WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.339 So, what we're thinking about today is, I guess, both a challenge and an invitation. We're 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:16.179 ! thinking about this theme of enjoying your prayer life. And it's a question and a challenge, 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:21.679 because as we said last week, I imagine lots of us at different times, maybe we're here at this moment, 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:28.440 and praying is a struggle for us, for a number of reasons. It's a struggle to make time. It's a struggle 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:33.480 because of all the busyness we have. It's a struggle to fight the distractions that keep us from praying, 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:42.439 and maybe it's a struggle to find joy as we pray. It is one of the big battles of the Christian life 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:49.359 to have a healthy prayer life, a healthy and a growing relationship with our God and Father. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:58.780 Many years ago, Martin Luther said, I am too busy not to pray. But if we're honest, 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:03.799 maybe it's more often the case that we're so busy that we forget to pray. 00:01:05.140 --> 00:01:11.420 And again, if you find prayer difficult, if you wish your prayer life was better, more enjoyable, 00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:18.599 Jesus is giving us an invitation here. And we need to think about what that is. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.740 And if you're here today and you're not yet a Christian, you're exploring what Christianity is 00:01:23.740 --> 00:01:31.780 all about, let me invite you to listen in, to consider what it is that Jesus offers when He teaches us 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:40.400 about prayer. Because here is Jesus, and He is talking to us, the eternal Son of God who's always 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:47.480 lived in a perfect relationship with His God and Father, the one who taught His disciples because they 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:54.799 came to Him as a man who obviously spent and enjoyed time praying, Lord, teach us to pray. It's this Jesus 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:04.659 who's speaking to us today. And when we listen in to Jesus, we discover that at the heart of prayer, 00:02:05.259 --> 00:02:16.240 and the key to us enjoying prayer, is an invitation to relationship with God as our Father in heaven. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:24.579 How to enjoy our prayer life is about enjoying that wonderful relationship that we 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:32.740 have when we are saved by faith in the Lord Jesus. There's a TV show some of you may have come across 00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:41.300 called The Man on the Inside. Charles Newendike is the main character. As we meet him, he has lost his 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:47.040 wife, and he's kind of lost his bearings in life. And one of the things that he struggles with is an 00:02:47.040 --> 00:02:52.900 open, honest relationship with his adult daughter. And there's one scene towards the end of the first 00:02:52.900 --> 00:02:58.539 series where they're on this long car journey, and they're discussing their relationship. There is 00:02:58.539 --> 00:03:05.000 that desire for both of them that it change, that it be healthier. But they're asking the question, 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:14.099 well, what would that even look like? To which there was the great line, I think we'll know it when we see it. 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:23.840 If you're here today, and you want to know God, you want to be a Christian. Or if you're already a 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.039 Christian, you want to grow in relationship with your father, and you're wondering what would it even 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:37.699 look like to have this kind of healthy, joyful relationship? This is it right here. It's what Jesus 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:46.539 shows us. There's a book I read many years ago. It's a wonderful book. It tells the amazing story of a 00:03:46.539 --> 00:03:54.239 Pakistani Muslim woman who converted to Christianity because, as she happened to hear some Christians 00:03:54.239 --> 00:04:00.699 pray, and she discovered a new level of access with a creator God she never imagined possible. And the 00:04:00.699 --> 00:04:09.919 title of that book, I think, is the key to enjoying our prayer life, I dared to call him father. That's it. 00:04:10.299 --> 00:04:17.779 When we understand that the creator of our universe, the Lord over history and over our lives, 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:28.240 says, I am your father, and I want you to enjoy life with me, that's the key to enjoying our prayer life. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:35.840 And to help us to see that and to enjoy that, Jesus gives us what's known as the Lord's Prayer. 