Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A God that is looking to the needs, to the problems, to the pressure of our world, your world, and that is that God chooses to work through people who have a kingdom agenda. God works through people who pray. God is looking for people like you and me, who will so connect with him in prayer that he can engage the world, empowering us and empowering the kingdom on earth. When we learn to pray the kingdom way. When we learn to pray the Jesus way.
Amazing results. Incredible adventures in prayer. Jeremiah 33, 3 call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. When we connect with God in prayer we are given his very presence, his power for living, his promises and his very life in us. And you know if you wanted to learn about leadership perhaps you could learn leadership from someone like Winston Churchill.
If you wanted to learn something about heart surgery perhaps you would ask Michael DeBakey the great heart surgeon. If you wanted to know something about athletics maybe you would ask Michael Jordan or a great athlete. If you wanted to know something about evangelism perhaps you would want to have a conversation and learn from Billy Graham. But if you want to learn how to pray ask Jesus. Because Jesus lived a life of prayer. In fact his life is a living prayer.
For the Bible says he ever lives to make intercession for his saints, that's you and me. He continually, consistently, fervently, faithfully prays. Jesus the God man, the Son of God was a man of prayer. There are 10 recorded prayers given by Jesus in the Scripture. Jesus prayed throughout his life in ministry. He prayed at his baptism. He prayed in the desert during times of temptation. He prayed early in the morning. He prayed before he chose his disciples. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed at the cross. His was a life of prayer. Is there any wonder that his disciples, his most intimate followers who observed this magnificent life of prayer said, Lord teach us to pray. Now it's impossible to understand everything there is to know about prayer.
It will take an eternity for us to uncover and discover the full impact and the power of prayer in our lives. But while we are here we need to learn to pray and develop our prayer lives. And so in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus instructs us. He invites us on this journey of prayer. And so beginning in verse 5 of Matthew chapter 6. And when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.
Assuredly I say to you they have their reward. But you when you pray go into your room or your closet and when you have shut your door pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask. And in this same message delivered on the mount by our Lord Jesus over at chapter 7 and verses 7 and following. He says ask and it will be given you.
Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. Jesus is inviting you to this amazing adventure of prayer. It is an invitation to everyone that Jesus offers.
Not simply to the super saints or the spiritually elite. But every follower of Jesus, every child of the Father, the Heavenly Father is welcomed into his presence as we pray. Now in the passage that we just read Jesus makes two assumptions regarding prayer. Number one he assumes that we do pray.
Three times in verses 5, 6 and 7 he says when you pray, when you pray, when you pray. He assumes that as believers we do pray. And this of course identifies the very simplicity and necessity of prayer.
We understand that. Prayer is like spiritual breathing. Our very life is dependent upon it.
And like a little child in those first moments of life and breath receives that life. We in prayer receive the breath and life of God. It has been said that we can do more than pray after we pray. But we cannot do more than pray until we pray. No person comes to faith in Jesus Christ apart from believing prayer. We will never make an impact upon this culture, a transforming impact upon the culture in which we live apart from powerful prayer. There is no committed discipleship.
There is no compelling witness. There is no effective living or no effective parenting or no effective preaching or teaching without prayer, the necessity of it. Jesus assumes that we know that when you pray. But there is another assumption that he makes here and that is we're not there yet in our prayer lives. We must learn more about prayer. Jesus assumes that we need to be taught to pray.
Why? Because we have problems with prayer. We have problems with carelessness regarding prayer and prayerlessness is common among Christians. But God desires so much more for us in the life of prayer. We can know God intimately and we can intercede for others.
We can make a difference in this world and yet we fail. What is it about us that resists prayer? Even the Apostle Paul noted it in Romans chapter 8 and verse 26. He said, we know not what we should pray for as we ought. The great Christian Paul struggled in the life of prayer and so do we. And so we cry out with the disciples, Lord, teach us to pray.
And Jesus welcomes us and instructs us. How are we to pray? Number one, we are to pray without performance. Jesus begins his lesson on prayer here in the school of prayer by saying, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites.
What's the problem here? Jesus said don't pray like the hypocrites because they love to pray. Now there's nothing wrong with loving to pray. We should love to pray. Jesus said they love to pray standing.
So far so good. Nothing wrong in standing to pray. In fact, the Hebrews would often stand lifting up holy hands in prayer to God.
The posture is not the point here. They love to pray standing on the street corners and the synagogues. Again, that's not the problem. Jesus is not condemning public prayer. But the hypocrisy is that these men who love to pray and love to stand and pray on the street corners and in the sanctuaries and the synagogues in order to be seen of men.
That is the problem. There is the hypocrisy. To pray for the applause of men rather than the applause of God. Hypocrites are more interested in their own reputation than in personal righteousness. They desire the approval of God to be seen of men and approved of men rather than the approval of God. And so Jesus rips off the mask of phoniness and says, when you pray, don't pretend. Don't just pray with words that mean nothing to be seen of men. Jesus is asking about our motivation. So how about it? What's your prayer life like?
Really, what is it like? Not just what men see but what God sees. Have you given him your heart?
