Please open your Bible’s with me to Matthew 6 this morning. Matthew 6. I will take it that since I did not hear a loud aww, you’re not too disappointed that Andrew is not back with us yet, though I will admit that I am disappointed, and I know he is as well. This was actually a scheduled time that he was going to be away. His sickness last week, unfortunately, was not scheduled. That doesn’t play by our calendars normally, and so Andrew is very excited to be back with us next week, Lord willing, but today you’re stuck with me.

I feel compelled to tell you that sitting on the front row right there singing that last song, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard you sing as loud as I heard you sing this morning. We were shouting at death—it has no victory. So praise God for that.

There are a lot of important lessons that we learn in life—very, very important vital lessons that we learn in life. One of those lessons that we learn at the very beginning of life is to eat, something that is necessary to the sustaining of life, which I think you know by now.

My 9-month old son, Matthew, is beginning to learn to eat solids. He’s been eating pureed food, and he’s starting to learn how to chew and kind of gum the solids. At first, when he was eating them, they would hit the back of his throat and he would gag and it would all just come right back out. We’re not eating lunch so I can speak that way right now. Now, he’s beginning to get the hang of it a little bit. I really don’t blame the guy though. I don’t really want to be sustained on Veggie Straws either.

We learn to walk in life—another important lesson. We learn to talk in life—another important lesson certainly. We go through this process of learning that we call getting an education. And so that helps us to accomplish goals through learning. We attain a job or a skill or a career. In order to do that, we have to learn whatever it is that we are looking to do. So, we understand the process of learning as a very important thing.

This morning I want to speak to us about one of the most, if not the most, important things that we can ever learn to do, and that is to pray. You may be thinking that I’m pretty sure I have a handle on how to pray. It’s pretty simple, right? You start talking and you aim your talking at God. Check. I know how to pray. If that’s what you’re thinking, you’d be absolutely right. That is the simplicity of prayer.

As we’re going to see in Matthew 6, Jesus is going to teach us that there is a right way to pray and there is a wrong way, or there are several wrong ways to pray. We come to Matthew 6. I want to focus on verses 5-15. Listen to them as I read.

⁵ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.

¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

            Matthew 6 is sandwiched directly in between the Sermon on the Mount. It comes in the middle of Jesus’ most famous sermon, the longest sermon recorded in Scripture, the Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount (many of you are familiar), Jesus is highlighting the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven as Matthew calls it, over against over against the kingdom of earth.

            What Jesus is doing is explaining the character and the lifestyle of a person who finds themselves to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. As we come into Matthew 6, Jesus is transitioning into a point where he is particularly focusing in on the hypocrisy in the religious system in the hearer’s day. And he wants to highlight their hypocrisy in order to show them what true righteousness is going to look like.

            As we come into chapter 6, you’ll notice that verse one is the key verse to understanding what Jesus is doing here. It says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. So what Jesus is doing here in this particular passage is highlighting the religious practice of his day to show that there is a certain type of people who want other people around them to think of themselves as very godly.

            We don’t know anything about what that’s like, do we? It happens today, doesn’t it? And so you see the same target that Jesus is aiming at for his modern day audience, he continues to aim at for Canyon Bible Church of Prescott.

            And so Jesus is going to highlight for us a couple of ways how not to pray, and then he is going to show us how, in fact, to pray. And so as we look at Matthew 6:5-15, we’re going to see five principles for kingdom-minded prayer to ensure that we pray faithfully. The first of these principles is found in verses 5-6, and the first principle is:

1.  Talk to God, Not People

When you pray, if you are to pray in the way that would honor the Lord, then you must talk to God and not people.

⁵ And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus is highlighting a practice of certainly the Scribes and Pharisees and likely the Sadducees as well, but anyone of the Jewish culture that wanted to be perceived as godly by the people around them. And so, he’s highlighting this practice. And right off the bat, he’s already calling it hypocritical. It’s not good to be called a hypocrite, is it?

