A.W. Tozer once said the key to prayer is simply praying. We know prayer is of utmost importance, but we often overcomplicate it and give up before we even get started. In this series, our goal is to offer you a simple guide for how to pray in hopes of helping you enter into a life-long and life-giving practice.
Our Valuable Father
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Josh Blount
Lead Pastor
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R = Rejoice
Matthew 6:9
In this manner, therefore, pray:
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 forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
REMEMBER RELATIONSHIP
Matthew 6:9
In this manner, therefore, pray
Matthew 6:7
When you pray, do not use vain repetitions
This is about relationship
To know the Savior is to find a fountain of joy in His acquaintance; to know Him better is to enter into “the joy of the Lord.”
Charles Spurgeon
Rejoicing Is Rooted In Recognition.
James 1:17
Rejoice in the recognition that every good and perfect gift is from above.
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord always, for in recognizing God as your God, you find the source of everlasting joy."
Charles Spurgeon
Rejoicing springs from recognition, as we celebrate God for who He is and for His abiding presence with us.
Jesus reintroduces us to God in the beginning of His model prayer because He wants to make sure we’re relating to Him the right way
Matthew 6:9
Our Father in heaven
He’s A Father
After more than twenty-five years in pastoral ministry, twenty of them teaching on prayer, I have come to the conclusion that most people’s biggest problem with prayer is God.
Pete Grieg
Father - Pater - nourisher, protector, upholder, and source of life.
Father - Aramaic = Abba
Galatians 3:26
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 4:6
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
A.W. Tozer
You’re view of God will determine your relationship with God.
Luke 15:11
A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
Luke 15:13
And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, he journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
Luke 15:14
But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
Luke 15:15
Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
Luke 15:20
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
Luke 15:21
And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
Luke 15:22
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
Robe = covers him
Ring = wealth, dignity and authority
Sandals = freedom
Luke 15:23
And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
The deeper we receive our identity as ‘dearly loved children,’ the greater our desire to spend time with our Father in prayer. We will start to tell him everything and dare to ask him anything because we now know that, as Jesus puts it elsewhere, ‘Your Father in heaven [loves to] give good gifts to those who ask him.
Pete Greig
Value Who He Is
Matthew 6:9
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Hallowed, means to honor, to respect and consecrate (make sacred).
God is infinitely powerful, awesome in His majesty, unfathomably wise, and possesses boundless wealth beyond human comprehension. The greatness of God is beyond our imagination, and His resources are without limit.
A.W. Tozer
Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's infinite grace and power."
R.A. Torrey
Prayer is the way you defeat the devil, reach the lost, restore a backslider, strengthen the saints, send missionaries out, cure the sick, accomplish the impossible, and know the will of God."
David Jeremiah
God can’t answer prayers you don’t pray!
Elohim - The one to whom all power belongs
El Shaddai - The Almighty God
El Elyon - The most high God above whom there is no other
El Olam - The everlasting God who is without beginning or end
Jehovah Jireh - The lord our provider
Jehovah Shalom - The Lord is peace
Jehovah Rapha - The Lord our healer
Jehovah Nissi - The Lord my banner, which means He's the one that gives us victory
Jehovah-Ra-ah - The Lord my shepherd, The one who protects me and lead me and guides me
Jehovah Shammah - The Lord who is there, One who is with me day and night
When we hallow the Name of God, We are valuing the Godness of God
When you hallow God, it will spring forth in actions that champion His Kingdom and His will.
When you hallow God, it will lead to faith, and hope and confidence.
Prayer is more than you could ever imagine, because God is so much beyond what you can conceive.
Pete Greig