Have you given him your life? Is it your desire truly to draw near to God, to know him, to please him? And then not only did he warn us about the performance but then he warned us about the pagans. He said the pagans like to pray with many words, repetitious words.
And he said they say the same thing over and over again. Repetitious, routine, rote, praying. He's praying like the pagans. He's praying with a performance of a different kind, performing before God. And so Jesus says pray without performance. A real disciple prays without performance.
But secondly, a real disciple and follower of Jesus prays with power. You're listening to Power Point with Jack Graham and the message asking in Jesus name. There's an invisible realm that's just as real and just as active as the physical world around us. In his 11 message series called invisible, Pastor Jack Graham opens a window of understanding into the unseen realities of the spiritual forces that affect you every day. Invisible is our special thanks for your gift to PowerPoint this month.
But we also want to ask you to help meet an important goal of adding 100 new monthly partners. With your first monthly gift today, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of Dr. Graham's book, Unseen. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our eStore, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.
Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, asking in Jesus name. Now the secret to public power, power with God, power with men is private prayer. That is why I look again in chapter 6, Jesus said in verse 6, but when you, when you pray, go into your room.
Notice the personal terms here. When you pray, you go into your room and your Father who is in secret will reward you openly. Every Christian must find a place to pray privately, a place of solitude to pray secretly. Do you have a secret place? Do you have a quiet time when you say, Lord, I want to know you?
I want to see your face. Now it's impossible in my estimation to really experience the presence of God in our lives apart from quiet, believing, secret prayer. Jesus would often get up very early in the morning and find a place of private prayer and there engage in conversation with the Father. He would go to the mountainsides to pray. He would go to the lonely places to pray. He would pray in the desert. He would pray in the Garden of Gethsemane which in particular seemed to be a special place of prayer for Jesus.
He even prayed on the cross. But he prayed and he prayed privately. And the reason that we need a private place and a quiet time to pray is because the Father, Jesus says, look at it, the Father is in the secret place.
The clutter of life, the demands of life, the pressures of my day take me in directions that I can't even imagine. Therefore I need to be ready for the demands of life and the way that I get ready is to get in the secret place because the Father is there. The NIV translates Matthew 6, 6 as pray to your Father who is unseen. In other words, when we pray in the secret place, it's not that God is far away, out there somewhere, but he is in the room, unseen, invisible, but present.
Your Father who is unseen, your Father who is in that secret place, God promises his presence. But we pray like this. We're not always sure of his presence, are we? We wonder, Lord, are you really there? Lord, do you really hear me? Lord, are my prayers getting above the ceiling?
Well, they don't have to get above the ceiling if God is in the room. And he said the Father waits for us and welcomes us when we are in his presence in prayer. God sees and God hears. And so prayer is not self-talk or a psychological pump-up. Prayer is actually conversing with God, communing with God, relating to God and he to us.
His very present fills the smallest place and the most secret part of our lives. And that is why Jesus said, look at verse 6, that when we pray like this he will reward you openly. Three times in this sermon Jesus talks about the rewarded life. When he talks about giving he said, when you give in the proper way you will be rewarded.
He said, when you fast in the proper way you will be rewarded. And when you pray the Jesus way, the kingdom way, you will be rewarded. Do you know that the Christian life is greatly rewarded? That in the practice of spiritual disciplines God promises a reward?
What kind of reward? Well, number one, there's the reward of heaven. Not that we earn heaven, but in heaven we will receive rewards. And praying Christians make the greatest impact upon time and eternity. Praying Christians change the destinies of men and the histories of nations. And so when we get to heaven, many who have prayed in their closets, who never preached on platforms, who never taught in public assemblies, who were never identified as great believers, but closeted Christians will be greatly rewarded in heaven. But not only is there the reward of heaven, but there's the reward of answered prayer.
It is the most profound thought that could ever enter our minds. God answers prayer. When we ask, when we seek, when we knock, the Bible says you have not because you ask not or because you ask wrongly.
You ask amiss. But the reward of prayer is answered prayer. And the reward of prayer is its own reward. Prayer is its own reward. We are empowered for living. We are better people.
We are better moms and dads, better parents, better partners, better people. It's the bottom line for believers. It's the bottom line for bonafide believers. There's great joy in prayer. And that is why I'm saying today my motivation is for you to see the great joy of prayer, the peace that God gives thee that our lives can be transformed, that our lives can be a sanctuary of praise and prayer to God.
That we, we human beings like you and me through Jesus Christ can enter into the holy of holies and experience his love and grace. And the world won't understand what it is about you. The world just doesn't quite get it. The world looks at you and says what is it about you? What's so different about you? Why do you have joy? Why do you have such peace? Why do you have such a, such a love for God and a love for people?
They don't understand it, but you will know why. It's because you've been in prayer. You've been in his presence. And in prayer, in his presence, there is fullness of joy at his right hand, pleasures forevermore. And so we pray. And the way to pray with power is to pray with confidence.
Number one, pray with confidence. If you want to pray with power like little children talking to a caring father, we pray with confidence because he is our Abba Father, our dear Father. Some fathers, of course, today are absent. There are other fathers who are apathetic and weak, do not lead their families spiritually.
