SPEAKER_00: If I were to ask this morning, how many of you think you should pray more?
SPEAKER_00: I can imagine that many hands would go up.
SPEAKER_00: That's because prayer is one of those areas of the Christian life where almost all of us feel inadequate.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the encouraging thing is we're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: As we see in our passage, the disciples of Jesus felt the same way.
SPEAKER_00: After watching their master in prayer, they didn't pretend to have it all figured out.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, they humbly asked, Lord, teach us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And that's really the posture that we should have as we come to Luke chapter 11, not as experts in prayer, but as disciples who still need our Lord to teach us about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is prayer?
SPEAKER_00: That's an important question if we're going to be looking at it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.
SPEAKER_00: So notice the elements there.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is offering up our desires to God.
SPEAKER_00: So when we pray, we petition him for things that we desire.
SPEAKER_00: Simply put, we ask him for things, but not just any things, things that are agreeable to his will.
SPEAKER_00: That's probably what most of us think about when we think of prayer, asking God for things.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not all prayer is.
SPEAKER_00: It is also confessing our sins.
SPEAKER_00: It is bringing our sins to God and asking him for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: It is saying, Lord, have mercy upon me as sinner, for I've sinned against you.
SPEAKER_00: And it is also thankfully acknowledging him for his mercies.
SPEAKER_00: We let him know that we acknowledge who he is and we acknowledge his gifts and we acknowledge his goodness and everything that he has provided for us.
SPEAKER_00: Most importantly, his work in saving us from our sins.
SPEAKER_00: All of this is to be done in the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what makes our prayers Christian prayers.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just pray to any God.
SPEAKER_00: There are many religions who pray.
SPEAKER_00: There are many religions who say they pray to a God, but Christians pray to the God of the Scriptures, to the God who has given us access to Him through the mediation of His Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is a regular part of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: As a believer in Christ, you know that it is something that you are called to do.
SPEAKER_00: You might not be called to missions, you might not be called to lead or teach a Bible study, but you know that as a Christian, you are called to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the question that's before us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_00: How do we pray?
SPEAKER_00: Or better yet, how should we pray?
SPEAKER_00: How do we start?
SPEAKER_00: How do we end?
SPEAKER_00: What do we include in our prayers?
SPEAKER_00: These are questions that many of us have that, you know, we probably don't know, or maybe haven't taken the time to sought answers for.
SPEAKER_00: Many times, you know, we don't think, give it enough consideration.
SPEAKER_00: Or many times, many times we just learn how to pray from others, from the way other people are praying.
SPEAKER_00: We listen to a pastor pray, or we listen to a leader pray, or other great men and women, and we we read books of prayer or about prayer, we read articles and things like that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's definitely things to be learned from others who pray.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we we I as a as a father want to teach my children how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: There are things that we can learn from listening to the prayers of others, but there is definitely one person that we should all learn from, and he is the greatest teacher there ever was on prayer, which is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So as we come to chapter 11 of Luke's gospel, we come to a passage that many of us are quite familiar with.
SPEAKER_00: These four verses of Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray is known as the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: It is a model prayer that Christians have used ever since the church was birthed.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have prayed this as a child before bedtime, as this prayer is often used to teach little ones how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: But as we will see today and in the coming weeks, this motto is not just for children, but it is for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone should learn how to pray from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're going to be doing for the next six weeks, beginning this morning, looking at this prayer as a church.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be starting this series within the series of Luke on the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you may notice that Luke's version differs slightly from the version that many of us have memorized from Matthew, even from the one we recited this morning in our liturgy.
SPEAKER_00: That's because Jesus taught on prayer more than once during his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Here, Luke records another occasion in which our Lord taught his disciples about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Since we're in Luke, this is the prayer we're going to be looking at, not Matthew's, Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start by looking at the address, in other words, how we are to address God, and then we are going, that's going to be followed with looking at the petitions, how and what we are to petition to God in our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: But before we do, this morning, what I want to do is take some time looking at how this prayer is set up in Luke and what we can learn from Luke's narrative and introduction of the prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Because I believe there are some things to be learned about prayer even before Jesus begins answering the question.
SPEAKER_00: I titled this sermon, What Jesus Teaches Us About Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to point out the following from these first two verses.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, he teaches us that everyone should pray.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, that we should pray according to his word, and number three, that we should pray often.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone should pray.
