Several years ago, I was on my way to Walmart and I got a phone call from Wise County Jail. When I answered, the man on the other end told me his name and said he had just gotten out of jail just now and he really needed a ride. He asked me if there was any way I could come pick him up. I told him that he had called at just the right time as I just happened to be in the neighborhood and I would be right there.
I turned around and pulled in the
parking lot and saw him. He got in and I asked, “So…where are we headed?”
He said, “Albuquerque.” And he wasn’t kidding. Poor guy had gotten
busted passing through Texas and his truck was impounded and gone and he needed
to get home to Albuquerque. It was at this moment I started to regret taking
the phone call. But it got worse.
I started calling around trying to
find a bus depot somewhere. I wasn’t having any luck so I went by the Harvest
Baptist Association office and talked to the secretary there and she looked it
up on the computer and it showed the nearest bus depot was in Denton. Well, I
couldn’t just kick the guy out of my car so I drove to Denton only to find out
that it was not a bus station but just some kind of bus stop that picked up and
dropped off every few days and that was not one of the days. So, I couldn’t
leave him there.
I made some more calls and internet
searches and it showed that there was a bus station in Wichita Falls. I didn’t
want to drive to Wichita Falls but I didn’t know what to do and I was getting
pretty desperate, so I just went. Drove all the way to Wichita Falls only to
discover that it, too, was only a bus stop and no bus was going to stop there
today. It was basically just a bench in the parking lot of a convenience store
is all it was.
So, I started doing what I should have
been doing from the start. I started praying. I mean praying. Out loud,
fervently asking God for wisdom and help and patience. We sat there for a
little while, both praying, and an 18-wheeler pulled up on a side street right
in front of us and the driver got out to go into the convenience store. As he
passed by the car, I rolled down the window and asked him, “Hey, which way
are you headed?” The man said, “California.” I said, “Are you
going through New Mexico, anywhere near Albuquerque?” He said he was going
right through there. “Do you mind giving him a ride to Albuquerque?” I
pointed to my surprised-looking friend in the passenger seat. “Sure. Hop
in.”
I got a call the next day from my
friend who said the trucker was a great guy and literally dropped him off at his
front door. Thank you, Lord! I was glad to be able to help the guy but I was
very glad for the trucker to help the guy as well. We were both in trouble there for a while. Makes
you wonder if angels ever drive 18-wheelers, know what I mean?
How about you? Who do you call when
you are in trouble or in need? Or maybe you don’t call anybody. You just always
try to fix it yourself. Or maybe you try to forget you are even in trouble.
Maybe you distract yourself with work or hobbies or even drugs or alcohol. How’s
that working out for you? Is that getting you out of trouble?
I think we all know in our minds that
when we are in trouble, we should take our requests to God in prayer. We know
we should but…we don’t. We know that our heavenly Father is the one to call on
and we know He has the wisdom and power to help us but for some reason we
hesitate to do it. We know those requests should be made with confidence
because He tells us to come boldly into His throne room in Hebrews 4:16.
We know we should and yet we don’t for
any number of reasons but let me suggest to you this morning that one reason we
hesitate to pray is because we don’t really know how. Oh, sure, we have some
knowledge of prayer and I’m not saying we are doing it wrong, necessarily, but
maybe we aren’t really doing it right.
I think we will find as we study
prayer more deeply that God’s ultimate purpose for prayer is not so you have a
number to call when you need something but the ultimate purpose of prayer is
for God’s glory. Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will
deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” When everything you say in your prayers is
backed up with the mindset that you want to glorify God, the more powerful your
prayer life will be.
Have you ever been in a so-called
conversation with somebody and you realize that they are only partly paying
attention? Does it seem like they are really only participating when they
are talking? What’s worse is when that person only wants to talk about
themselves and when you try to steer the conversation elsewhere they always
bring it back to them. Well, I have heard enough people pray in my life
to know that must be how God feels sometime.
So, do you ever feel like your prayer
life is weak and ineffective? If it feels that way, then it is weak and
ineffective and it is weak and ineffective because your walk with God is weak
and ineffective. Your conversation with Him can only be as powerful as
your relationship with Him and your relationship grows stronger as you learn to
trust Him and obey Him.