We understand that it’s not good to be called a hypocrite. And so, what is this hypocrisy that Jesus wishes to expose? It’s the love of people rather than the love of God. What do those who stand on the street corners and in the synagogues—what do they want most out of life? Certainly not the glory of God. What they want most out of life is the glory of themselves.

And so, as you think about this, Jesus explaining the kingdom of heaven, what they are trying to do is build their own kingdom instead of being a part of what God’s doing to build his kingdom. We are knowledgeable enough, certainly as Christians, to know that any time you set yourself up against God, it’s not going to work out for you, is it? But do you think that they realized that it wasn’t working out for them? It doesn’t seem like they had a clue, does it? If they did have a clue, perhaps they would stop going to the street corners to be seen by others while they prayed, wouldn’t they?

After all, if you know that you’re being a hypocrite and you realize that the thing you’re doing is hypocrisy, you should be smart enough to stop doing it, right? But they continue to go to the synagogues and to go to the street corners to pray.

The grammar of the text indicates that the thing that they are most concerned about is not prayer. The thing that they are most concerned about is their position when they pray. They go to the most strategic place in order to be seen by the most amount of people possible; and there, when they are surrounded by a great crowd, they make a spectacle of their prayer.

And likely, many in the crowd thought, wow, now that’s a person of God. I want to be just like that person there. Look how godly they are. They’re not even afraid to pray in public. And yet Jesus cuts straight to the heart. That’s what he does always, isn’t it? This is one on the ministries of the Holy Spirit that we experience as New Testament believers who have been filled with him.

When I find that I am living in a way that is not consistent with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, what does he do to me? He cuts me straight to the heart. And so, Jesus is cutting straight to the heart of these folks, and he’s calling them out for their desire not to talk to God but to talk to people. Oh, they might be talking about God. It might seem as though they’re talking to God; but in fact, they are actually talking to the people around them.

Jesus tells us and tells his audience there that they have received their reward. They won’t receive a reward from the Father in heaven. They, in fact, have already received their reward. What is their reward? It is the recognition of the people around them, right? Now, in the moment, on earth, that might seem like a pretty neat thing. Get your name on a plaque. Or get your name in the newspaper. Or get a pat on the back or congratulations or many people coming to you and encouraging you about what a great job you did on something. That might seem like a great thing, and it might build us up a little bit, right?

But when you weigh that with eternity—if you were to compare a gift from the Father to a gift from people, which one wins? No brainer, right? The Father’s gift is going to win every single time. These folks are not concerned at all with talking to God. All they want to do is talk to people.

In contrast to them, Jesus tells us when we pray, we should go into uour room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. This is certainly highlighting the importance of private personal prayer. Sometimes we talk about language like a “prayer closet.” I’m going to go to my prayer closet and I’m going to have a time of prayer. That is what Jesus is talking about. But it’s not only what Jesus is talking about. We don’t have to only ever pray in secret. If that were true, then we’ve already sinned together this morning, haven’t we? We’ve already prayed publically.

So it’s not that we can’t pray in front of other people. The idea is that we better have our motives right when we do pray in front of other people. I confess, I’ve been guilty of this in my life. When you’re praying in a group of people, and especially if there is someone you look up to, maybe you use words you don’t quite understand, but you know that that person uses and you think it is a really cool prayer word, so you just throw it out there, right? Am I the only one? Maybe so. No, I think I heard a “no.” I appreciate that.

So, we can easily fall into this temptation. Let me ask you this. You who might be afraid (I’m not condemning you) to pray in front of others, deep down, why are you afraid to pray in front of other people? I think that you would probably have to say because I might embarrass myself. My friend, then who are you talking to?

You see, there’s freedom when we understand that our prayer is directed to God—to God alone. I don’t have to impress anyone else when I pray. All I have to do is pour my heart out to my Father. That’s what Jesus is talking about here. He’s talking about when you pray, you are speaking to God and not to anybody else around you. So dear friend, don’t be afraid to pray in front of others. And don’t pray so that others might think that you are really godly.

