Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus showed us how to pray. Today, we continue our look at the depth and breadth of meaning latent in these sacred words, and on the way we should each approach God with our petitions.
From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, many are fearful about the bread they'll need next month, but Jesus is telling us to ask for the bread we need today. Yes, you know, Dave, this is very difficult for us because faith does not come easily. We always want to know ahead of time how God is going to supply, and there's nothing wrong with the fact that many of us know how he is going to supply that, or at least we think we know. But I want to also minister to the person who doesn't know where they are going to get their bread tomorrow. Let them come to God and let them depend and let God reveal to them the next step. You know, you're living at a time when many people are looking for truth and purpose, and it seems like oftentimes the smallest point of challenge can knock them out of the race of life, the Christian race of life. I have an amazing resource, 365 devotionals that focus on evidence for a creator and the reliability of the Bible.
It's entitled A Closer Look at the Evidence, written by two scientists. You'll have a devotional for every day of the year. Now for a gift of any amount, this resource can be yours.
Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let's open our Bibles and again speak about those secrets that we have with God. What he's saying is give us today our daily bread. Satisfy us today, and then you know what you're going to have to do tomorrow? You're going to have to do it all over again because today's bread does not last until tomorrow. It's like the Israelites going out to gather manna. And if they were out there and they gathered it for the day, if they left it for an extra day, it bread worms because God says, I don't want you to be able to live a single day without seeing my miracles and without dependence upon me. You say, well, those of us who have full refrigerators, how do we pray this prayer? Well, of course, we have the same kind of dependence on God. It may not be for daily bread, though God knows he could take that daily bread from us just like that.
Just like that, it could all be gone. So we certainly thank him for the daily bread and we pray that indeed we might have daily bread tomorrow. But in addition to that, we have other requests that we begin to bring into the throne room of God. We begin to pray that we will have strength for today, that we will have forgiveness for the day, that we will be able to have all of the needs that we have within our souls met for the day because we know that God is a God of detail and knows the depths of our hearts. And so we come in faith and we come to pray. And you know what we discovered during this phase of prayer? Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Remember the story there of Genesis where Abraham is willing to sacrifice Isaac and then he sees a ram caught in the thicket and the ram dies in the place of Isaac and he says Jehovah Jireh, that's what he named it, the Lord will provide. And the Hebrew means the Lord will see to it, the Lord will see to it. You have a need that is pressing upon you that you see no way out of, the Lord will see to it. You're going through a time of financial need which may in some instances be of your own making, in which case you need some counsel and some help most assuredly, but you commit this to him and you commit your circumstances to God and you begin to be obedient to God even in the midst of failure and you begin to say God will see to it, he'll see to it. So what do we have? We have adoration, we have supplication, we have confession.
Now notice what it says. I think it is about beginning in verse 12. Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. You'll notice that the Luke version of the Lord's prayer says forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And some people have said, well, you know, this is the word for debts.
I mean, if you owed a person money, this is the Greek word that would be used. What Jesus is reminding us of is the fact that when we sin, we owe God. We owe God.
He's using the word for money, but he doesn't mean money. He means that when we rebel, we owe God. And we can't pay our debts, so the news of the gospel is that God comes along and pays our debt for us. That's what the cross of Christ is all about. And then notice it says even as we also forgive our debtors. You know, Jesus has some very hard words about this business of anger and hostility towards one another.
It says in verse 14, he expands on it. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Boy, we struggle over that. Because we're saying, well, does that mean that God's forgiveness is conditional?
In other words, it's dependent. Well, we know that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable, that once God grants forgiveness, certainly the forgiveness is granted, and he does so freely. But Jesus is saying in the strongest possible terms that if you are a person who has been forgiven by God, you will be someone who can forgive. And if you are today harboring in your heart bitterness, if when God opens your heart when you're there in the closet, and he begins to go into the individual closets of your heart, and he sees there a grudge that is nursed, that is taken care of, that is carefully guarded, that is calculated, and it is there, Jesus would say, you had better make sure that you have been forgiven by God, because if you do not forgive others, you will never sense God's full forgiveness, you will never sense his freedom, because people who are forgiven, they are people who forgive.