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:40.319 We've already prayed it together. We've read it together. So, we know it's very short, 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:47.340 but it covers a lot. So, just think about the Lord's Prayer and maybe how we can use it before 00:04:47.340 --> 00:04:56.040 we even get into the details. It is a model or a pattern for us in prayer. And lots of people have 00:04:56.040 --> 00:05:02.819 got helpful ways for how to use it. So, some people use the image of each of these phrases being like 00:05:02.819 --> 00:05:11.400 coat hooks. And so, you can hang your own prayers onto these hooks. Or if you like music, some people 00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:17.160 have the idea of this prayer being like jazz. You know what happens with a jazz musician? They take a melody 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:23.939 and then they spend the rest of the piece kind of riffing on it and changing it up a little bit. We can do that 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:30.860 with the Lord's Prayer. We take one of those phrases and we make it our own. You might find it helpful to 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:37.819 simply repeat each of those phrases. And when one of them stands out, to really focus in on that. 00:05:38.459 --> 00:05:46.019 It's a wonderful prayer. And many of us, I imagine, have it memorized, maybe since we were kids. And that's 00:05:46.019 --> 00:05:51.319 a great thing. There's a great benefit in that because we're learning the Word of God. But it also means we 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:57.839 have a prayer that is portable. We can take it with us wherever we are. And so, one thing, you know, you 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:04.120 might want to do is when you're out walking, you take the Lord's Prayer with you. When you find yourself 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:13.439 in a moment of waiting, here is a way to use our time wisely, a chance to pray. If you have a quiet 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:20.240 moment when you're working. And as we've done this morning, in our worship, we can use the Lord's Prayer 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:28.480 really helpfully and beneficially for our prayer life. Of course, when we come to a passage, famous 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:32.980 passage like the Lord's Prayer, we probably recognize there's a big challenge. People have written whole 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:39.280 books on the Lord's Prayer. If you want to know which ones of those are really helpful, I've got a list I 00:06:39.280 --> 00:06:46.259 can give to you. But we want to cover it in just a few minutes. And to help us to think about the Lord's 00:06:46.259 --> 00:06:52.159 Prayer and to help us to think about enjoying our prayer life, three priorities we'll focus on 00:06:52.159 --> 00:06:58.099 that really come from this prayer. The first priority that we're going to think about 00:06:58.099 --> 00:07:04.519 from the first half of the Lord's Prayer is seek your Father's glory. To enjoy your prayer life, 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:11.599 seek your Father's glory. As I was thinking about this, I ended up thinking about our own royal family, 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:18.040 and especially Prince Harry. Maybe some of you have read that autobiography that came out not too long 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:23.400 ago. But maybe all of us, if we know anything about that, we know that he struggled with his life as a 00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:29.920 royal. There is that sense all through his life, he didn't really want his life to be bound up with the 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:37.460 royal story. He struggles to know how to relate to his father as king, and he thinks about himself as 00:07:37.459 --> 00:07:43.599 his spirit. Maybe we can sympathize with him on a human level. 00:07:46.419 --> 00:07:58.500 But why are we talking about Harry? Because as Christians, as children of God, we are children of 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:12.660 the king, and your story and mine is to be all about his glory, and our place in that royal story. And so, 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:19.860 Jesus places this first in his prayer that he gives to his disciples for that reason. 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:30.480 So, what's the focus of the first half? How do we seek our Father's glory? We'll see there are three 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:37.100 words, three phrases for us. Boys and girls, if you've got your sermon worksheet, here's the first 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:39.840 word that you're probably trying to figure out. It's the word, 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:45.560 hallowed. Hallowed be your name. What are we praying when we pray, hallowed be your name? 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:53.899 Well, we're praying that we want God to be honored above all. We want the holiness, the supremacy, 00:08:54.099 --> 00:09:03.539 the uniqueness of God to be our number one priority. And we recognize as the children of God that God's 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:10.479 name has been put on us. We get a new birth certificate, and so we pray that we would not 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:18.800 dishonor that family name, that we would choose to live and act and speak in such a way that he would 00:09:18.800 --> 00:09:30.680 have glory, that his glory would be seen and recognized in and through our lives. We seek God's glory when we 00:09:30.680 --> 00:09:37.720 pray, hallowed be your name. And then Jesus says to pray, your kingdom come. 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:46.519 So, are we praying when we ask for the kingdom of our Father to come? Well, again, when we think 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:52.560 about it personally in the first place, we're asking that he would rule over every area of life. