How to
Experience God Daily
through
prayer
Part 3 Sunday November 20, 2005
Intro
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The principle behind this series
that we finish today is that you and I can know God personally
through Jesus Christ as he is revealed in this book, the Bible!
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That relationship can be as real
and firsthand an experience as the disciples experienced in the
gospel we just heard: Not wishful thinking, not “conjectural at
best” as ECUSA Bishops and leaders have preached for years from
pulpits like this, not formless and void and subject to the spirit
of the age—but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ
that you and I can experience daily, as robust and real and full of
the same qualities and substance that we read about in this
wonderful book, the Bible!
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And dear ones, that’s the reason we’ve
come home to the Anglican Communion, which has reaffirmed the
authority and inspiration of this book time and time and time
again…and precisely why we have left ECUSA and the Diocese of VA,
whose Bishop could not
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So if you have your Bible, open it to
Luke chapter 11, and if you don’t have your Bible, just follow along
on the screen and pick one up on your way out!
The Context… let’s read
this together:
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he
finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”
Luke 11:1 NIV
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They were watching Jesus as he
prayed…as he often did, when? From a distance?
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And something they observed in
the life of Jesus made them feel as if they had never prayed before!
They saw something in his face in his joy, and his heart
that made them feel as if they had never experienced God before like
this…never connected as directly with God as Jesus had!
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They’d been praying all their
lives—or at least they thought they had! They’d gone to
church, said the blessing before meals, and watched their parents
and others say prayers
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But when they came upon Jesus praying,
time and again, they saw peace, joy, love, power, intimacy, and a
way of relating personally to God that flowed out of his heart into
his face and body-- they realized they had missed the
connection!
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So this time as soon as Jesus finished
they asked him “Lord, teach us to pray”—not teach us to preach/ not
teach us to pastor/ not teach us to administer great programs--
teach us to pray, because they recognized that everything Jesus
did came out of conversational prayer with Father vGod!
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That context is important to
understand because the question they are asking Jesus is really the
same question we’ve been asking for the last two weeks. And the
question they are asking is “How can I connect with God like
you do Jesus?—daily, personally, conversationally, intimately,
joyfully and powerfully
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How can I experience Father God in my
heart just like you Jesus—in a way that changes me from the inside
out!
AND SO Jesus answered
them without missing a beat! “When you pray, say…
Father
Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come
Give us each day our daily bread
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who
sins against us
And lead us not into temptation.” Luke 11:2-4 NIV
NB: he doesn’t talk about a posture, or a
place, or even a time for prayer. Those are secondary matters…instead,
Jesus says, “Follow
this pattern and you will connect with God!” That’s
right—what we call the LP is really a pattern prayer that Jesus asks
us to follow:
Begin with relationship: Father; in other
places ABBA
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Not CEO, Not “Inspector General”, not
“Spirit in the sky”, not even “Creator” FATHER, daddy
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Pastor Jack Hayford’s sharing at our
Pastor’s gathering how at age 70+, he sees himself as a little boy
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We start with the reality that we are
coming to a Fthare who loves us, who wants to take us into his
arms, who is waiting to pick you up and take you on an
adventure—to just delight in you!
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Illustration: I’m a
multi-tasker; like most of you, I am jammed for time, so I try to
combine things. And for several years now I’ve been combining prayer
with walking… Daily Office in the mornings before,; and by the time
I walk out the office door I am in a place where I have come to the
arms of my Father and his love for me…that’s the place where I
ltterally begin to walk!
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After beginning with relationship,
Jesus says
Move into praise and worship:
“HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME”
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At about the corner of Pennypacker and
Point Pleasant, as I’m turning towards Stringfellow, I’m into praise
and worship: sometimes it’s a hymn, I have a favorite version of the
Gloria in Excelsis deo that I learned in church as a child that I
sing, or a contemporary praise song—I remember the names of Jesus
(Alpha and Omega, Light, Way and truth and life…) I simply
praise God for who he is, and what he has done for me!
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WHY? Because I’ve
discovered that when I just start with pleading my own case, and my
own needs, and my own problems, I end up practicing the
presence of self, and I end up just talking to myself!
