. But for some, you might need to have a Lieutenant Dan moment with God.
You might remember in the movie “Forrest Gump”, when Lt Dan climbs up to the top of a shrimping boat, and he’s all mad at God because he lost his legs in the war, he has a real relational moment in a real storm.
In that moment, Lt Dan is definitely NOT in a religious mindset. He says, “God, are you kidding me. This was not my plan for my life.”
The movie script did not have any response from God, but if it did, it would have been something like this … “Well, Lt Dan, you are not in charge of your life, and I have bigger plans for you than you have.”
The next day, what does Forrest Gump see? Lt Dan out swimming in the ocean, and Forrest Gump says, “I think he made his peace with God.”
Remember always that God loves you. So, the first principle of prayer is to always FOCUS on the FATHER, and then, the second principle is to BE YOURSELF with God.
Finally, the third principle of prayer that I believe will help you improve your prayer life is Invite Him into Everything.
If you’re like, “Oh, there’s some things in my life God doesn’t need to be involved in.” Well, if you really believe that, let me just say … He’s ALREADY there.
There is nothing you can SAY, DO, or THINK that WOULD or COULD exclude God. In fact, He is always trying to bless you because He loves you.
So, invite Him into everything. Invite Him in so He can redeem and restore you. So, He can help you repent, and heal you from your sin.
In our first lesson this morning from 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5, Paul says…
”Rejoice always. Pray without what ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5:16-18
Pray all day as you go on your way. Now there are moments in your life where you need to GET alone and focus in fervent prayer. There are times for that need, but the idea here is that you should be just praying all the time.
This is not encouraging you to bow your head, close your eyes, and fold your hands all the time. Not at all. In prayer, the posture of your body is not nearly as important as the posture of your heart.
The idea here is you are involving God in your routine, daily life. You are giving Him your attention. You have Him on your mind at work, at home, and while you are playing.
Invite Him into everything that is happening in your life. Pray all day as you go on your way.
You can pray on a hike or a bike ride. You can pray while you are doing yard work, cleaning your home, sitting in a classroom, or sharing a meal.
And when you pray for a specific person, IF it is possible to put your hand on them, do it. When you put your hand on somebody to pray for them, Biblically it is a sign of blessing.
Pray all day as you go about your daily routine. Make this a regular part of your life to help ensure that you are inviting God into everything in your life.
As you well know, the goal or purpose of our worship service is never entertainment. The goal is to help all of us get God’s information from His Word, and then help us put that information into practice through application.
The equation for life looks like this…
INFORMATION with APPLICATION always leads to TRANSFORMATION.
These then are my principles regarding prayer, which I highly encourage you to exercise and practice.
The MORE you do, the more you’ll KNOW your heavenly father … your heavenly Abba, and the more you’ll be ROOTED and ESTABLISHED in God’s love. Amen