Now, I know that some of you struggle with that, and that's understandable. I don't want you to begin to think that God hasn't forgiven you. Some of you have experienced deep, horrendous injustices.
Some of you have experienced abuse. And forgiveness is not just an act, it is also a process. But to simply hold what is in our hearts without the process and without the good faith of choosing to forgive, Jesus would say, look deeply into your heart and see whether or not you've been forgiven. This is the time now in that one hour when you begin to confess. And if you're going to confess your faults individually, which should be done, you know, that hour is going to go by pretty quick, isn't it? It's not going to be nearly as long as some of you thought it was going to be. In fact, you're going to look at your watch and see that it's two hours.
It's two hours. And do you know why some of you really don't feel God that close is because you've never taken the time to dig that deep. You've never taken the time to dig that deep and to simply say, Father, what is there within me that causes this alienation from others and from you? That's the time that God does his work.
So how far have we come? You begin with adoration. You go to supplication. You go to confession. And then you have confrontation.
Confrontation. Because there's an enemy out there that does not like us at all. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And that's a good translation, by the way, the evil one. That's what the other aspect of the Lord's prayer says.
And that's the intention there. Lead us not into temptation. In James it says God doesn't lead anybody into temptation.
But the word that is used here is much broader than temptation. I think that Jesus is saying don't lead us into those kinds of situations where we are going to fall. God does not lead us into temptation in the sense that he causes us to be in a position where he tries to lead us astray. But he does lead us in situations where we are invited to declare our loyalties and where trials come where we can choose in God's favor. Obviously what the impression that is being given here is don't lead us into those kinds of situations in which we will be led to failure. Lead us not into that kind of trial. Not that kind.
Trials are okay, but not that kind of trials. And then he says deliver us from the evil one. And that's where you begin to pray warfare prayers for yourself, for your family, for others where you begin to recognize now that you are up against a terribly evil being who is going to want to do everything you possibly can do to make sure that you don't spend that hour a week or an hour whenever that hour might be really earnestly seeking the face of God. And then after you've done that, of course there are all kinds of things that you can pray for. You know the pictorial directory that we've been hearing about during these weeks. And some of you say that you don't want to be in it.
That's perfectly fine because you have that choice, but you know if you were in it. Many of us use that pictorial directory as a means of prayer. You go through, you look at the names, you try to associate the name with a picture, and you commit all of these people to God and your family members to God. And then of course as I mentioned earlier during this period of time with a hymnal you begin to sing to God and all the members of your family hope and pray that the closet that you have gone into has a very good solid oak door so that you don't un-bless other people through your singing.
But folks, that's the nature of the game here. It's you and God. You are praising him through adoration, through supplication, through confession, through confrontation with the enemy. You are praising him and you're developing a whole network of memories and relationships with the living and the true God. And as a result of that you begin to understand what it means to go and to pray in private where just you and God develop that memory bank of secrets.
Let me give you some pointers as we conclude. Number one, remember that time spent in the closet is time taken away from other important things. It's time taken away from other important things. You know there are some people who say, well you know, you know I'll pray if I feel like it. In which case, of course, they very, very seldom pray or else God takes them through a keyhole to help them make them feel like it. That's possible. And then there are others who say, well you know I'm too busy.
That really has to be a very, very humorous thing when you stop to think of it. Too busy for God. Too busy for God. I want you to know that the time that we take to pray is most precious to God when it is time taken from other important things where we're saying, God, I have something important to do but what I am going to do now is even more important. I will pray.
I will pray. I mean that puts God first, does it not? You say, well my mind wanders. Of course your mind wanders.
