Tuesday, August 16, 2016

A Word From Pastor Mike - "Lord, Teach Us to Pray"





     Luke 11:1-6
  

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father,hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 
3 Give us each day our daily bread. 
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.And lead us not into temptation.’ ” 
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 

6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’

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Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray..."

Perhaps you have never prayed before except in anguish or terror.  It may be that the only time the Divine Name has been on your lips has been in angry expletives.  Never mind. I am here to tell you that the Father's heart is open wide.  You are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you do not believe in prayer. You may have tried to pray and were profoundly disappointed... and disillusioned.  You seem to have little faith or none.  It does not matter.  The Father's heart is open wide.  You are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you are brusied and broken by the pressures of life.  Others have wronged you and you feel scarred for life.  You have old painful memories that have never been healed.  You avoid prayer because you feel too unworthy, too defiled.  Do not despair.  The Father's heart is open wide.  You are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you have prayed for many years but the words have grown brittle, cold.  Little ever happens anymore.  God seems remote and inaccessible.  Listen to me.  The Father's heart is open wide.  You are welcome to come in.

Perhaps prayer is the delight of your life.  You have lived in the divine milieu for a long time and can attest to its goodness, but you long for more... more power, more love, more of God in your life. Believe me, the Father's heart is open wide.  You, too, are welcome to come higher up and deeper in,

Consider this prayer from Richard Foster:  Dear God, I am so grateful for your invitation to enter your heart of love.  As best I can, I come in. Thank you for receiving me. Amen.

When Jesus disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he modeled the Lord's Prayer.

I usually pray the Lord's Prayer before I go to sleep at night.  One of the problems with the Lord's Prayer is it is too familiar.  We don't pay attention and before you know it, it's done. Your heart wasn't in it. You just repeated a bunch of words.

So, to help myself with this problem, I went for a ride on a cruise ship, The Norwegian Pearl.  On this ship they had a them called "Free Stylin'".  When you went for dinner you could eat at different restaurants.  You didn't have to sit at the same table or eat with the same people.  You could "Free Style".

And that is what I do with the Lord's Prayer from time to time.  I free style.  I improvise.  I play jazz to keep it fresh.

Now, I'm going to tell you something scandalous, sometimes I pray the new version of the Lord's prayer, "Our Father in heaven, holy is your name..." Then I might pause and tell God that his name is great throughout the world or sorry about not keeping your name holy when I sliced my golf ball into the water hazard... my point, you can keep your prayer life fresh by changing it up, by improvising.

Now, I am going to give you my model for prayer.  This is what I do in my prayer life, not that you have to follow it but its part of learning about prayer.  I hope you have your own model or are "Free Stylin'" in your prayer life.

You may have heard of ACTS:
     A - Adoration
     C - Confession
     T - Thanksgiving
     S - Supplication (praying for others)
It is simple.  It is concise.  It is easy to remember.

My acronym is CTPFPSNC !  

     C - Confession & Forgiveness
     T - Thanks
     P - Protection
     F - Family and Friends
     P - Prince of Peace and Past Congregatons
     S - Suffering Ones
     N - Nations
     C - Church

It is a terrible acronym. Mostly I think of my prayer life as a path I follow.

I like to pray my longest prayer of the day in the morning. I don't have one particular place to pray. I pray when I walk the dog, when I'm driving, when I'm at church... You may want to find a particular space and time.  I have one major time and then continue throughout the day.

I usually start off my Thanksgiving with a thank you for your love, patience and mercy with me.  Thanks for life, health, faith, peace, salvation... I like to keep the list going throughout the day and pray for God to provide for the whole world and that I might have a thankful spirit.

Pray for protection.  If you are a worrier, add this to your prayers.  Waht are you afraid could happen to you or your loved ones?  Add it to your list.  Then ask for protection and ask for help that you don't live in fear. Ask God to be a shield, rock and fortress around you and your's.  Thanks for your time together and for past protection.

Family and Friends. I name names before God.  Got worries about those close to you? Bring it to God. Thank him for hearing your prayer.  Remember with thanks the good things about family and friends.

I also pray for Prince of Peace and former congregations that I've served.  I pray for people, pastors, ministries and activities.  When people ask me to pray for them, I put it on my phone or into my computer.  I pray.

The world has many suffering ones.  I pray for them, for their help, hope and healing.  I pray for people in hospitals, hospice, nursing homes, mental institutions.

I pray for the nations - peace, justice, economic order, care of creation, good government, good medical, judicial, law enforcement people. I pray for the spread and reception of the Gospel. I pray for troubled places. I pray for military personnel. I try to pray for the nations, for the U.S.

Finally, I pray for the church, for its unity, mission, health, renewal and love. It's very tenuous when people get together.  I pray for God's Spirit of love, that we would leave behind our opinions and judgments and focus on God working in us and through us. I pray for church bodies, ministries, leaders.  I pray daily for our church council, worship team, preschool, Sunday School, VBS, committees and for new members...for our future.

My prayer list constantly changes. I Free Style.  I don't expect you to pray like I do.  If you're done in a minute, that's fine.  Pray like you and pray for God to help you grow in tour prayer life.

And here's another thing. Just be still and listen to God.  That's hard. It's a busy world. We have a million thoughts but try it for 10 seconds and tell God you are listening for him. Keep trying to stretch.


5 comments:

affectioknit said...

...nice post...I think I just sort of ramble on in my prayers...without a real plan...but years ago I did love meditating on Martin Luther's "A Simple Way to Pray"...the Man had given it to me as a gift one year...I should probably break it out again...

~Have a lovely day!

Onlythemanager said...

I am not nearly as organized as Mike is either. We all have our own styles and we probably all have room for improvement. Thank God for mercy.

Cindy said...

I know what you mean about sometimes just going through the motions. It is really hard to focus on the Lord when the things of the world are so inviting. Our church is reading Moving Mountains right now and it's been a great help as well. Prayer is so much more important than we think.

Onlythemanager said...

Agreed. We really take it for granted, forgetting how remarkable it is that we are given access to the Lord God.

Michelle said...

Missed this in August. It is the best teaching on prayer I have read/heard in a long time--maybe ever. Jesus did not need a whole book to teach his disciples the elements of prayer, and neither did Mike.

Thanks to you and to Mike. I needed this boost.

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