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:57.800 There wouldn't be parts that we would hold back from God. We wouldn't say, well, God, you can have 00:09:57.800 --> 00:10:03.840 Sunday, but the rest of the week I'm going to live on my own terms. We also know that there's that ripple 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:11.160 effects as we pray for ourselves. We're also praying for the people around us. So, we're praying 00:10:11.160 --> 00:10:19.220 that the rule of Christ would extend through the world. So, as we pray this prayer, we're praying 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:26.519 about the mission of God. We're praying for the spread of the story of the good news of God's salvation 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:33.139 for us through giving us the Lord Jesus. We're praying and asking that we and our church and our 00:10:33.139 --> 00:10:42.659 world would increasingly be obedient to Jesus as Lord. And as we pray your kingdom come, there's also 00:10:42.659 --> 00:10:48.879 a sense of longing. We're longing for the return of the King because we have that promise that when 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:54.919 King Jesus comes back, evil will be done away with forever. The world will be restored to perfection, 00:10:54.919 --> 00:11:01.659 and God and His people will live together forever. And so, as we seek His glory, we're seeking for 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:07.179 more of His kingdom, more of His rule in our own hearts and lives, and in the lives of others. 00:11:08.019 --> 00:11:16.959 And then He says to us, pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And as we pray that prayer, 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:28.180 we're asking that we would more and more submit gladly to God's Word, that when He speaks, we would listen 00:11:28.180 --> 00:11:36.259 and we would do. The angels in heaven, they're those obedient messengers, and we're praying that more 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:44.200 and more we would be like them, obedient to the Word of God. But when we pray your will be done, 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:51.560 we're also asking for the humility and the wisdom to submit to the circumstances of our life. 00:11:52.740 --> 00:12:00.240 Maybe some of you know that old hymn, whatever my God ordains is right. It's praying to have that 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:08.820 perspective of Romans 8, that whatever God sends is for His glory and for our good. And so, as Jesus 00:12:08.820 --> 00:12:17.860 teaches God's children to pray, He begins by teaching us to seek our Father's glory. 00:12:20.260 --> 00:12:28.780 To pray this prayer, we will be asking questions like these. How can I be here for Jesus? 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:37.459 If I want to see God's kingdom come and for God to be honored, how can I make a positive difference 00:12:37.459 --> 00:12:44.740 in the life of my children or among my colleagues or in the community where God has placed me? 00:12:46.459 --> 00:12:54.379 We'll be asking questions like, how can I do this for Jesus? Now, that might be something as mundane 00:12:54.379 --> 00:13:00.419 as doing the household chores. How can we do that in a way that God is glorified? How can I set my 00:13:00.419 --> 00:13:07.820 household budget? How can I care for elderly parents? How can I work my job in such a way that 00:13:07.820 --> 00:13:17.039 God gets the glory and I'm doing His will? We'll be asking questions as we pray like, how can we 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:24.519 together as a church be pointing others to Jesus? How can the way that we live together, how can the 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:32.399 things that we speak about allow others to make steps towards Jesus? Either encouraging Christians 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:37.779 in their faith or pointing people who aren't yet Christians towards faith in Jesus. How can we be 00:13:37.779 --> 00:13:44.539 about the business of making disciples is included within the Lord's Prayer. We'll also find ourselves, 00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:55.279 I think, asking, how can we seek actively, willingly seek the glory for our Father, that our little local 00:13:55.279 --> 00:14:06.099 church might shine a light on our great, glorious, global God and Father in heaven. And so, Jesus encourages 00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:15.700 us to focus on the glory of our God to let those priorities of His honor, His kingdom and His will shape 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:24.500 our priorities and then direct our paths. So, to enjoy our prayer life, it begins with recognizing who our 00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:31.019 God is and we'd be seeking our Father's glory. But then secondly, in the second half of the Lord's Prayer, 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:43.259 Jesus invites us to depend on your Father's help. Now, up there, there's a famous photo from the Oval 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:50.559 Office in the 1960s. There's a whole series of them. You see JFK, the president, and he's surrounded by his 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:57.480 advisors and members of his staff. And you'll see in the back corner under the desk, little JFK Jr., 00:14:57.480 --> 00:15:07.600 and he's playing really happily. And we recognize here is this child with total access to the most 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:14.700 powerful man on the planet. We can imagine if he was to tug his dad's trouser leg, he would be heard, 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:22.360 he would have an audience, he would get what he wanted. And friends, Jesus wants us to know that as 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:33.919 Christians, our access is greater to a Father who is more powerful and who is more wise and loving. 