So you do two things. First, in the closet you take a notepad along with it because the devil will remind you of everything that you have to do that week and then so take advantage of it. As they come to mind, you write them down in the notepad. That's a good time to be caught up on all the things that you have to do because your mind will be flooded with all of them at that moment. So you write them down. The second thing that you do is your mind is wandering in prayer and it's not necessarily something that needs to go into the notebook. What do you do with a wandering mind? You give the thing to which your mind has wandered to God and you commit it to him and you take advantage of the wandering mind until everything that your mind has wandered about is now safely committed into the hands of your Heavenly Father. That's the way you do it.
You know, it's amazing. People think, well, you know, you're either a Christian who prays or you're not. You know, you're either the godly type or the other type.
My dear friend, we all have to learn how to do this. This does not come naturally. This fights against our schedules. It fights against our nature. It fights against all kinds of opposition. It fights against the devil and so if you think this is going to be easy, it's not easy.
It's not easy. But is it beneficial? Does it honor God? Does it change you? It sure does.
It sure does. And so what we need to do is to know that time spent in the closet is time taken away from something else and it is there that we begin 20 minutes. I know that somebody said, you know, don't lay so much guilt on people telling them that they should pray before 9 o'clock in the morning. So I won't lay guilt on you except to say that you'd better do it. No guilt, no pressure. But you see, if you don't do it in the morning, usually you don't do it throughout the day. Now if you've talked to your Heavenly Father and your Heavenly Father says, hey, you don't have to do it before 9 o'clock in the morning, then don't. But it is a suggestion. It is a suggestion.
Why? Because the press of duties for the day. And what do you do during that 20 minutes? You give God your day, you give him your schedule, you recite his promises, you choose to walk in obedience, you say to yourself, I receive in simple faith the fullness of the Spirit for today and you begin the day with God. You begin the day with God. And then there are these other times that we're talking about. That special hour that's just between you and God, that's something else.
That's set aside. That's a special time and that can be any time. And you can talk to Pastor Michael Allen here who is in charge of our prayer wall so that you can choose a time that is best for you. It can be late at night, it can be early in the morning, it can be at midday, it can be at any time that is most convenient for you to say, this hour is for God. This hour is for God.
Is that too much to ask? One out of 168 hours just for God? Of course the others are for him too, I know that. But this is a special time. When you're getting to know the Almighty, whom you say that you're going to spend eternity with, you're going to spend eternity with him and you're struggling with an hour. Secondly, we will be rewarded by the person whose praise we seek. We're rewarded by the person whose praise we seek.
Let's look at the text again. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and the street corners to be seen by men.
They have their reward in full. In recent weeks, as you know, most of the time I kneel during the pastoral prayer and I've struggled a lot with whether or not I should do that because the worst thing that could happen is that I have the motive of making people think that I'm spiritual because I do that. That's not why I do it. But you see, it's such a sensitive area because Jesus is warning here about the hypocrisy of trying to impress people. When really what you want to do is you want to impress God. You want to say, God, this is where we belong on our knees because you are so holy and you are so mighty that there are times when being on your knees is exactly the right thing to do.
But the motives of the heart are so subtle and all of the mixed motives that we as humans fight with. So Jesus said, but if you're doing it for others and they think you're spiritual and you've received your strokes, fine. The reward is in full. But when you pray, go into your room and now notice what he says. Your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. He'll reward you. You seek the praise of men. You've got it. You seek the praise of God alone. You've got that too. You've got that too. And one of the wonderful things is for us to know that we've been in the closet and we've prayed for situations and we see God working in those situations and nobody knows but that we and God, we and God know because we've been in his presence and we know right well what God is doing and it's a secret between us.
It's a secret between us. And we begin to develop a life in which we really genuinely enjoy God. We just enjoy him. David Brainerd was surely one of the greatest prayer warriors. I didn't realize that David Brainerd, you know, died at the age before the age of 30. There are some people who do more in their youth than some of us do who've lived longer than that.