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But when I start with God and
who he is—and when YOU start with God—and practice his presence with
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that praise hime for who he is
and what he’s done for you and me—We practice HIS presence,
and in HIS presence he lifts us above our own problems and needs to
a place that’s higher than we are, where he can begin to speak to
you and me and give us HIS perspective and HIS promises in place of
OUR problems!
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After we’ve spent some time in
HIS presence, praising and worshipping him, Jesus says
Pray first for his priorities: “YOUR KINGDOM
COME…”
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Love how the The Message
version of the Bible puts it: “Come kingdom of God! Be done
will of God!”
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See, Jesus is reminding you and
me here that this life we are living ISN’T as good as it
gets…There’s so much more. God’s will and God’s Kingdom have
such high hopes for you and me—for our purpose, for our
relationships, for our healing and restoration, for our families and
finances… So much more that Jesus says “Pray for God’s will
and God’s kingdom to break into your life right now, and make that
your #1 priority!”
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So at about the beginning of “the
bamboo forest” as my kids like to call it, I’m beginning to pray
“Come Kingdom of God! Be done will of God!” I’m asking the Lord,
“What would your Kingdom coming, and your will being done, look
like right now”—in MY LIFE, in JULIE’s life, in the lives of
MY CHILDREN, in SRC, in our COMMUNITY, and in our NATION.
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And when I do that, thoughts and
pictures come to m ind… eg. My weight, and exercise last
week…God reminding me toi keep it up and not be weary in well doing…
Luke 9:62-- LOOK AHEAD at the outreach we need to do, get out to the
movie theater and see if we can make a deal with the mgmt for
tickets for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe… Acts 1:8 What are
we doing in SR, our Jerusalem… The face of one of my children, or
one of your faces comes to mind…and I begin to pray “Kingdom
of God come! Will of God be done!”…
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I know from experience that those
thoughts and pictures are not random accidents—they are the gentle
voice and leading of father God, speaking to me personally about his
priorities and his delights… And those thoughts and pictures come to
me almost always as prompting from His Word, this book, which shapes
my thinking and yours!
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Well once we’ve spent some time asking
God for his priorities, Jesus says
Pray for provision: ‘GIVE US EACH DAY OUR DAILY
BREAD”
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You cant’s get more3 basic and simple
than this, praying for your 3 squares a day!
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Now that may seem pretty pedestrian
when you and I think of praying for and end to the war in Iraq and
the safety of our troops, or an end to racism and poverty and
starvation in places like the Sudan, or relief for the victims of
hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes from Pakistan to Lake
Pontchartain
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But Jesus is teaching us that
there is nothing too BIG, and nothing too basic or mundane,
for the scope of his loving careand provision! So ASK God to
help you meet your needs, whatever they are!
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I usually am moving in to
prayers for my provisions about thetime the forest ends and I’m
walking through Greenbriar Pool area: And I’m praying about
things like more time with the kids, healing for their sicknesses,
that they won’t be discouraged at school, that our cars won’t break
down, for strength and perseverance to get the things done on my to
do list…
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After we’ve gone through our to
do and need list, Jesus says…
Pray for forgiveness: “FORGIVE US OUR SINS, FOR
WE ALSO FORGIVE”
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Again, I love how The Message
paraphrases it: “Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving
others>”
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It’s not too difficult to ask God to
forgive my sins…I’ve got a pretty acute sense of where I have fallen
short, where I have deliberately disobeyed God’s word, and to a
lesser extent how I have offended others…And if I haven’t already
gone to him in confession before the walk, God reminds me what I
need to confess…
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But the greater challenge is
forgiving and releasing others. And that part of my
prayer-walk just happens to coincide with a little upward slope on
Point Pleasant that challenges me—it’s a helpful physical reminder
if I haven’t gotten there already that I need to start forgiving and
releasing others. When I set my heart to this, God answers my prayer
with pictures and faces of people who have angered or hurt me,
reminding me in a very specific and personal way whom I need to
forgive
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WHY? Because
unforgiveness and bitterness is an emotional static in our hearts
that prevents us from connecting with God. It just makes us sick,
and turns us in on ourselves, isolating us from God and each other.
That’s why forgiveness is such a priority for God!
After all, he put himself on the cross in the person of Jesus Christ
so that your sins and mine could be forgiven—PP + F
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Sometimes, I must confess, it is hard
to forgive and release. I’m still too caught up in the hurt and the
righteous indignation to forgive and release. But I’ve come to
recognize that even in that place I can begin to move out of
bitterness if I will just turn to the Lord and say “God,
please change my heart so that I will want to forgive that person!”