SPEAKER_00: We should pray according to his word, and we should pray often.
SPEAKER_00: Before we get to what we should pray for, let us learn what Jesus teaches us through his life and his practice and through this exchange he has with one of his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, everyone should pray.
SPEAKER_00: So chapter 11 opens up telling us now Jesus was praying in a certain place.
SPEAKER_00: The prayer life of Christ is emphasized more in Luke's gospel than any of the others.
SPEAKER_00: Up until this point, Luke has already mentioned to us, we're in chapter 11, up until this point, Luke has already mentioned to us Christ praying at least nine times.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus felt that it was necessary for him to pray to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the Son of God, the one who was born without sin, the one who knew no sin, felt that he needed a regular and healthy prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: What does that tell us?
SPEAKER_00: It tells us that if Jesus needed to pray, we certainly need to pray.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus thought that prayer was vital to his life, then we should as well.
SPEAKER_00: If he was dependent upon his Father for everything, then who are we not to do the same?
SPEAKER_00: Now let me give you a little theology or Christology here because this might be on some of your minds.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus was God, why did he need to pray?
SPEAKER_00: Couldn't he have drawn everything that he needed from himself?
SPEAKER_00: Why did he need to ask anything of the Father when he was God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, remember, Jesus is the incarnate God, meaning when he came to be born in a manger, he assumed a human flesh.
SPEAKER_00: During his life on earth, he lived as the God man, meaning that he was both God and man.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2, 5 tells us, having this mind among you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grass, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying that Jesus didn't count equality with God a thing to be grassed.
SPEAKER_00: The King James Version says he did not count it robbery to be equal with God.
SPEAKER_00: Now it would be robbery for us to claim to be God because that title doesn't belong to us.
SPEAKER_00: It belongs to God alone.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus can claim that title because Jesus is God.
SPEAKER_00: However, he emptied himself, as Philippians tells us, by taking on the form of a servant.
SPEAKER_00: Not that he ceased to be God here on earth, but by taking on the form of a servant, by taking on humanity, he took on humanity's weaknesses and dependencies.
SPEAKER_00: Joel Beake says, God the Son became human in all our weaknesses and mortality without ceasing to be God.
SPEAKER_00: Calvin says Christ did not renounce his divinity, but he kept it concealed for a time.
SPEAKER_00: And as he conceals his divinity, he needs what all of us need every single day, the strength and the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't spend time in prayer merely to set an example, though it is an example, but he spent time in prayer to seek and to ask of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And again, if Jesus needed this, how much more do we?
SPEAKER_00: There is no Christian who can honestly say, I don't need to pray.
SPEAKER_00: If prayer is petitioning God, asking of God, calling upon God, who among us can say, That's not for me?
SPEAKER_00: Who among us can say, we have the strength to make it on our own?
SPEAKER_00: I've said this before, but prayer is a show of our dependence upon God.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer says, I can't, Lord, but you can.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer says, I don't have it, God, but I know you do.
SPEAKER_00: It says, I am weak, Lord, but you're strong.
SPEAKER_00: I'm finite, but you're infinite.
SPEAKER_00: So when we neglect to pray, we are saying the opposite of that.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying, Lord, I got this.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying, Lord, Lord, I know I can do it on my own.
SPEAKER_00: I can do it on my own strength.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need your strength.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need your power to live how you want me to live.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to ask you for anything because I can I can obtain everything that I need on my own.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that I have, I've earned with my own two hands, and everything that I desire, I can gain with my own strength.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we are essentially saying when we neglect to pray.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying, God, I don't really need you.
SPEAKER_00: Someone put it this way: to neglect prayer is to practice atheism.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 10, verse 3 tells us, For the wicked boast of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him.
SPEAKER_00: All his thoughts are, there is no God.
SPEAKER_00: When we don't see God in prayer, we're essentially saying, There is no God.
SPEAKER_00: Again, if prayer is a show of how much we need God and rely on God and depend on God, then prayer is for everyone because this is everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone needs God.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone relies on God, everyone depends on Him for every moment of every day.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is not reserved for a select few Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's not merely for those Christians who like to pray.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to leave prayer only for Christians who like to pray, there would be little prayer happening everywhere, anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Because very few Christians like to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is not always easy because we need to make time for it.