Pray as if it’s just you and your Father there—that’s it. Because that’s all that matters, isn’t it? So the first principle of prayer that we learn is to talk to God and not to people.

The second principle that we learn comes to us in verses 7-8 and that is to use your mind.

2.  Use Your Mind

When you pray, use your mind. Your mind is not passive in your prayer life. It is actively engaged in your prayer life.

⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

So now, in contrast, you’re praying directly so that people will think that you’re godly—Jesus is talking about praying so that you would have a high word count. The word “empty phrases” could also be translated “babbling” like the gentiles do. The idea is you just pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray. And you probably repeat a lot of the same things, but you just pray and pray and pray and pray and pray because you’re hoping that maybe the amount of words that you offer up to God would weigh on him so that he would then turn his attention to you.

That’s not how the Christian prays, and that’s good news, isn’t it? What is Jesus teaching us here? He’s teaching us to keep our prayers simple. Certainly there would be a place in our life for prolonged time periods of prayer. But there is also, equally as important, a place in our lives for short spurts of prayer.

Why would we be able to do that? Well, because God knows everything already. It’s not as if we’re bringing something to God’s attention that he wasn’t aware of. Oh, Will, thank you so much. I didn’t realize that you needed that right now. Man, I would’ve dropped the ball had you not told me about that. Thank you.

That’s ridiculous, right? We know that. But then when we think about our prayer lives, and when we think about our heart’s turmoil sometimes, and we think about when we cry out to God—and we cry out over and over and over. And certainly, there is a persistence in our prayer lives. Certainly! But as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we don’t just pray to God. We pray to our Father.

The illustration to this could easily be found in 1 Kings 18. You may remember the story there. 1 Kings 18 is when the prophet Elijah goes to battle with the prophets of Baal—450 of them. And he strikes up this competition between him and the prophets of Baal. And he says, listen, let’s see once and for all whose God is the real God. Let’s just settle this right here and now.

We’ll make and altar; we’ll put some wood on it; we’ll chop up a calf; we’ll put the calf on it; and then we won’t light it. We’ll pray to our God so that he will bring down fire from heaven and light it for us. Cool with you, prophets of Baal? They said, yeah, let’s do that. There’s 450 of us. There’s one of you. Certainly, we have a lot more ability to get our word count high.

So the prophets of Baal begin to pray. And in chapter 18:26-29 we read,

²⁶ And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. ²⁷ And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” ²⁸ And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. ²⁹ And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

The gentiles heap up their words because they feel as though they have to beg their god for his or her or its attention. And Elijah says, hey, maybe he’s talking to himself, or maybe he’s going to the bathroom. Maybe he’s sleeping and you have to wake him up. That’s what he means when he says “relieving himself,” right? Your god must be going to the bathroom. I can’t explain it. It’s a crazy scene, right? And that’s the design.

Elijah is mocking them because they don’t serve a true god. And so while they heap up words and they cut themselves and they dance around, Elijah offers a very simple prayer. And this is after Elijah told them to douse the altar three times with buckets of water.

1 Kings 18:36-39:

³⁶ And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. ³⁷ Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

That’s the idea. Those that don’t know God feel as though they need to heap up their word count. They feel as though they somehow need to grab God’s attention. God is not listening to them because maybe he’s not everywhere. And so they need to do something desperate to get the word out to God. But those who know God know that God already knows what they need. And so they can keep their prayer simple and to the point.

They don’t have to repeat mindless sayings. They engage their mind, and they ask God for what they desire. That’s what we mean when we say “using our mind.” That’s what Jesus is talking about when he is saying to not heap up empty phrases. I think if we’re honest (and again, I would accuse myself in this), we find that sometimes in our prayer life we repeat the same things over and over, right?