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:42.840 And so, our prayer life is to reflect that as we depend and we trust on our Father. 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:53.940 So, what do we need our Father's help with? Well, when we're humble and we stop to think about it, 00:15:54.259 --> 00:15:57.720 we recognize that actually we need our Father's help for everything. 00:15:59.620 --> 00:16:04.680 But let's think about these headings that Jesus gives. He teaches us in verse 11 to pray, 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:12.419 give us today, give us today our daily bread. A reminder again of the need, the value of daily 00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:20.199 prayer. What do you and I need each day? Well, Jesus uses this theme of bread because bread speaks to us 00:16:20.199 --> 00:16:25.339 of what we need to survive. So, when we pray, give us this day our daily bread, we're praying for our 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:35.600 material needs, but we're also praying for more. So, we ask our Father in heaven who loves to give and 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:41.580 give generously. And again, one way that you might find it helpful to use the Lord's Prayer 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:50.500 is to tie it to your daily calendar or your timetable. And this is something I've certainly 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:56.899 found helpful going back to this week at the start of the day. Take some time to work through your day, 00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:02.840 anticipate what's coming, and to think about what do I need in these different moments and events. 00:17:05.180 --> 00:17:09.400 We need our daily bread, but we need so much more. So, you might find yourself praying 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:17.519 for wisdom because you've got some difficult decisions or conversations coming up. You might pray for 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:22.859 energy because you're not feeling at your best, but you've got to care for the kids. You might 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:30.039 want to pray for patience because you know there are some tricky customers that you're going to spend 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:36.940 time with. You might have to pray for focus or for guidance or for courage. But as we begin the day 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:43.920 in dependence and trust, we want to lay the day out before God and say, please give me what I need today 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:51.980 so that I can give you the glory that you deserve in this day. And as we remember, and we were here last 00:17:51.980 --> 00:18:00.039 week, Jesus, when he was tempted, turned these stones into bread. He said, man shall not live by bread alone, 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:08.800 but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Ultimately, our greatest need today and every day 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:17.079 is more of God himself. And wonderfully, God loves to answer and to give us more of himself. 00:18:18.579 --> 00:18:25.700 Verse 12 reminds us that we also need our Father for our spiritual needs. Forgive us our debts 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:34.019 as we also have forgiven our debtors. Now, just to be clear, Jesus isn't saying, 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:42.740 if I forgive people well enough, then God will forgive me. That's not what this phrase is saying. 00:18:43.619 --> 00:18:51.099 Our forgiveness of others is not the root of our salvation, but it is the fruit of our salvation. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:59.319 That when God pours out his grace upon us and forgives us that we don't deserve it, 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:08.679 that changes our hearts so we're willing to forgive others. But it's important for us that Jesus says 00:19:08.679 --> 00:19:19.379 to children of God, we should pray for forgiveness. As Arthur was praying earlier, 00:19:20.399 --> 00:19:27.000 as Christians whose debts have been fully canceled at the cross of Christ, 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:33.720 those who have been washed from sin by the blood, the sacrifice of Christ, 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:43.319 those for whom the penalty and the power of sin has been broken, the presence of sin still lingers. 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:49.700 Every day in our words, our thoughts, our actions, our attitudes, we still sin. And so, 00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:58.779 we need to confess and say sorry to God. And to use the Lord's Prayer most helpfully, 00:19:59.580 --> 00:20:06.799 I think we are probably invited and encouraged, especially as we think about how other praying 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:15.100 people in the past have done this. They slow down and they think deeply. Where do I need forgiveness? 