It's amazing. He used to pray for the Indians. It is said that he would go into the forest there in Massachusetts and he would kneel in prayer until the snow melted beneath him. That's how much time he spent in prayer and thousands of Indians, thousands of American Indians were led to faith in Christ because Brainerd just prayed and prayed and prayed and ministered to the Indians and then prayed some more. He died, by the way, in the home of Jonathan Edwards and Jonathan Edwards wrote a biography about David Brainerd and because of that biography, you know, here's William Carey, for example. Why did he go to the mission field? It's because he read that biography.
And you have a lot of other people inspired and changed. Now, of course, Brainerd, being there in the forest in secret, praying, he didn't know that someday his life would have so many effects and that Murray M'Cheyne and others would all trace the conversion of their heart attitude and their learning prayer to him. He didn't know all that. All that he was doing was seeking God. And I want you to hear the words of what Jonathan Edwards says about him in his biography.
He says, I praise God that it was in his providence that he should die in my house, that I might hear his prayer, that I might witness his consecration and that I might be inspired by his example. The great danger in preaching a message like this is that some people will think it's for super saints. You know, it's for the people, it's for the pastoral staff, it's for the elders, it's for the leaders. Because, you know, you always have those real spiritual types. You always find those who are so inclined.
No, no, no, no, no. We're talking about something that is for everybody, for everybody. And what the bottom line of all of this is, is that private prayer, private prayer results in public blessing, public blessing. The father who sees in secret rewards you. And he does so in this life and he rewards you in the life to come because you have finally learned, you and I have finally learned the value of having these precious, precious intimate secrets with Almighty God. Some of you are a little further back in your spiritual quest. What you need to do is to first of all receive God's forgiveness and be reconciled to God. The worst thing you could do is to get into a closet and begin to read some prescribed prayers or begin to go through some kind of a route thing where you have this all memorized and you say, well, I'm going to spend this hour.
That's not it. Jesus is saying that this is the whole point. This is an individual in fellowship, in loving fellowship with Almighty God.
That's what it's about. And if you've never believed in Christ and been reconciled to God personally, then that's the starting point to receive his forgiveness and his reconciliation. And then your private prayer life results in public blessing. And then you know what you'll be able to do if you sign up to that prayer wall? Finally, you're going to be able to sing sweet hour of prayer with integrity.
Won't that be great? You'll be able to sing it without lying. Let us pray. Father, forgive us, forgive us, forgive us.
You have given us an invitation that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because you are always available. You are always present in you. We live and move and have our being. And Father, in the rush of business, in the topsy-turvy experiences of life, we rationalize and we brush you off. Forgive us, Father. We ask that the congregation of Moody Church shall be mightily moved to spend time in prayer, that you might help us to help us to learn how to do it and lead us, Lord, to you. Give us such a hunger and thirst that we will not be able to stay away from you. In Jesus' name we ask.
Amen. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. And I certainly don't want to give the impression that unless you spend an hour in prayer, you haven't prayed. Simple fact is sometimes we can't spend that amount of time in prayer. But my point is this. We need to be challenged to spend more time in prayer so that we spend more time in direct fellowship with God.
And that's the point that I've been trying to emphasize in this message. You know, I believe that these messages will be a tremendous blessing to you if you can listen to them again and again and share them with your friends. For a gift of any amount, the entire series can be yours. It's titled Sharing Secrets with God.
The older I get, the more secrets I want to share with God. Thanks in advance for helping us. And if you're interested in getting this series of messages, here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com.
That's RTWOffer.com. Or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Most of us really like to eat, but there are times in a Christian's life when eating should be the last thing on the agenda. Next time on Running to Win, we'll set aside that big lunch we planned on and remind ourselves about Christ's teaching on the benefits of fasting as found in the book of Matthew. Thanks for listening today. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-19 10:22:25 / 2024-01-19 10:31:50 / 9