And again, that does not negate a persistence in prayer—continuing to pray about the same thing for years and years and years. But if we find ourselves in our prayer saying, God, I just want to tell you again … again, God, I pray for this. We might find ourselves heaping up words. And I think if we got to the root of why we do that, it’s because when we pray, we lack faith, isn’t it?

Why else would we have to continue to ask God for it over and over if we didn’t believe that God heard our prayers in the first place? And so, if you find in your prayer life that you have that particular practice, or have a bent toward that particular practice, dear Christian, you need to know that you can believe in your God.

In James 1, he tells us how to endure trials. And he tells us that we must ask for wisdom when we endure trials. But he says when you ask for it, you better ask in a believing way because if you doubt, you’re a double-minded person, unstable in all you do, and God’s not going to give you what you ask for.

And so, as we think about why we might babble or heap up words in our prayer life, we need to understand that it could be that we’re not praying believing prayers to our God. I doubt that there are many here (maybe there are a few) that would say that God is small, that would say that God has a little bit of power or maybe a lot of power, but there’s some limitations to his power.

We believe in a big God, a powerful God, a God who is strong enough to save sinners from their sins and from his wrath, and so take that belief into your prayer life with you. Approach the throne of grace with confidence because your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.

As we now move into the section where Jesus teaches us how to pray and we look at the last three principles of kingdom-minded prayer, I hope that you are not feeling guilty about your lack of prayer in your life. I hope instead you would see the goodness of a Father who wants to hear from you, who wants you to talk to him, who already knows what you need but yet wants you to tell him anyway. Why would he do that? Isn’t that how a relationship is cultivated?

Parents know what their kids need as they grow up, right? But they love it when their kids come and ask them for something because that’s what it means to have a relationship. Our Father loves it when we go to him and we ask him for things.

And so, as we continue on learning these principles of prayer, don’t guilt yourself into doing nothing. Instead, see the glory of God. See the grace of God. See the love of God. Let that motivate you to change your prayer life.

And so, Jesus has given us how not to pray. And now he transitions into the section in teaching us how to pray. And we come to the third principle for kingdom-minded prayer and that is remember who you’re talking to.

3.  Remember Who You Are Talking To

Remember who you’re talking to. Verse 9. Jesus says, pray then like this. Not pray then this—though there’s certainly nothing wrong with repeating this prayer that we often call the Lord’s prayer or the disciples’ prayer. Nothing wrong in repeating it. Nothing wrong in singing it. Nothing wrong. But Jesus does not want us to fall back into the trap of his religious day. He does not want us simply to repeat things without a heart behind it that means what we say. So he says, pray then like this.

He gives us a model for how we are to pray. So we must remember who we’re talking to. He says, “Our Father in heaven.” We’ve touched on this already a little bit, but notice that he doesn’t say, our God, though that would be perfectly appropriate. What does he say? He says, our Father. Our Father. That was not common language.

In Jesus’ day you did not speak of God as your father. And so when Jesus came talking about God as the Father it was something revolutionary. Christian, understand that even though your perception of what a father might be because of how your earthly father might have tainted that, you have a heavenly Father that is perfect in love, perfect in grace, perfect in compassion, always gives you what you need, never fails you, and can never tell a lie. That is our Father.

And so Jesus highlights prayer once again in the Sermon on the Mount over in Matthew 7:9-11. He says,

⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

We have a father in heaven. That is glorious news, and that fact alone must change the way we pray. And yet, Jesus also wants us to know that he is not just our father but God is also in heaven. This is two sides of the coin. Yes, there is an intimate personal relationship with your father, but do not forget that your father is in heaven; therefore, we can’t approach him flippantly. Jesus is our friend. God is for us, but God is not our buddy.

When I speak to him, I must speak to him as though he is in heaven and I am on earth, which is to say as though I am a sinful person and he is a holy God. Solomon highlights this idea in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. He says,

²Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. ² Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

So which is it? I have a father I can speak openly with or there’s a holy God in heaven that I need to be careful how I approach? Which one is it? Yes. Both. Both are equally true and both perfectly work together. Where might we see this? Well, we have a large book in the middle of our Bible called the Psalms. If you are not sure how to balance those two, read the Psalms. Live your life in the Psalms, and you will know how to balance those two.

