God invites us to pray

 

1.      Martin Luther is a well known religious figure from the past.

2.      It is said that Mr. Luther had a dog. 

3.      This dog taught Luther a thing or two about the Bible.

4.      When this dog was a puppy, it stayed close to the table.

5.      Luther would eat and the animal would just stare at him.

6.      It is said the dog’s mouth opened and its eyes were motionless.

7.      The dog was watching his master eat and hoping for some of the table food.

8.      Many of us have seen animals watch food, hoping to get a piece of it.

9.      In some cases an animal concentrates on nothing but the food it sees.

 

LUTHER REGARDED WHAT I JUST DESCRIBED AS A GOOD ILLUSTRATION OF HOW PEOPLE SHOULD APPROACH PRAYER.

 

1)      When we pray, it should be something we devote our minds to; it is an activity of concentration.

2)      When we look at the Bible we find a lot of attention given to prayer.

3)      We learn the creator of all things says we can communicate to Him.

4)      God is “open” to receiving communication from people.

5)      Anyone who desires to pray certainly can do that.

6)      If people expect an answer, they need to be in a right relationship with God.

7)      Tonight we want to look at prayer from a Christian perspective.

8)      What is God’s invitation to Christians about prayer?

9)      This subject covers a lot of ground and we will be citing a number of passages.

10)  We begin with Mt. 5:44; Jesus said “pray for your enemies.”

11)  Jesus said, “pray for those who persecute you.”

12)  In making this statement Jesus taught two things.

13)  First, He told us God does encourage people to pray.  There is access to the throne of God.

14)  If we use this access, we are to pray for those who are not our friends.

15)  Most would decline an invitation to do something good for an enemy.

16)  If someone wants to destroy us, why do anything that would be helpful to him or her?

17)  God says pray for those who want to hurt and injure us.  It is the right way to live.

18)  God’s invitation to prayer is expanded in the next chapter of Matthew – Mt. 6:5.

19)  We will read this verse – READ

20)  God invites us to pray, but He puts a restriction on this communication.

21)  In first century times people practiced showmanship in prayers.

22)  People tried to make themselves look big and godly in front of others.

23)  Many of us will not pray all that often in a public setting.

24)  If we do pray publicly, we want to observe a restriction.

25)  Prayer will never be for show; it is to be sincere, from the heart, no act.

26)  Additionally, prayer is to be an act wherein we express respect.

27)  In Mt. 6:9 Jesus gave what has been called a “model prayer.”

28)  In this prayer He said, “Hallowed be thy name.”

29)  God is approachable; He does invite us to come.  God also tells us to come on His terms.

30)  The word “God” means “God” (all powerful, all knowing, all present).

31)  God says we must respect Him and His invitation to pra.

32)  This is an important point for many treat God as if He is just some guy on a street corner.

33)  We have had people refer to God as “Big Daddy” or use slang to describe Him.

34)  One of the Ten Commandments is found in Ex. 20:7.

35)  It is was wrong for the Hebrews to “take the name of God” in vain.

36)  Under the Old Testament God was to be respected; this is also true in the New Testament.

37)  If we accept God’s invitation to pray, we want to refer to God in a proper way.

38)  It is certainly right to call God “Father” because Jesus tells us this is right.

39)  We might refer to deity as “God” or even “Jehovah.”

40)  “Lord” can be a good word too, though people do not always know who we mean.

41)  Sometimes “Lord” means Jesus and sometimes it means the Father.

42)  It can really get confusing when we have the Lord’s supper.

43)  A person may say, “Lord, thank you for sending your Son.”

44)  If a person understands “Lord” as Jesus, they may think Jesus sent Himself.”

45)  In public prayers we can and should be mindful about being clear.

46)  Accepting God’s invitation to prayer requires respectful and sometimes clear terminology.

47)  Sometimes when we talk to people we must limit the conversation to certain subjects.

48)  If we go to a doctor, he or she does not want to give us tax advice.

49)  Our mechanic does not to tell us how to cook supper.

50)  God’s invitation to pray is very, very broad.

51)  Prayer is not limited to just a few topics—it involves almost anything.

 

52)  In Mt. 9:38 He invites people to pray about the growth of His church.

53)   If we can pray about this, the implication is that we can pray about other things in the church.

54)  If things are going well, we can pray this will continue and will get even better.