SPEAKER_00: We need to make energy for it.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to see it as vital to our Christian lives.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're honest, we don't always do those things.
SPEAKER_00: That's why prayer is often called a discipline.
SPEAKER_00: Just like we need discipline in other things, in other areas of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We we discipline ourselves to exercise.
SPEAKER_00: And we discipline ourselves to watch our mouths, watch what we say.
SPEAKER_00: We discipline ourselves to stay away from the donuts in the lobby.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer takes a commitment to be disciplined.
SPEAKER_00: If not, it will rarely, if ever, get done.
SPEAKER_00: And it needs to be done.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus shows us by setting aside time to pray.
SPEAKER_00: That we are needy creatures dependent upon a sovereign creator, that we truly know that without him we can do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Not just for the seasoned Christian or the spiritual Christian or the one that the ones that people like to call prayer warriors.
SPEAKER_00: It's for all Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's for the Christians with much faith and the Christians with little faith.
SPEAKER_00: It's for the for the one who is bold and the one who is afraid.
SPEAKER_00: It's for for the fervent and the weary.
SPEAKER_00: It's for the one who is free and the Christian who is burdened.
SPEAKER_00: It's for the one who is prosperous and the one who is poor.
SPEAKER_00: It's for the one who is strong and the one who is weak.
SPEAKER_00: It's for those who are ready to pray and for those who are not ready to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is for every Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Which means prayer is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Next, what does Jesus teach us about prayer?
SPEAKER_00: That it should be done according to his word.
SPEAKER_00: As we continue on in the first verse.
SPEAKER_00: And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Now it was common in these days for rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist apparently taught his disciples how to pray, and the disciples of Jesus were aware of it, so they want their master to teach them how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: I love how Luke tells us that the disciple, we don't know which one, asked Jesus the question after he is done praying.
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, the disciple didn't interrupt Jesus' prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But when he was done, he does ask a revealing question.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, teach us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I say it's revealing?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because it reveals to us that there's a right way to pray.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples want to know how to pray rightly.
SPEAKER_00: They want to pray just like Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: And as God's Son, he must know.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone knows how to pray to the Father, Jesus, the Son of God, certainly must know.
SPEAKER_00: So they ask.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we'll begin spending the greater part of the next few weeks unpacking that answer, but for now, what I want to point out is this there is a right way to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Which consequently tells us there's also a wrong way to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think people give that enough consideration.
SPEAKER_00: We often think that God would be pleased if we even pray at all.
SPEAKER_00: That He doesn't care how we pray, as long as we pray.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing that the question shows us, the question from the disciple, is that there is a right way to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And that we need to be taught how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: So now the question becomes: who's going to teach us?
SPEAKER_00: Where do we learn how to pray from?
SPEAKER_00: The same place the disciples turned.
SPEAKER_00: We turn to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We turn to the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples knew that Jesus carried God's word and that whatever he said was from God.
SPEAKER_00: So they ultimately wanted to know what God says about prayer?
SPEAKER_00: How does God want us to pray?
SPEAKER_00: So if we want to learn how to pray, we needed to do the same thing the disciples did.
SPEAKER_00: We need to turn to God.
SPEAKER_00: We need to turn to the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: We need to search the scriptures to learn how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 5 14 tells us, and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
SPEAKER_00: And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of him.
SPEAKER_00: So John says that God hears us when?
SPEAKER_00: When we ask according to his will, which means that God has not promised to grant prayers that are contrary to his revealed will in scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: But he does hear those that are asked in his will.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we want from God.
SPEAKER_00: We want him to hear us.
SPEAKER_00: We want him to hear our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reason why we pray.
SPEAKER_00: We pray so God will hear us.
SPEAKER_00: When you speak to someone, you expect or at least hope that they're listening to you.
SPEAKER_00: We all know how frustrating it can be when someone isn't listening or who acts like they're listening and when they're really not.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God doesn't have to act.
SPEAKER_00: He will either listen to our prayers or he won't listen to our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And as John says, the prayers that he listens to are those prayers that are brought to him according to his will.
SPEAKER_00: So in order to pray rightly, we must pray according to the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Where do we learn his will?