You will be able to pour out your heart and to speak honestly to God, but you will realize that you also need to speak honestly to yourself. And so, though you may say things like, why are you far from me God? You will eventually come around and say, all right soul, listen up, hope in God, for I will again praise him.

So when we speak in our prayer we need to remember who we are talking to.

And the fourth principle for kingdom-minded prayer for us this morning is to have your priorities straight.

4.  Have Your Priorities Straight

Jesus now gets into the specifics of what we are to ask for in prayer, and he begins appropriately with God-centered prayer. Three petitions, or three requests, that revolve around God or God’s glory. And then he will end with three requests that revolve around us and our needs. Totally appropriate to pray for ourselves, but if we find that we are only ever praying for ourselves, we need to understand that maybe we don’t understand that we have a father in heaven.

            So Jesus begins this prayer (these requests) by focusing on God. The first request that he tells us to make is that we pray, “Hallowed be thy name.” Our ESV is helpful here. If you’re not sure what “hallowed” means or what “hallowed be your name” means, you just look at the little footnote number and you follow it down to the bottom of the page of your Bible and it says, or let your name be kept holy, or let your name be treated with reverence. That’s what Jesus is asking for here.

            He’s not necessarily saying that specifically only the name of God would be kept holy, but the name of God goes right with God himself. It speaks of his character. It speaks of his reputation.

I was on a flight a couple of months ago, back from the Midwest. Katie and I got a chance to go back and visit family that we haven’t seen for a few years. And we also got to see a lot of green. It does exist, and it’s out there somewhere. And so we were flying back and Southwest (I don’t get paid by Southwest; this isn’t a promo) has Wi-Fi on their flights, and you can watch TV on your Wi-Fi connected devices.

And so I was browsing through what was there. Of course, I go first to ESPN to see what’s on there, and there was this series called A Football Life. I happen to really love football, and so it intrigued me. I think the one Steelers fan we have in the group here this morning is going to appreciate this. A Football Life happened to be focusing on the life of Jerome Betis, “The Bus,” famous Hall of Fame running back for the Pittsburg Steelers. And Jerome Betis was talking about his life. It highlighted his biography. It also then culminated in his Hall of Fame speech in Canton, Ohio, and one of the things he made sure to mention was that he wanted everyone to know that his hero was his dad.

And one of the things that his dad said to him as he sent him off to college, though his dad and his family didn’t have much. His dad worked two jobs to try to support his wife and their few kids, and so his dad didn’t have a whole lot of money. He couldn’t give him money to go to college, and so he said what his dad was sending him off with was his good name. He said, son, I’m sending you off to school. I don’t have much to give you, but I have a good name. So don’t mess it up.

What was Johnnie Betis talking about? Certainly, he was talking about the last name Betis, but that’s not really what he was talking about, was it? He was talking about his reputation, the reputation that comes with being a Betis. That’s what he was talking about.

And so, when Jesus tells us to pray, hallowed be your name, we’re not just talking about not using the Lord’s name inappropriately, though that would be true as well. We’re asking that God himself would be recognized for who he is. That’s what we’re asking. So, Lord, in my life may I always remember your holiness. May I always remember that you are not like me, and yet you have stooped to save me. And Lord, all across this world may they come to recognize that you and you alone are the holy one that made them. That is what he’s teaching us to ask for. For God’s name to be honored for what it is, so that God would be honored for who he is.

He teaches us then to pray, your kingdom come. Your kingdom come. This is in the middle again of a sermon that is highlighting the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. So, Jesus is teaching us to pray that God’s kingdom would come. And I think that if we understand the effects of sin, we will eagerly pray that prayer, won’t we?

