How to (and How Not to) Pray | Prayer Is More Than Asking

2:00 Grab your Bibles now and turn to Matthew chapter six. The title of my message is How to and How Not to Pray. How to and how not to pray. Heard the story of a pilot who was flying a plane load of passengers to their destination. Suddenly the rudder malfunctioned. He radioed the control tower in panic and said the rudder has malfunctioned. What should I do? The air traffic controller said, keep calm, Captain. Just repeat after me. Wings flap, check. Velocity, check. Altitude, check. The pilot made the appropriate adjustments and everything was fine. A few moments passed and the starboard engine failed. He goes back to the radio tower. The starboard engine just stalled. What should I do? The air traffic controller radioed back and said, okay, keep calm, Captain.

2:56 Repeat after me. Wings flap, check. Velocity, check. Altitude, check. Now both engines went out. Mayday, mayday. Both engines have gone out. What should I do? The air controller said, now keep calm, Captain. And repeat after me. Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be your name. The Lord's Prayer. Most of us know it, or at least we know parts of it. It's a prayer that is sort of behind glass. In case of emergency, pull this prayer out. And there's certainly nothing wrong with praying the Lord's Prayer verbatim, but it's more than that. It's really the words of Jesus given to us and how we can pray. Imagine if you went to an elite university and you were able to be taught by the most impressive people throughout history. For instance, you could study music under Beethoven himself.

3:54 Or you could have a drama class taught by William Shakespeare. A political science class taught by Thomas Jefferson. Or a philosophy class taught by C.S. Lewis. How about this? A class on prayer taught by Jesus Christ. I'd sign up for that. I'd be all over that course. I'd want to know what Jesus had to say about prayer. And that's what the Lord's Prayer is. It all started when his disciples came to him and said, Lord, would you teach us how to pray? And the encouraging thing is Jesus did what they asked and in doing so, acknowledging that prayer is something you can learn. You learn how to pray. It takes time. I love when little children are just starting to pray. And we'll say, you pray. And they'll offer their cute little prayers. And they're learning, they're growing.

4:47 I remember as a young Christian, and the first time I was asked to pray publicly, I was so nervous. You know what I'm talking about? What am I gonna say? So it was a big prayer circle, and we went around the circle, and somehow I ended up being last. By the time it got to me, all the good stuff had been prayed for. I didn't know what to say or what to do. And you know that feeling. Well, Jesus is teaching us now how to pray. So this is a model prayer or a template prayer. You know when you go to a housing track that's being built, and they have the model homes, I love model homes. Because you walk in and it's as though someone lives there, but they don't. They have fake fruit and fake things in the fridge and photos of who knows who, who supposedly live in this fake house. But it gives you an idea that that pile of dirt over there is going to turn into a home, well, that won't look anything like this, actually. But it's a model home to give you an idea of what the homes will look like.

5:43 Jesus gives us a model prayer to show us what our prayers ought to look like. But before we learn how to pray, let's learn how not to pray. Matthew 6, verse five. Jesus says, 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. You might underline that. That they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go to your room. When you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in this secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. When you pray, don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do, but they think they'll be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

6:35 I'll stop there. It's a tragic thing, but really, sin knows no boundaries. It can follow us to the very throne of heaven where I'm actually missing the whole point of what prayer should be. Focusing the intention upon myself. This was the problem with the Pharisees. They prayed to be seen by men. The Pharisees loved the theater of prayer. It was sort of like a performance. They would go to a street corner and stop and pray loudly and people would look, oh, look at that religious man. Oh, how devout he is. how impressive he is. Jesus is saying, God's not impressed. He's not impressed one bit because you're doing it for others to see. And so he's showing us that is not how we should pray, nor should we offer ritualized, repeated prayers. That's why I don't really love memorized prayers, that people pray over and over again, just say, 10 our fathers, and you'll be okay. Is there some magic in a little prayer that we pray. When we pray, God looks on the heart. It's a conversation with God. For instance, here's a memorized prayer. We'll say to our children, okay, honey, it's time to go to bed. Now pray this prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

7:53 If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Who came up with this crazy prayer? This is not a good prayer. You're saying to a child, if you should die before you wake, honey, you may die in your sleep tonight. My only hope is God will take your soul, you little heathen child. So sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs fight. Oh, great. This is pointless. You want to teach them not a memorized prayer, but you want to teach them rather how to pray. And so Jesus told the story of two men that went to pray. One was a Pharisee. One was a publican or a tax collector. The Pharisee literally prayed this prayer. God, I thank you. I'm not like other men. I don't cheat. I don't commit adultery.