SPEAKER_00: We learn his word.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to guess it, we don't have to have an intuition, we don't have to wait for a dream.
SPEAKER_00: We we don't have to wait to hear someone say, Thus saith the Lord, because the Lord has already said, and he has said it in his word.
SPEAKER_00: You know, people will often say, I don't know what God's will is for my life.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I knew what God's will is for my life.
SPEAKER_00: And I get what most people mean by that.
SPEAKER_00: They're wondering what direction to take, what what steps to take, what career choices does God want me to make?
SPEAKER_00: Where does he want me to live?
SPEAKER_00: What where should I serve in the ministry?
SPEAKER_00: Does God have a spouse for me?
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm talking to the singles here.
SPEAKER_00: If you're married, yes, he has a spouse for you.
SPEAKER_00: And he or she is sitting next to you and go.
SPEAKER_00: But I get that the scriptures aren't gonna tell us everything.
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna tell us what job to take or who, again, who to marry, but but they are going to direct our hearts and give us wisdom in making those decisions.
SPEAKER_00: For instance, do we really think it's in God's will to take a job that's gonna keep us away from the church?
SPEAKER_00: When in his word we read things like, do not neglect to meet together.
SPEAKER_00: Or do we really think it's God's will that we marry someone who isn't a Christian when the Bible says do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers?
SPEAKER_00: You see, the scriptures will help us know how to pray for the right things according to his will.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is many times our prayers are shaped more by our will than God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Our prayers are self-honoring rather than God honoring.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for things that will glorify us rather than glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: We ask with selfish ambition.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for things that will indulge our flesh and things that will draw our hearts away from God rather than toward God.
SPEAKER_00: And those prayers are not going to reach his ears.
SPEAKER_00: James 4 2 tells us, you desire and do not have, so you murder, you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel.
SPEAKER_00: You do not have because you do not ask, you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.
SPEAKER_00: So, how can we avoid praying for these kinds of things?
SPEAKER_00: How can we avoid vain prayers that seek to gratify our selfish desires by praying according to his word?
SPEAKER_00: That's why important it's why it's important to know his word.
SPEAKER_00: It's why it's important to be in his word.
SPEAKER_00: Because the word will reveal to us the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: We might not find his will for which job to take or who we should marry, but we will find his will for how we should live our lives, and that's ultimately the will of God we should be most concerned about.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's where we find our purpose in, in glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever.
SPEAKER_00: And Scripture is going to get us there.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture will get us there, and it will also govern everything else in our lives, every decision we make as we live on our lives in this world, the word will govern that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one simple way to do this is just to pray the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: We've been making it a practice of doing this in our prayer meetings.
SPEAKER_00: Just praying the word of God, praying the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the Psalms and read them out loud.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know how to start praying the word of God, Lord, you you are my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, please guide me.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, please lead me, lead me to the right places, not dangerous places, not lead me.
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm in those dark times, Lord, be with me when I'm in the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_00: Be with me, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Lead me to the green pastures, lead me beside still rotters.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, restore my soul today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.
SPEAKER_00: There are many prayers to be found in the scriptures, both in the Old and New Testament, that will help us pray the right kind of prayers.
SPEAKER_00: The question asked by the disciples shows us that there is a right way to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray rightly when we pray according to his will, which is found in his word.
SPEAKER_00: Next.
SPEAKER_00: We should pray often.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2 begins by saying, And he said to them, When you pray, when you pray.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how Jesus didn't say, when you decide to pray, or when you can find time to pray, but instead he said, When you pray.
SPEAKER_00: Is a disciple of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We are all students of the great master.
SPEAKER_00: And he expects his students to pray and to pray often.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say if you pray.
SPEAKER_00: He says, when you pray.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not an imperative, meaning it's not a command.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need to command his disciples to pray.
SPEAKER_00: He's assuming that they are praying because that's what Christians do.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is as necessary for the spiritual life as food is for our physical life.
SPEAKER_00: No one has to command us to eat, right?
SPEAKER_00: No one has to tell us you need to eat.
SPEAKER_00: They may need to tell us you need to stop eating, but no one has to command us to eat.
SPEAKER_00: We know we need to eat.
SPEAKER_00: It's so natural we we don't even think about it.