Lord, bring your kingdom because I’m tired of me. Bring your kingdom because I’m sick of struggling with my sin. I’m sick of being short-tempered. I’m sick of being impatient. I’m sick of … whatever it is.  Fill in the blank. So Lord, bring your kingdom, for I know that when your kingdom comes, sin’s done. I know that when your kingdom comes, death is done. And I’m kind of tired watching people that I love die.

I’m tired of sickness. I’m tired of disease. I’m tired of hunger. I’m tired of kids without families. I’m tired of divorce. I’m tired of all the sin that is in this world, God, so please bring your kingdom. Is that a prayer we can resonate with? Oh, yeah. That’s what Jesus is teaching us to pray.

Coincidently, the students and I are studying the book of Revelation this semester.  Please don’t send me your weird Revelation blogs. Just kidding, but don’t. We’re studying the book of Revelation this summer, and in Revelation 8 right after Jesus opens the seventh seal, silence is in heaven. And then there is a scene where the prayers of the saints are highlighted again, just like in Revelation 6 when the fifth seal is opened up.

The martyrs under the altar proclaim, how much longer until you avenge our blood, God? And God says, wait a little while longer. There’s still a number of you that have to be killed. I’ve determined a set number that must be killed. They have to be killed first, and then it will come. So Revelation 8—finally the seven trumpets are about to be blown with the slitting and the opening of the seventh seal.

But before the seven trumpets are blown, and what initiates the seven trumpets being blown is the angel gathering incense from the altar which is mixed with the prayers of the saints and hurling it down to earth. What do we see in Revelation 8? We see the answer to this prayer: your kingdom come.

We might wonder, when in the world God is going to bring his kingdom? But he knows. He has a plan. It’s in his timing. What he’s doing now is being patient so that sinners would repent of their sin because he does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to life. But one day, God will respond to this prayer definitively. He will hurl his judgement on earth because before he brings his kingdom, he must clear out this old dead kingdom. And so, when we pray, we must ask for God’s kingdom to come.

And then Jesus goes on to teach us the third petition within this prayer that we could ask for God’s will to be done. After your kingdom come, he says your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is a prayer that in my life, I would seek the will of God. In your life, you would seek the will of God. In all of the world, everyone would come to seek the will of God.

In the very same way it happens in heaven, I want to see it happen on earth. Isn’t this the motivation for evangelism? Isn’t this why we tell people about King Jesus and tell them that they must repent of their sins and submit to him? Isn’t this why we do it? Because we want God’s will to be done and not our own.

So as we think about our prayer life, analyze the content of your prayers, how often do you find yourself only concerned with your will? God, I just really need this. I really want you to do this. God, we’re hurting here, we need this. Is it wrong to pray for things that we want or need? Absolutely not. But we have to have our priorities straight when we pray, don’t we? We must seek the will of God over above our own will all the time.

One commentator writes,

Prayer is not first and foremost an exercise to vindicate the disciple’s causes, meet the disciple’s needs, fill the disciple’s desires, or solve the disciple’s problems. Rather, one’s priority must be the promotion of God’s reputation, the advancement of God’s rule, and the performance of God’s will. These three petitions are essentially one expression of burning desire to see the Father honored on earth as he is already in heaven.

You see, when we burn with the desire for God’s glory, for God to be honored on earth the same way he already is honored in heaven, we will have no problem asking for his will to be done and resting then in what he does and trusting that though it might not seem right to me, it must be right to him. This does not mean that we cannot ask for the things we want, however.

Before Katie and I moved here in 2015, we took a prayer retreat together to pray and to write a prayer journal of specific things we wanted to ask the Lord for. He didn’t have to give them to us. We would be content if he did not. We would love him just as much, and we would know that he would be just as good as he always was if he didn’t give them to us.

After we moved here, we were unpacking and setting up our home. And we found that prayer journal and we pulled it out. We looked under the list we made for our home requests for our prayer. And we ran down the list. And it turns out that God gave us every single thing we asked for in a home. He didn’t have to do that. We were content with his will. In fact, part of our prayer was, Lord, this is what we want, but we know that what you want is best, so please help us to be okay with your will.

