Imagine the best and deepest friendship you’ve ever had, the one where you were most free to be yourself and share your heart. Think about how easy it was to talk about anything in the world. Recall how you could talk for hours about anything, everything, and perhaps nothing at all. The time would fly by, and yet you never got bored, tired, or repetitive.
Our relationship with God, our prayer life, can and should be like that, only better, because when we pray, we’re speaking not only to the Creator of the Universe, but to our loving Father in Heaven, who already knows what we need before we even ask. Scripture promises us that God hears our prayers and cares. Scripture implores us to talk to God about everything on our hearts, and gives us examples of exactly that.
However, if your prayer life is like most, it’s somewhat less rich and exciting than all that. But 2018 doesn’t have to be like every other year. This can be the year that your prayer life deepens and grows, moving toward that pleasure and joy in the presence of God that exceeds even our best human relationship. To help us grow in prayer, we begin the year by learning from three prayers from the greatest pray-er in history – Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who after an eternity in loving relationship with God the Father, knew exactly what to pray in every situation.
We begin with the Lord’s Prayer, which could more accurately be called the Disciple’s Prayer – the model prayer Jesus taught us to pray. We’ll look at this simple, yet remarkably deep prayer over two weeks, focusing this week on the first portion of the prayer, which prioritizes the glory of God.
Scripture Reference
Matthew 6: 7-10
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
The Process of Prayer
- Prayer Should be Conversational – Not repetitive, flashy, formal, babbling, showy, etc (verse 7)
- Prayer Should be Honest – God already knows what we need (verse 8)
The Priority of Prayer – God’s Glory!
A look at the first three requests in the Lord’s Prayer, prioritizing God’s glory over our own
- God’s Reputation in the World
- That others would come to know and love God as sacred and holy
- That we would do our part as we carry God’s name and reputation everywhere we go
- God’s Kingdom to Come
- “Already” – that we legitimately desire for God’s Kingdom on earth to grown more and more
- “Not Yet” – that we truly desire the return of Christ and the consummation of the Kingdom
- God’s Will to Be Done
- Putting God’s will before our personal wishlist
- Learning to be indifferent to our will and passionate about God’s