Some have grown up in homes with fathers who are angry, others who are affectionless. But our Heavenly Father is compassionate and caring, loving and embracing. I know there are some who read of God being Father and say, well, if God's a father like my father, I don't want anything to do with him. Well, God's not a father like any human father. This father will never fail you. If your father has failed you, you have a Heavenly Father who will never fail you. And we come into his presence, therefore, with confidence.
We come boldly to the throne of grace. Too many people have experienced fathers who are distant and detached. One of the most important things that you can learn in life, Father, is to be a man of God and to be a man of prayer and to love your family starting with your children's mother.
If you want to love your children, start by loving their mother unconditionally. And God loves us perfectly. And he invites us into his arms and welcomes us into his presence. Pray with confidence. Then Jesus says not only are we to pray with confidence, but we are to pray with reverence. Psalm 103 verse 13 says the Lord has compassion upon those who fear him. There is a reverence and a respect.
There is a holy fear that brings us into his presence, that doesn't drive us from his presence, but brings us into his presence. Pray with confidence, pray with reverence, and then finally pray with obedience. When Jesus in verse 7 of chapter 7 says that we are to ask and seek and knock.
Have you ever discovered that that is an acrostic? Asking, seeking, knocking, A-S-K, ask. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Not babbling like the pagans, not with long speeches, not with the pretension of an actor or the performance of an actor, but praying, asking, seeking, and knocking. That we are not heard for the logic of our prayers or the links of our prayers or the language of our prayers, but because of the Lord of our prayers that when we ask and when we seek and when we knock in obedience to him.
And when we pray like that, count on it that God answers prayer. Whatever you need, listen to me, do you need guidance? Do you need a job? Do you need a helper?
A help meet in life? Do you need health? Do you need healing?
Do you need strength? Do you need grace? Whatever you need, child of God, you can bring it and ask and your Father will hear you. And most likely as you keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, you can know that the answer is already on the way. And when we pray in obedience to him, we will discover the awesome, amazing adventure of praying with power. Not praying for performance, but praying for Jesus. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, asking in Jesus name. The devil will stop at nothing to control your mind through lies, doubts and fears that enslave you to sin and rob you of life.
But you can experience freedom and victory when you let Jesus renew your thoughts with his truth. Dr. Jack Graham will teach you how in his message series invisible. This powerful resource is our thanks for your best gift today. And this month, we're asking for your help to meet an important goal of adding 100 new PowerPoint partners. If you become a PowerPoint partner with your first monthly gift today, we'll send you a special bonus gift of Dr. Graham's book Unseen. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit jackgramm.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.
Our website again is jackgramm.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? There is power and provision in prayer. There was a man by the name of Buckner. He was known as Daddy Buckner or Father Buckner to those who knew him because he founded the Buckner's Children Home right here in the city of Dallas. And Father Buckner was a very dedicated man committed to prayer. And early on in the ministry of this children's home, it was then known as an orphan's home, they were out of money. They couldn't pay the bills.
They were absolutely at wit's end and it looked as though this burgeoning new ministry was going to be shut down. So Father Buckner tells one day of getting down on his knees in the little dining room of that house where the children were staying and he began to pray. And he said, Oh God, you promised your provision. You promised that if we took these children that you would enable us, you would help us to take care of them. So Lord, I'm asking you, we've got bills to pay or else we're going to shut this place down. Oh God, please provide for us.
Please meet this need. And he prayed and he begged and he prayed again. He asked, he saw it, he knocked. And as he got up, he began thinking about his prayers. He looked down into the backyard of that orphan's home and he saw big pecan trees out of the backyard.
And right then God prompted him to do something. He got the children together and they went out and they shook those trees for all that they were worth. And pecans began falling off the limbs of those trees. And then they got big bushel baskets and began collecting the pecans. And then of course they took those baskets full of pecans down to the farmer's market and they sold those pecans.
And guess what they sold them for? It was exactly the price they needed to get out of debt. And later on when Father Buckner, Daddy Buckner would tell this story about God's provision, he would say, now when I think about it, even when I was down on my knees praying, God, we need your provision. God, are you ever going to come through? God, when are you going to answer my prayer?
God, please. Even as I was saying these words, I now remember the pecans were hitting on the roof as if God was saying, here I am, here I am, here I am. You see, God is at work when we pray and when we walk in obedience to Him, we discover the awesome, amazing adventure of praying with power and experiencing God's provision. Today, make prayer the vital part of your daily life.
Take time to pray with power and ask for God's provision and watch God do great and mighty things through your life. And that is today's Power Point. Remember, when you give a gift to Power Point, we'll send you Dr. Graham's powerful message series, Invisible, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627.
That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word Power Point to 3-1-3-1. Text Power Point to 3-1-3-1-3-1. On the next Power Point, Dr. Graham brings a message about how seeking God's glory is your greatest good. That's next time on Power Point with Jack Graham. Power Point with Jack Graham is sponsored by Power Point Ministries.
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