But it is perfectly okay to ask God for the things that we want, and especially okay to pray very specific prayers so that when they are answered, you know that it was from God. I think the model of this was Jesus himself in the garden, isn’t it? Father, I desire that you take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

Jesus asked for his will in the moment, but he stated and believed that God his Father’s will was best, and so he submitted and complied with the will of God. And this must be our disposition in our prayer life. Lord, I’m asking for these things, but I know you know best, and so I pray that your will will supersede mine, and I pray for a heart that will gladly accept it because you’re God and I’m not.

The fifth and final principle of kingdom-minded prayer that we learn from Jesus here is to ask for what you really need.

5.  Ask For What You Really Need

And this is the section of the prayer where Jesus gets into the specifics of our life. He asks for three provisions for ourselves: for provision, for pardon, for protection. He teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” You have a footnote there. You can follow that down to the bottom once again, and it says, or our bread for tomorrow.

There is some interpretational issues that come here. Either Jesus is asking us to ask for what we need right now in the moment, or Jesus is teaching us to ask for what we need the next day. If we get too caught up on the particulars, we can miss the overarching principle here. Jesus is, at the end of chapter 6, going to teach us not to be anxious about what we eat or drink. He’s going to tell us that sufficient for the day is its own trouble. In other words, just focus on what you’ve got right in front of you because if you think about what’s coming tomorrow, you’re going to be overwhelmed with anxiety.

So the principle that Jesus teaches us is to be completely dependent upon God for all that we need. So whether it is only for today or whether it is for tomorrow, the idea is that, God, we’re just asking for what we need. We will be overjoyed if you give us more than what we need, but we will be perfectly content if you only ever give us what we need.

This is the idea of the manna in the wilderness. This is the exact same teaching. God teaching his people to be dependent on him by only giving them manna that was good for that day. And if they collected more than they need for that day, it would rot, and they would have to go back out the next day and collect it.

This is the idea. God is teaching us to be dependent on him every moment of every day. This does not negate wisdom and planning for the future. We can be overjoyed if we have a full cupboard at home, but it’s not necessary. There are many people who don’t have a full cupboard at home who every day have to go and work for the food that they get. When they wake up in the morning, they are not sure how they are going to get the food that they get, but God always provides. That’s the principle—teaching us to be totally dependent on God.

Then he teaches us to ask for pardon. He says, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” So our sin comes into play in our prayer life. Matthew uses a word, not sin, but debts. The idea here is that we owe God something that we actually could never pay. So we have to go to him to ask him to forgive that debt, don’t we?

Even as a Christian, I still continue to go to God when I sin. Forgive me Lord, help me to walk in righteousness. So Jesus is teaching us that we must seek forgiveness from God and then in light of that forgiveness that we seek from God, we must also offer forgiveness to other people. Look at verses 14-15.

¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is not necessarily teaching (I don’t think it is teaching) that the only way that you can be forgiven is that if you forgive other people. What this is teaching us is that forgiven people offer forgiveness. That is what it is teaching us. If you are the type of person who holds grudges, and you are the type of person that has a difficult time forgiving, you are most likely the type of person that has not been forgiven by God. And that’s heavy.

Jesus is going to teach us in Matthew 18 about the parable of the unforgiving servant that our sin debt against God far outweighs any debt that any person could owe us. And so, God has forgiven me my sin debt, I can forgive anyone for anything. That doesn’t mean it might not change our relationship, but I can certainly forgive. That’s what Jesus is teaching us—to be a people who need forgiveness from God and a people who give forgiveness to others.

Finally, he teaches us to ask for protection. He says, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Deliver here means to rescue someone from a fate from which he cannot escape on his own. Jesus is asking that God would not put us in a situation where the evil one (if you follow your ESV footnote down you’ll see, or the evil one) might make mincemeat of us.