55)  If things are going poorly, we can pray for the situation to improve.

56)  A related point is found in Mt. 24:20.

57)  Jesus knew that Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans in about 40 years.

58)  He knew it would be a very difficult time for Jews as well as Christians.

59)  He thus warned His people that they could pray about this time of war and destruction.

60)  He said Christians could even affect when the devastation could occur – READ.

61)  Here we see that God invites His people to pray during times of national calamity.

62)  If we have a hurricane coming or it has come, we can pray about that.

63)  If there is an earthquake, mudslide, or a terrorist attack, Mt. 24 teaches that we can pray.

64)  Our national leaders often ask people to pray during times of national emergencies.

65)  God invites His people to exactly that.

66)  Another invitation related to prayer is Lk. 18:1.

67)  Jesus told a story that encourages people to “pray always.”

68)  When times are hard, people may not feel like they need much of an incentive to pray.

69)  When times are good, people may not see much of a need to pray.

70)  God says to us, “My door is always open and I invite you to use it.”

71)  Make a habit of prayer.

72)  Related to this is information in Lk. 22:40 – Jesus spoke of “temptation.”

73)  He said, “pray that ye enter not into temptation.”

74)  Each one of us is subject to temptation.

75)  God invites us to pray during the times when we are tempted.

76)  People may do a lot of things when times of temptation come.

77)   God says, “Talk to me.  Open that door of communication.  Seek my help.”

78)  We can pray for things related to our lives day in and day out.

79)  We are also invited to pray for others.

80)  1 Thess. 5:25 says, “brethren pray for us.”

81)  As an apostle, Paul knew the will of God.  He had an understanding of prayer.

82)  He realized that God allows Christians to pray one for another.

83)  God invites the people of God to pray for each other.

84)  Over the last month how many times have we told a Christian, “I am praying for you?”

85)  Maybe some of us didn’t say that to anyone last month.

86)  Did we tell someone that in the last 60 days or the last 90 days?

87)  Has it been six months or a year since we have said those words to someone?

88)  Have we ever told someone, “I am praying for you”?

89)  God invites us to pray for fellow Christians and we need to do that.

90)  We should also let Christians know we are praying for them.

 

91)  Prayer can be made for all types of people in all types of places.

92)  In 1 Tim. 2:8 Paul said, “let men pray in every place.” 

93)  God’s people are to pray in “every place.”

94)  In the context this means, “every place where God’s people meet.”

95)  It is hard to think of a place where prayer is inappropriate.

96)  Someone from the world might not think it is appropriate.

97)  God’s invites us to pray in every place.

98)  We may be at school, at work, in the yard, in the bathtub, or somewhere else.

99)  God’s invitation to prayer is universal.

100) No better illustration of that may be available than in a hospital.

101) I have made a lot of hospital visits over the years.

102) In just about every single case a person wanted a prayer.

103) More than a few times a prayer was made just before a person was taken to surgery.

104)  I have had medical people show up with a gurney and I asked them to wait just for a minute.

105) God’s throne was open to prayer, and the patient wanted that invitation to be used.

106) Jas. 5:13 says, “Is any suffering?  Let him pray.

107) Are any sick (Jas. 5:14)?  Let him call for the elders of the church and have them pray.

108) God’s throne invites people to pray when they are doing well (we can be thankful).

109) They are also invited to pray during hard times and times of sickness.

110) Even if a person has left the Lord he is invited to pray.

111) A man in Acts 8 turned his attention back to the world instead of Christ.

112) He was told to “pray and repent” (God invited him to return).

113) Prayer is designed to be active communication with God.

114) I recently read about a man who goes to Taco Bell about three times a week.

115) Because of food allergies this customer usually orders the same item.

116) Month after month this man has seen the same lady behind the counter.

117) She never looks him or other customers in the eye.  She always says the same thing.

118) In fact, the customer has her little speech memorized.

119) “Your order number is, have a good day, come back.”

120) The man says “it is agonizing to hear.”  She never smiles.  Her voice never changes.”

121) The man says he almost cringes when she waits on him.

122) It is like fingernails scraping the chalkboard.

123)  The fellow who wrote the article said he does come back, but not for happy counter service.  

124) Are our prayers like this?  Are they “rote”?  If so, this is not what God has invited us to do.

125) God wants earnest, regular, heart-felt pray during good times and bad times.