00:20:15.099 --> 00:20:25.939 Where have I been guilty of breaking God's law today? When did I lack love? How did I miss the mark? 00:20:27.019 --> 00:20:35.319 We'll be taking a look at our habits, looking at our conversations, confessing specifically and quickly 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:44.679 and honestly. Because we know our Father. Our Father has saved us if our faith is in Jesus, 00:20:44.879 --> 00:20:50.119 and He won't turn His back on us. He won't reject us. And so, we don't need to stay in hiding. 00:20:50.879 --> 00:20:56.919 Rather, we bring our sin into the light, knowing that if we confess, we are forgiven. 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:03.100 So, Jesus is saying to us, we need our Father. We need to depend on Him for our material needs, 00:21:03.140 --> 00:21:10.340 our daily needs. Also, for our spiritual needs, but also for those moral, ethical needs. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:19.360 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Reminding us that life is complex, 00:21:20.259 --> 00:21:26.100 that the Christian life is spiritual battle, and so we stand in need of protection. 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:34.440 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one is a reminder that your faith and mine 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:43.480 will be tested. And so, as we pray, we pray that we would not give into sin. To go back to that little 00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:50.279 reading from Proverbs 30, give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me my daily bread. And did you 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:56.279 notice why? Because if I have too much, then I might sin, because I may become really proud and say, 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:00.460 I don't need God. But if we've got too little, we might sin by dishonoring God. 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:10.599 It's also a recognition, deliver us from the evil one, that our faith will come under fire. 00:22:11.399 --> 00:22:18.839 We have a spiritual enemy who is active like a roaring lion. And so, we pray, depending on 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:23.079 the strength that our Father gives that we would not be overcome in the battle. 00:22:24.679 --> 00:22:29.639 So, Jesus says the Christian life is fight, it is struggle, but He does not leave us on our own, 00:22:29.659 --> 00:22:32.599 and He doesn't want us to go into these battles unarmed. 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:39.899 But just as Jesus, when He lived on this earth, we have the Spirit of God, 00:22:39.900 --> 00:22:49.259 God. And we have the Word of God. And we have access in prayer to God our Father. And He is willing 00:22:49.259 --> 00:23:01.780 to help, to protect, to deliver. For those of us who are parents, we know we can remember how willing we 00:23:01.779 --> 00:23:09.220 are to help a child in need. We know the sense of joy to be that hand that they reach for. 00:23:11.139 --> 00:23:16.740 And remember, we are imperfect. How much more is that true of our loving Father in heaven? 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:26.099 Think again of that picture of JFK Jr. As we recognize that prayer lets us live in the presence 00:23:26.099 --> 00:23:35.619 of our King and our Father. We don't want to miss out on what He offers. And we don't want to miss His help 00:23:36.179 --> 00:23:45.299 in self-reliance. So, to enjoy our prayer life involves depending on our Father's help. 00:23:47.699 --> 00:23:53.699 But here's the third thing, and in a sense it's the most basic and fundamental. To enjoy our prayer life, 00:23:53.700 --> 00:24:03.059 we must enjoy time with our Father. Now, I think it's easy with the passing of time to miss the 00:24:03.059 --> 00:24:09.299 revolution that Jesus brought when it comes to prayer. So, in His day, if you were a religious Jew, 00:24:09.299 --> 00:24:19.620 you wouldn't dare to speak God's name. And there was this perception that God was distant and far above 00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:30.819 and beyond. How does Jesus teach His people to pray? The same way He prayed, our Father in heaven. 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:41.139 J.I. Packer wrote and said, here's how I would summarize the essence of New Testament religion. 00:24:41.140 --> 00:24:51.140 It's the knowledge of God as one's holy Father. So simple, but so profound to think the one true and 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:58.820 living God invites us to call Him Father, to have that privilege of being known and loved and to have 00:24:58.820 --> 00:25:07.300 full access. But that's exactly what Jesus says we have. And to teach it, He gives us three portraits 00:25:07.299 --> 00:25:14.500 of praying people. Two of them are negative. One is positive. Boys and girls, you'll see your little 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:23.619 portrait frames to fill in. The first portrait is the portrait of a Pharisee. Verse 5, Jesus says, 00:25:23.619 --> 00:25:27.619 when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. And He's thinking of the Pharisees, for they love to pray 00:25:27.619 --> 00:25:33.619 standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Don't pray to put on the 00:25:33.619 --> 00:25:39.939 religious show. You know, here are the guys that say, I want you to know that I'm serious about my 00:25:39.939 --> 00:25:45.779 faith. I'm really holy. So they've got their prayer voice and they've got their prayer posture. And maybe 00:25:45.779 --> 00:25:50.019 even when they pray, they pray with one eye open to make sure that other people notice them. 