If we were reading Matthew from the beginning up until now, we would have read chapter 4 where Jesus was just lead by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. And so, fresh in our minds would be that image. That’s what Jesus is referring to here. Jesus is referring the schemes of the evil one to tarnish the name of God. How does he do that? He does that most especially through Christians and their sin.

And so, Jesus is teaching us to ask God to protect us from Satan’s schemes to bring glory to Satan instead of bringing glory to God. Lest we think that God tempts anyone, James reminds us in James 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”

So Jesus is teaching us to ask for the strength that we need to be able to live a godly life. Jesus might be able to be led out in the wilderness and endure temptation by Satan, but we had better be careful if we think that we can without his help.

I think that this idea is illustrated really well in a story from the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs where two men were arrested and were sentenced to be burned at the stake by Bloody Mary, Queen of Scots. One was totally confident that he would die well, bragging and boasting, saying that there was no possible way for him to deny Jesus Christ. The other was deathly afraid. He was afraid of the fire, and he was admitting it. He asked the other guy to pray for him. The guy scolded him and told him that he needed to repent of his cowardice and buck up and be a man. Right? Well, the day came for them to be burned, and they walked to the stake. And guess what happened to the confident man? Be careful if you think you stand, lest you fall.

That very day when saw the flames, he recanted, denied Jesus Christ and never came back to him. And instead, the one who was a coward, the one whose weakness made him depend on the strength of God died faithfully. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about being spiritually dependent on God the same way that we’re physically dependent on God when we ask him for our daily bread.

Jesus teaches us here that we need the Father’s help. And so, we have these principles of prayer. And once again I want to encourage you not to feel guilty. No guilt is from God. There’s two types Second Corinthians says, a worldly grief and a godly grief. A worldly grief will lead you to death, and a godly grief will lead you to repentance and life.

So if you are feeling bad that your prayer life is not what it should be, make sure that that it is a godly grief that you then take action to fix. And you take action, not motivated by that grief, but you take action motivated by the goodness of your heavenly father. See his love. See his grace. See his desire for you to come and speak to him. And then, go. Go as a needy child and speak to him.

In Exodus 32 and 34, the people of Israel made a golden calf. God sends Moses back down and he tells Moses, I’m done with these people. I’m not going to go with them anymore. You guys go on ahead, but I’m not going to go. Moses says, Lord, no, you can’t do that. If you don’t go with us, we’re not going anywhere. There’s no point to go if you don’t go. And God says, alright, I will go with you. Moses saw a problem. And how did he answer it? Through prayer.

In Acts 12 the apostle Peter is thrown into jail and an angel breaks him out, and he goes to Mary’s house where apparently the church had heard about his arrest and gathered to have a prayer meeting. They didn’t get an attorney. They didn’t get their weapons to break him out. They went to the one they knew had the answer, in prayer.

Last week, we got an update (maybe you got it as well) from our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua, and one of their church members along with their brother was arrested in the chaos of one of the riots. Most of the time, when young men are arrested right now in Nicaragua they show up a few days later dead somewhere. If they don’t end up dead, then they keep them in prison and beat and torture them.

The church heard about this young man being locked up and his brother, and what did they do? They went to the U.S. Embassy? They went somewhere far better. They went to the God of the universe and they prayed. And they asked that God would protect this man and would deliver him from jail. And guess what happened in just one day’s time?  He was freed from jail, along with his brother, with no issues at all.

Canyon Bible Church, let’s understand that the power of prayer is insurmountable. Let’s be a church, and continue to be a church, that relies not on ourselves but on the power of God through the power of prayer.

Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you that we can depend upon you. Thank you that you long to hear us speak to you even though you already know everything that we need. Lord, I pray that we would, in fact, be a people of prayer. And that as we are a people of prayer, we would be a people of biblical prayer, of kingdom-minded prayer. So continue to teach us how to pray. Continue to show us your great love for us so that we would be motivated to pray. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.