Today we look at making prayer a part of our daily routine. Prayer is just talking with God. To have a relationship with God, you have to talk with God. Martin Luther said, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."
Today's reading is from Matthew 6:5-13. Today is the second in our four-week series on the Power of Routine. Last week we looked at Bible Reading, how we should make Bible Reading a part of our daily routine. We saw some good reasons why it's so important to read the bible, and I thought it was fun digging into some archeological finds that prove the truth of the bible., and perhaps that startling truth that even though a lot of people don't believe the bible is true, not one piece of evidence has ever discovered to disprove a single story in the bible. We can trust the truth of the Word. Today, we are going to talk about prayer. Prayer is really important. We want to have a relationship with God, and you just can't have a relationship with someone you won't talk to. I think we all know the importance of prayer, but maybe like with bible reading, we know we should be doing it, but at times it gets away from us, and pretty soon the day is winding down and we remember that we didn't really get to spend any meaningful time in prayer. But it's so important. Martin Luther said, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." Prayer should be part of our daily routine, and today we'll explore some reasons it should be included every day, and hopefully something to make it a little easier. Prayer shouldn't be a daunting task. It's simply talking with God. No special technics are necessary, no special formulas, you're just talking, just entering into a conversation. But before we get into this… I remember as kids playing with walkie-talkies with some neighborhood kids. That was a really long time ago, and they weren't anything like they are today. Range was really short, and the voice quality was really bad, but it was fun, once everybody got the hang of how to do it. I'm sure most of you know how they work, there is a button on the side to push when you want to talk, then you let it up so you can hear others talk. But if you try to talk on a walkie-talkie with someone who doesn't really know how they work, that can trying. They might not hold down the button long enough before they start to talk, so you miss part of what they are saying. Or maybe they don't hold down the button at all, and you don't hear anything they said. Or, worse yet, they might hold down their button all the time, so nobody else can say anything. Walkie-talkies in the hands of people who don't know how to use them can be a little frustrating. It isn't a very effective way to communicate, unless everybody knows how. Here is something to think about. Do we approach prayer like a one-way conversation where we talk and God listens? And if so, isn't that a little bit like we are the ones holding down the button on the walkie-talkie the entire time! Can you see how maybe that wouldn't be the most effective way to communicate with God? It's helpful to know how prayer is supposed to work. In the bible, we can see examples of petitions and thanksgiving - that's asking for things, and then showing gratitude for what God does. We also see people asking questions - the Psalms and Lamentations are full of people crying out to God, questioning what is happening, questioning what God is doing, questioning when they don't get answers. And there are examples of people getting answers from God, God can answer us during our prayer. Make sure you're listening to what God might have to say. All of these can be included in our prayer time. We can ask God for anything we might need, we can, and we should be, thanking Him when He gives us what we need, and it's okay to question Him in our prayer, and even more importantly, it's okay to expect an answer, spend time listening. I once heard it said that we speak to God in prayer, and God speaks to us in the bible. And that may be true to a point, but it's not the only way God speaks to us. If we are alone in prayer, and we let Him, and we allow Him time and quiet, God will speak to us. We won't hear an audible voice, but we will get an answer. Sometimes God speaks in our time of prayer, so make sure you're listening. In our reading this morning, Jesus gives the clearest advice in Scripture about how we should be praying. Essentially, He gives us two tips on how to make our prayers more effective, and then He gives us a model that we might use. 1. Prayer is personal. The first tip is to understand that prayer is personal. Jesus tells us not to be like the hypocrites who pray in public so others can see them. It says, "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." The idea behind this isn't that public or corporate prayer is a bad thing, it's that their prayers were rooted in pride. They prayed so others could see them and think more of them. That's the wrong attitude to have when coming to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes you will have an opportunity to pray with others, perhaps even to offer a prayer in a group or in church. Make sure your attitude is right, make sure your heart is humble, and leave your pride at the door. And then as Jesus tells us what not to do, He also gives us to tip to do it right. He says, "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." You see, effective prayer is personal. It's not about who sees you, or what they think of you when you pray. It's the difference between hypocrisy and intimacy. It's about knowing God is present, and speaking to Him from the heart. Father help us understand that prayer is just between you and us, and not about anybody else, it's not something we do for spectators. 