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:58.179 And that's a trouble that I guess people today, we can still fall into. We can do religion. We can do 00:25:58.180 --> 00:26:04.019 the religious thing. But we can miss what Jesus offers, which is real relationship with the Father. 00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:12.820 We can miss the real reward, which is here, verse 6. When we pray to our Father, your Father who sees 00:26:12.820 --> 00:26:20.259 what is done in secret will reward you. The wonderful thing when we honestly come as children to our Father 00:26:20.259 --> 00:26:29.779 is that He meets with us. And we enjoy relationship. Here's another negative portrait in verse 7. 00:26:31.779 --> 00:26:38.660 Another type of person who doesn't enjoy their prayer life because they don't really know God as Father. 00:26:38.660 --> 00:26:44.339 When you pray, don't keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they'll be heard because there are many 00:26:44.339 --> 00:26:49.779 words, so babbling, you know, like baby talk where there's lots of noise, lots of 00:26:51.779 --> 00:26:57.699 semi-words, but there's not really a lot of meaning. We come across it in our evenings when we're looking 00:26:57.699 --> 00:27:03.379 at Elijah. We'll come across it with the prophets of Baal when they spend all morning shouting and 00:27:03.379 --> 00:27:08.980 dancing and crying out. Because there can be that idea, well, if I have enough volume, maybe enough 00:27:08.980 --> 00:27:14.180 volume or enough passion or maybe just enough volume of words, well, maybe that's how to get 00:27:14.180 --> 00:27:19.460 God's attention. Maybe that's how we win God's approval. But the trouble with that, 00:27:20.579 --> 00:27:26.740 the trouble with the people that pray like this, like the pagans, is that they mistrust God. 00:27:29.700 --> 00:27:35.860 They don't really believe that God is their Father who loves and who knows what we need and is ready 00:27:35.859 --> 00:27:44.579 to give. And so prayer can become an attempt to twist God's arm to get him to answer, piling up words, 00:27:44.579 --> 00:27:52.019 because we're not really sure that he's for us as our Father. Jesus says, don't pray like that. 00:27:53.939 --> 00:28:03.939 Like any good relationship, we need time with our Father and we need to trust him as Father. So we pray 00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:11.860 confident that he loves us and cares for us because we're in Christ. So there's two negative portraits, 00:28:11.860 --> 00:28:17.980 but then there's the third portrait, the portrait of the person of God. And what does Jesus say in verse 00:28:17.980 --> 00:28:28.580 nine? How should we pray our Father in heaven? The awesome God of glory and greatness before whom the 00:28:28.579 --> 00:28:38.819 angels bow down is our loving personal Father. We dare to call him Father because we come in Jesus' name. 00:28:39.139 --> 00:28:45.939 We enjoy life with him as Father because that's the privilege Jesus has bought for us. 00:28:47.699 --> 00:28:54.259 I remember years ago listening to a missionary speaking about working with street kids. 00:28:54.259 --> 00:29:03.299 So she was part of a team that would go out in an evening to find kids that had no family and no homes, 00:29:03.859 --> 00:29:09.220 to look to meet with them, to care for them, provide medical help. And when there was space, 00:29:09.859 --> 00:29:15.940 to bring them back to a home. Here's a warm bed, here's a warm bed, here's some food, here's protection, 00:29:15.940 --> 00:29:26.820 here's education. But she said it was so sad how many of those children who were rescued from the streets 00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:36.420 would really quickly run away again, would never really learn to trust, would never really learn to 00:29:36.420 --> 00:29:43.940 find the security and the love that they were being offered. And Jesus' message to you and to me 00:29:43.940 --> 00:29:52.180 is simply don't be like that. Don't miss out on the love of your Father in heaven. Enjoy the greatest 00:29:52.180 --> 00:30:02.580 grace and privilege that is afforded to us that through faith in Jesus we are adopted, we call God 00:30:03.460 --> 00:30:12.980 Father. And when we remember this, then we find that joyful motivation that sometimes is lacking. 00:30:12.980 --> 00:30:22.339 Not just the duty, well I know I should pray, but the wonder I get to pray, to talk personally to the 00:30:22.339 --> 00:30:32.900 King of the universe knowing that He loves it because He loves me. It's what explains the mission of Jesus. 00:30:32.900 --> 00:30:41.380 Why did Jesus come? Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who enjoyed perfect, unbroken relationship with His Father in heaven. 00:30:43.220 --> 00:30:50.259 He became one of us. And His life was marked by a devotion and a joy in prayer. 00:30:50.259 --> 00:30:57.539 But His life led Him ultimately, as we know, to suffering and death on the cross 00:30:59.859 --> 00:31:05.059 before His resurrection and return to heaven. Now, why did Jesus make that journey? 00:31:05.059 --> 00:31:14.659 Well, He did it to rescue us from our sin, from our guilt, from our spiritual death, but He also came 00:31:16.099 --> 00:31:27.059 to restore us to peace and to life with God. Why did Jesus go to the cross? Why was He loaded up with sin? 00:31:27.059 --> 00:31:31.299 Why did He pray in agony? Why did He pray in agony? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:31:32.500 --> 00:31:40.899 Here's one answer, so that you and I could pray. That you and I could know the love of God as our Father 00:31:40.900 --> 00:31:51.140 in heaven. And to know this is truly the key to enjoying the Christian life and prayer. 00:31:53.460 --> 00:32:04.740 So, let's pray now that we would share that joy and that we would enjoy that relationship.