Do you remember that old hymn, “Trust
and Obey”? It says in one of the verses:
Then in
fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet
Or we'll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do
Where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey
Oh, that’s good stuff! Do you
want that fellowship with Him? Do you want your prayers to be powerful
and effective? James 5:16 says, “The fervent prayer
of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Well, to be righteous
means to be right with God. So, you can either be perfect or be forgiven
and obedient. I’ll have to be the latter. But because I am right
with God through His Son Jesus and I have been forgiven and when I am trusting
and obeying Him, I can expect my prayer life to be powerful and effective.
But there is a good way to pray and
there is a better way to pray. Did you know that? The good way to pray
is, “Aaaahhh!!! Lord, please help me!” Sometimes that’s all
we have time for or all we are able to do and that works. God hears that
prayer. But there is a better way to pray and Jesus told us as He told
His disciples who asked Him about it in Matthew chapter 6:9-13.
The Lord’s Prayer is found there and is a skeleton upon which we will fill in
and flesh out what our fervent prayers should look like.
The Lord’s Prayer was never intended
to be repeated as a prayer itself. The disciples didn’t ask Jesus to
teach them a prayer but to teach them how to pray and
so Jesus gave them this outline. So, first turn to Matthew 6:9-13 and
then we will look at Psalm 100 in a few minutes.
“This,
then, is how you should pray:
Our
Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from the evil one.”
In a
seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was
assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his
problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission
to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made
his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used
this ingenious procedure for two years.
Ill health
forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station.
When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car
started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was
complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe
the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist,
stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson's astonishment, the
engine roared to life. For two years needless trouble had become routine. The
power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting
that power to work.
J.B.
Phillips paraphrases Ephesians l:19-20, "How tremendous is the
power available to us who believe in God." When we make firm our
connection with God, his life and power flow through us. (Ernest B. Beevers)
There is great power in prayer but we
have to do it correctly. There is a method to it and when used correctly,
it is the single most powerful weapon on the planet because it is the power of
Almighty God, the power of the Creator of the universe and the risen Savior of
the world. Here in Matthew, Jesus gives us the outline for using prayer
and it can be broken down into five steps. The first verse is about praise.
Verse 10 asks for God’s purpose. Verse 11 is asking
for God’s provision. Verse 12 is asking for forgiveness
or pardon and verse 13 is asking for protection.
Today, we are going to look at just
the first step to real and powerful prayer. If you want your prayer to be
heard and for it to be effective, Jesus says to start out with praise to
God. That’s what Jesus was doing when He said, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” He is acknowledging that our Father is God
and makes His home in Heaven because He is the Creator. He is our Father, which
means He is our Supplier, Redeemer and Sustainer.
“Hallowed” is another word for holy
and it means set apart and so we only use His name when we are talking to Him
or about Him. I just need to say again that ANY use of ANY name or title of God
outside of that is to use His name in vain. When we say “OMG” or any other name
or title of God or Jesus, whether it is a word used in surprise or anger or
shock, it is a sin. It is supremely disrespectful of Almighty God and will be
punished as such. I know you don’t mean anything by it. That’s the point! It is
not to be used for nothing. There is power in those names and they are to be
used reverently and in praise.
So, what does true praise sound like
or look like? Well, I invite you to turn way left in your Bibles to the
middle of the book; to the book of Psalms, specifically Psalm 100.
Do you appreciate what God does for
you? Do you enjoy being with Him and witnessing His glory and
power? Then just tell Him. Expressing our love for God in praise
doesn’t just tell God, it actually completes the enjoyment and
appreciation. Expressing praise is part of the enjoyment. If you
went to a football game and only clapped quietly when your team scored, that
wouldn’t be much fun, would it? If all you did was say, “Amen, brother” quietly
at a first down, that game wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable. We don’t know
who wrote Psalm 100 but he obviously can’t contain his
praise. Just look at the very first word.
Shout for
joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter
his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
I want us all to read it again out
loud. I don’t care what translation you have and I hope you see that the
psalmist is praising God just because of Who God is and what He has done and
not because of who the psalmist is or what the psalmist has done. Read it like
you mean it.