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Sometimes this will take me to the
very end of my walk…It’s important work! But when you’ve done all
you can to forgive, Jesus says, then
Pray for protection: “And lead us not into
temptation”
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And in Matthew’s Gospel “But
deliver us from the evil one.”
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Jesus is reminding us of the reality
in which we live—reality of spiritual forces of evil and wickedness
contending for our hearts, minds, and bodies… Paul puts it this way
in Ephesians 6:13: “We do not struggle against flesh and blood…”
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When we pray this part of the pattern
prayer of Jesus, we are praying to overcome the direct assaults of
the evil one on you and me through sickness and crisis and other
strategies fashioned in the pit of hell to steal and kill and
destroy… But we are also praying to overcome the indirect
assaults of the evil one through our own sinful nature that
is only too eager to cave in to temptation!
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How I pray: putting on the full
armor of God (Ephesians 6…)
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You know, that word “temptation” is
often used interchangeably for the word “trials”…Trials are
different than temptations. They can help us become more like Jesus,
or they can turn us toward bitterness and cyniscism. So when we pray
this part of Jesus’ pattern prayer, we are also praying that in
whatever trials we are experiencing, Jesus himself will help us turn
toward him, and to become more like him, and not to become
discouraged
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Illustrn: ABP Orombi’s remarks
in response to the question, “What can we do for YOU?” Answer: send
us your young people, so they can experience a “bitter day”, and
learn how to become more like Jesus through it…
And close with praise and worship! “FOR THINE IS THE
KINGDOM…”
Jesus says “If you want to connect
daily with God as I do, then follow this pattern prayer…” [what
I’ve just shared is not new…Cath: saints; EV: Martin Luther’s QT;
Charismatic/Pentecostal stream: Larry Lea Could you not Tarry One
Hour?]
Then Jesus closes the lesson with
two final points about our part and God’s part in conversational prayer:
Final Note #1-- Our
Part: is to Ask with boldness
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The story: Hospitality, midnight,
stranger in need, what one would expect in response to this midnight
emergency need… let’s read this:
Jesus said, “I tell you, though he will not get up and
give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the
man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he
needs.” Luke 11:8 NIV
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Do you see what Jesus is saying?
When you’re facing a midnight, desperate need, don’t just talk about
your wonderful friend Jesus who can help you: ASK! Press in to
him—boldly, shamelessly, brazenly, and with specificity—“Not one
loaf, not 2 but THREE and I need them NOW!” That’s our part!
Final Note #2– is God’s
Part: He is eager to meet you and me, exactly at our
point of need!
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Jesus closes with the promise in verse
9; “SO I say to you: ask and it will be given to you”; ---and
he must have seen that like you and me they were a little skeptical,
so he repeats it in a different way, “Seek and you will find,”
and seeing the look of disbelief on their face he says it a
third time “Knock and the door will be opened to you”… And
knowing how difficult it is for us to believe that God really loves
us and wants to be in relationship with us, he repeats it a 4th,
5th and 6th time…let’s read this
together:
“For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds;
to him who knocks the door will be opened…If you then, though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:10, 13 NIV
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HOW MUCH MORE WILL YOUR FATHER IN
HEAVEN GIVE YOU! You see God wants to give you what you need: he
wants to meet you daily. Many of you have come here today with your
own needs, or those of others, weiging heavily on your hearts. God
wants to meet you today exactly at the point of need! He
wants you to come to him and in conversational prayer ask him for
what you need…so I’m going to ask you not to leave today without
coming to him in prayer…during communion, we’re going to have people
at the back available to pray with you quietly and privately while
others are facing forward for communion…If God is speaking to you
this morning, please don’t leave without coming to our prayer teams
for prayer…
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Some of you are realizing that
you’ve never had the kind of conversational relationship that Jesus
talks about in Luke 11, and God is inviting you to begin the
conversation this morning… come for prayer, open your
hearts…
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AND AS A CHURCH, WHAT MORE CAN WE
ASK THAN A FRESH ANNOINTING, A FRESH GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR OUR
NEW LIFE TOGETHER! So that’s what we’re going to do right now…
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