2. Prayer is simple and heartfelt. The next tip that Jesus gives us is that prayer should be simple and heartfelt. We saw the tip, it said, "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." Most of the newer translations use this phrasing - don't keep on babbling. The King James version uses the phrase "use not vain repetition." What does this mean? Repetition is obvious, its repeating something over and over again. Vain means empty, self-centered, egotistical. So in order for a prayer to be a vain repetition, it would involve repeating something that was vain, or empty, self-centered and egotistical. I used to think that any short prayer prayed over and over again was the vain repetition that Jesus warned against here. But most newer translations use the word babbling. This is a slightly different connotation, isn't it? Babbling involves going on and on without really saying anything, filling your prayers with a lot of unnecessary words. Looking back to the Greek, that's really the better translation. Don't keep going on and on, or speaking without thinking, just keep your prayers simple. I think Jesus is encouraging us in this passage to not pray lengthy or fancy prayers, thinking our eloquent words, or multitude of words will get God's attention. Just pray honestly and simply, like a child does. In Mark 10:13, we see that people are bringing a number of children to Jesus to be blessed, and the disciples begin rebuking them, Jesus is too busy for all this, go away! But Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" (v.15). We have a tendency to overthink everything. We want to know how everything works. We ask all kinds of questions, and we often won't believe until we understand. But that's not what children do, is it. Children are often so trusting they just believe. I know at the very beginning, the first few years, they always ask a ton of questions. My grandson Scott is now about a year and a half, and he's just recently started with the questions. "What's this?" That seems to be his favorite phrase now. Tell him, and he's good with your answer. He moves on to the next thing he sees. I know he doesn't understand, but the beauty of it is that he doesn't seem to have to understand. Maybe it's just enough to know that someone else understands, I don't know. When they get a little older, and the question changes to why, maybe that's when they start trying to understand. But it this stage, maybe just as long as somebody knows what it is, that's enough. I'm not a child psychologist, and I have to admit that at times I have no idea what's running around in his head. But I wonder if that's how God wants us to be with matters of faith. We don't have to understand how it all works, and we don't have to try to control it. Just know that God is good, He has put it all in motion, and he truly cares how it all turns out. Believe that. And let that be enough. Trust God in those things you don't understand. Now that doesn't mean that we never have questions. And I've already said we can take those questions to the Lord, and He will reveal what we need to know. The point is just that we don't need lengthy or fancy prayers. Just pray honestly and simply, pray as a child, and trust that it will be done. That's the key. Father, we may never understand how children think, but help us understand how we are to come to you. 3. Pray continually. Another tip we can learn about prayer that we don't see in our reading this morning, but it's worth passing along. It's that we should pray continually. Paul tells us this in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and it's sandwiched in a series of final instructions at the end of his letter. He writes, "Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (v16-18). A lot of people have different opinions as to how to pray continually, but one way to think about praying continually is just to have an ongoing conversation with God, or bringing God into your other conversations. I don't know if you've noticed, but at the end of the two previous points I included a short prayer. No need to have anybody bow their heads, or even to say amen. It was just a way to include God in our conversation. We're both talking to God, and with God when we do that. You can do that, too, casually, during the day. Just short little prayers throughout the day to include God in the conversation in whatever you're doing. That might be a way to pray continually. Just make prayer a habit, short prayers throughout your day, quick petitions or thanksgivings to acknowledge God in your day. So Jesus gave us the two tips on prayer, I added the third from Paul, then Jesus gives us the Lord's prayer, as a model for how we are to pray. If you look this over, the prayer contains two elements: adoration and petition. Remember the adoration. Praise God for who he is, don't leave out the praise. If this seems foreign to you, look at the psalms, they are full of praise. You can actually pray the psalms, read them as a prayer, they are full of adoration and praise. That's a great way to start your prayer time - by praying a psalm. This model Jesus gives us is fine, in fact this prayer is fine. Some people say it was intended as a model and that we shouldn't pray it word for word. But it's okay. I pray this prayer every day. It's certainly not all I pray, but it's a part of my routine. Make sure prayer is a part of your routine. And this is a great prayer to add to your routine, say it daily - it covers all the basics. Don't stop there, add your personal petitions and thanksgivings, but again, this prayer would be a great way to start your time in prayer. Let's close this morning by reciting the Lord's prayer, this time being more mindful of what we are praying, and how we might be able to pray like this in in our daily routine… Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy 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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. AMEN.
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