8:45 I don't sin. And I'm certainly not like that tax collector over there. Meanwhile, the tax collector, the sinner who would acknowledge as much, just said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus said, that man, the sinner, went down justified before God because the other man prayed a prayer to impress other people. It's very easy to pray and not be thinking about what you're praying about. Don't tell me you haven't done it. I've done it. What is worship? It's prayer set to song. So when I'm singing a song, especially one that's directed toward God, I'm praying. But are you always thinking of what you're saying and thinking of what you're praying when you're singing that? Or are you thinking of other things? After church, I'm gonna go to Chick-fil-A. No, I can't.

9:36 They're closed on Sunday. I'll go to In-N-Out Burger instead. Or why is she wearing that at church? That person is singing too loudly. What's going on over here? Why is Greg so strikingly handsome? It distracts me. Excuse me, those are my thoughts, but.

9:58 Actually, they're not, but. The point is, I'm thinking of other things with no thought of God whatsoever. Sometimes in prayer, people use it as an opportunity to brag about their accomplishments. It's more of a bragamony than a testimony. You've seen this. Someone prays, God, I thank you that as, I just read 15 chapters of Leviticus this morning, breaking my three-month fast. I was able to share the gospel with 12 people. Stop. What is that about? That's about you. That's about you trying to impress other people. Sometimes people use prayer as an opportunity to impress others. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, our most bountiful God, we come before you today to beseech thee. okay, nice, but is this really about God or is this about you trying to impress others?

10:54 Or long prayers, long prayers. You know, a meal comes. You should ask a blessing on the meal. I was just over in Maui last Sunday speaking at our church, which is doing great. I was flying back and there was a guy, a couple rows in front of me and his meal came and he prayed, he bowed his head and prayed. I thought, well, that guy must be a Christian. And afterwards, he said, hi, I'm a Christian. and I recognize you. Oh, nice to meet you. And he goes, why didn't you pray over your meal? And he goes, right, no, it's not true. But I don't know if I did. Because sometimes I forget. Do any of you ever forget to pray? So when, okay, the food comes, it's hot. Someone says, let's ask the blessing. And you're asked, don't pray a 20-minute prayer. Other times people use prayer as an opportunity to gossip. You're praying and someone says, Lord, I just found out that Jim has been unfaithful to his wife. Wait, what?

11:47 Jim who? All of a sudden it's not about prayer. It's about the latest gossip you just heard. These prayers go no higher than the ceiling.

13:00 called How to and How Not to Pray. Jesus gives us insight, verse 8. Your Father knows the things you need of before you ask Him. God knows what you need before you ask Him. Therefore, why should I pray? After all, I can't change God's mind. Well, listen, the objective of prayer is not to change God. It's to change you. God knows what you need, but prayer is not to inform God. Prayer is to invite God. Let me say that again. Prayer is not to inform God. Prayer is to invite God. The value of prayer is it keeps me in touch with God. Prayer is getting closer to God. Sometimes God allows things in my life to bring me to Him in prayer. It can be a challenge. It can be a need. It could even be a tragedy. And I come to the Lord and I call upon the Lord. So that's how not to pray. Let's talk about how to pray Matthew 6 verse 9. Now this is the Lord's prayer.

14:06 And I would like us all to say this out loud together. Let's see what Jesus says. Our Father who art 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. The Lord's Prayer. Great one. Memorize that. It's not too long. A template for all prayer. The first three requests in the Lord's Prayer deal with the glory of God, our Father who art in heaven.