SPEAKER_00: We know that sometime of the day we're going to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what we do need to think about.
SPEAKER_00: When are we going to eat?
SPEAKER_00: What time of the day are we going to eat?
SPEAKER_00: Or how are we going to eat?
SPEAKER_00: Are we going to grab something on the way home?
SPEAKER_00: Or are we going to go to a restaurant?
SPEAKER_00: Are we just going to make something at the house?
SPEAKER_00: Or how is it going to get done?
SPEAKER_00: We know we need to eat without being told, but we still prepare ourselves to eat.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same way with prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Just because we know it's something to do doesn't mean we don't need to prepare for it.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is something that needs to be in every Christian's schedule.
SPEAKER_00: We put everything else on our schedule, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We put our plans, we put our meetings, we put our appointments on there.
SPEAKER_00: But what about our regular appointments with God?
SPEAKER_00: And we're often tempted to say, oh, we'll find time.
SPEAKER_00: I'll make time some somehow.
SPEAKER_00: But somehow or another, that time is never found.
SPEAKER_00: Now it doesn't mean you have to pray a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you have to go in your closet, get on your knees, put music, emotional music in the background.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter where you pray, in the car, the shower, on a walk.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, do you pray?
SPEAKER_00: The New Testament constantly portrays the Christian life as one who is in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian as one is in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: It portrays prayer as a regular, continual, and habitual practice of the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you some bullet point scriptures that speak to this.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12.12, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 4.2, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6.18, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian doesn't just pray.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian has a prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: It's something we do, and we should aim to do it often.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a prescribed number of times or length of time, three times a day, 30 minutes and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even making that case.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the point.
SPEAKER_00: The point is simply do it often.
SPEAKER_00: Pray often.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what a Christian does.
SPEAKER_00: As we close this morning, let me ask you this question.
SPEAKER_00: How is your prayer life?
SPEAKER_00: If you could take a moment to examine your days and your weeks, how are you doing in this area?
SPEAKER_00: Again, remember, I'm not asking if you're praying vibrant prayers or if you're what people like to call a prayer warrior.
SPEAKER_00: None of that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm simply asking, do you pray?
SPEAKER_00: Do you make it, do you make prayer something that's important in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Let me remind you once again, prayer is for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus set aside time to pray, that tells us a lot.
SPEAKER_00: It tells us that we need to also.
SPEAKER_00: Not just pastors, not just teachers, not just those who have a knack for doing it.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're tempted to think that often.
SPEAKER_00: This person, this sister, this brother, it's a real true prayer warrior.
SPEAKER_00: They they know how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: That's for them.
SPEAKER_00: A prayer is for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: It's for every disciple, it's for every person who's dependent.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about it, that's you.
SPEAKER_00: That's me.
SPEAKER_00: We're dependent.
SPEAKER_00: We we need God.
SPEAKER_00: And when we go about our day neglecting Him, neglecting to honor Him, we're basically saying, we don't really need God.
SPEAKER_00: We can do it on our own.
SPEAKER_00: Prayers for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a Christian or not, yeah, I said even unbelievers need to pray.
SPEAKER_00: They only have one prayer to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, save me.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, forgive me of my sins.
SPEAKER_00: John 9 31 tells us we know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter 3.12, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
SPEAKER_00: Again, there's really only one prayer for the unbeliever.
SPEAKER_00: They're not a Christian, they need to pray for God to save them.
SPEAKER_00: But if you are a Christian, remember, let your prayers be Christian prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Pray prayers that are going to reach the ears of God.
SPEAKER_00: Pray prayers that are prayed according to his will.
SPEAKER_00: Prayers that are shaped by the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Prayers that are shaped and guided by the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And look, never forget who you are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You're a worshiper of God.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, you're a worshiper of God.
SPEAKER_00: And we just read a verse that tells us something about worshipers of God.
SPEAKER_00: That He listens to them.
SPEAKER_00: You, worshiper of God, you Christian, have the attention of the God who created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: His ears are open to you who are righteous in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege.
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege that we often neglect to take advantage of.
SPEAKER_00: God is eager and willing to listen and hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Go and talk to him and do it often.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us by his example who and how we should pray.
SPEAKER_00: And beginning next week, we're going to be looking at what we should pray for.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.