Shout for
joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter
his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Do you see how he praises God just for
who God is and what He has done? This first part is not about you.
If you have a hard time thanking God for who He is, then you
don’t know who He is. In whatever circumstance you are in, you
should SHOUT your praise to God for His goodness, mercy, grace, love and forgiveness.
Without all of that, whatever you are going through would be immeasurably
worse. You shout for a football game that means absolutely nothing.
You should want to shout for all that God has done, is doing and will do in
your life.
Now, I know that this psalm is not a
prayer. It’s actually a song but it involves the kind of praise that we
should incorporate into our prayers. Look at verse 2. “Worship
the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Now,
obviously, this is talking about praising God when you are in a good mood,
right? When all is well, worship with gladness. Praise God with
joyful songs when you are happy. Right?
Actually, this makes no such
qualifications. Every time we seriously pray, we should realize who God
is and who we are and that should bring us joy to the point where we can pray
with gladness and joy because we are talking to the Creator of the universe and
Almighty God. When we do that, we will start to see power in our prayer
life just like Paul and Silas did in Acts 16. In Acts 16, it
tells of Paul and Silas being thrown into jail for something they had not
done. Not only were they thrown in jail, but they were whipped and put
into stocks that would keep them from moving or finding any comfort.
How would you feel about that if it
were you? I have to admit, I’m afraid I would be seething mad. I
didn’t do anything wrong. I’m in pain. My rights have been taken
away. Most people would be miserable and mad. But in beautiful verse
25, it says that Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the
other prisoners were listening to them.
I don’t know what they were praying or
singing but there is power in that kind of joyful, praising, worshipful
prayer. In the next verse it says that there was suddenly a violent
earthquake and the foundations of the prison were shaken and the doors flew
open and the chains were loosed. Talk about “Chainbreaker”! Tell me
there’s not power in prayer. Tell me again how you have it so bad you
can’t pray.
Paul later went on to say, “I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to
have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every
situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in
want. 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11
You ought to SHOUT that to
God in prayer! “Thank you, Lord, for what you are doing in my life and
while I may not be comfortable, I know that because of my relationship with you
that I can do all things through You who gives me strength!” And
maybe that means that God will remove you or release you from your trouble like
He did with Paul and Silas that time or…maybe He just gives you the grace and
strength to get through it, praising Him because you know that the other
prisoners are listening to you.
Because they
are listening. Other people hear your prayers and they want to know
what kind of God you worship. Do you worship a God that you only pray to
asking for help and protection as you cry out in pain or do you, in the midst
of pain, shout to God your praise just because of who He is and what He has
done in spite of who you are and in spite of what you have
done? That’s a powerful way to start your prayer right there.
We all remember the story of Daniel in
the lions’ den but do you remember what got him there? He was caught
praying and giving thanks to God. What did Daniel have to praise God
for? He was in captivity in a foreign country, his country had been
conquered with its capital city of Jerusalem in ruins and yet Daniel risked
everything to praise God. He must have been convinced of the power of
prayer and especially the power of praise in prayer.
Or how about good old Job? One
day Job was the richest man in the world, blessed by God with everything he
could want including seven sons and three daughters and the next day he lost
everything including all his children and what did Job do? It says as
soon as Job got the word, he got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then
he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD
gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:20-21) Evidently Job, too, knew about
the power of praise in prayer. There must be power in praise. Why else would
Jesus tell His disciples to pray starting with praise?
Let’s spend some time right now just
praising God for who He is and what He has done. Remember, this is not
about you. Praise God for His power and sovereignty. Praise Him for
His creativity. Praise Him just for being who He is and even though you
don’t understand Him, you will trust Him and obey Him because He is God.
Do that right now, as the music plays.
If you don’t have a relationship with
God through His Son Jesus then all you have to do is believe that Jesus is the
only way to Heaven and by His sacrifice on the cross, all your sins can and
will be forgiven if you just ask. Repent – turn away – from those sins
and ask God to be Lord of every aspect of your life and open up the power of
prayer in your life today. Do it now. Today is the day of
salvation! Thank you, Lord!
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