How To Pray With Power

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Matthew 6:1-15

Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background. One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.

By this time the phone man couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever prayed was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground." [i]

Sometimes its circumstances and the attitude of our heart that make for powerful prayers. I believe people of our nation have been praying some of the most powerful prayers they have prayed in a long time. Why? The circumstances and the new attitude of our hearts. Our nation right now is more open to prayer than it has been in as long as I can remember. Some of the prayers offered up recently have been very powerful.

At the September 15, 2001, satellite broadcast of "America Prays," author Max Lucado read the following prayer that he wrote in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on America.

Dear Lord, we're still hoping we'll wake up. We're still hoping we'll open a sleepy eye and think, What a horrible dream.

But we won't, will we, Father? What we saw was not a dream. Planes did gouge towers. Flames did consume our fortress. People did perish. It was no dream and, dear Father, we are sad. There is a ballet dancer who will no longer dance and a doctor who will no longer heal. A church has lost her priest, a classroom is minus a teacher. Cora ran a food pantry. Paige was a counselor, and Dana, dearest Father, Dana was only three years old. (Who held her in those final moments?)

We are sad, Father. For as the innocent are buried, our innocence is buried as well. We thought we were safe. Perhaps we should have known better. But we didn't.

And so we come to you. We don't ask you for help; we beg you for it. We don't request it; we implore it. We know what you can do. We've read the accounts. We've pondered the stories and now we plead, "Do it again, Lord. Do it again."

Remember Joseph? You rescued him from the pit. You can do the same for us. Do it again, Lord. Remember the Hebrews in Egypt? You protected their children from the angel of death. We have children, too, Lord. Do it again. And Sarah? Remember her prayers? You heard them. Joshua? Remember his fears? You inspired him. The women at the tomb? You resurrected their hope. The doubts of Thomas? You took them away. Do it again, Lord. Do it again.

You changed Daniel from a captive into a king's counselor. You took Peter the fisherman and made him Peter an apostle. Because of you, David went from leading sheep to leading armies. Do it again, Lord, for we need counselors today, Lord. We need apostles. We need leaders. Do it again, dear Lord.

Most of all, do again what you did at Calvary. What we saw here last Tuesday, you saw there that Friday. Innocence slaughtered. Goodness murdered. Mothers weeping. Evil dancing. Just as the smoke eclipsed our morning, so the darkness fell on your Son. Just as our towers were shattered, the very Tower of Eternity was pierced. And by dusk, heaven's sweetest song was silent, buried behind a rock.

But you did not waver, O Lord. You did not waver. After three days in a dark hole, you rolled the rock and rumbled the earth and turned the darkest Friday into the brightest Sunday. Do it again, Lord. Grant us a September Easter.

We thank you, dear Father, for these hours of unity. Christians are praying with Jews. Republicans are standing with Democrats. Skin colors have been covered by the ash of burning buildings. We thank you for these hours of unity.

And we thank you for these hours of prayer. The Enemy sought to bring us to our knees and succeeded. He had no idea, however, that we would kneel before you. And he has no idea what you can do.

Let your mercy be upon our President, Vice President, and their families. Grant to those who lead us wisdom beyond their years and experience. Have mercy upon the souls who have departed and the wounded who remain. Give us grace that we might forgive and faith that we might believe. And look kindly upon your church. For two thousand years you've used her to heal a hurting world. Do it again, Lord. Do it again. Through Christ, Amen.[ii]

Let me ask you a true or false question about prayer. God listens to everyone’s prayers; is this True or False?

Focus: The condition of your heart when you pray predisposes God to either ignore or ignite your prayers. Jesus gave us the model for praying with power.

Matthew 6:1-5 (NIV) ¹“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
²“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
⁵“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

I. God Ignores my prayer when I

A. pray “before men” for my glory (v. 1-5)

Turn from People Pleasing to God Pleasing Strategies (v. 1-6)

¹“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Powerful living taps into God. Who is your audience for what you do? It is your choice. Try doing some secret acts of righteousness, to be seen only by God. There is great reward there. It isn’t easy to do either. We find ourselves so conditioned to the immediate payoff of praise, and good will from people.

The Praise of People is small potatoes

²“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

The Pharisees were notorious for their pompous displays. It is a choice which reward you work for.

³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Work at private acts of devotion. Let even your public actions be done in hidden, private ways.

⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.⁵“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

B. Am Not “Honest To God”

Harry Hypocrite

Harry Hypocrite was a modern day Pharisee. (Harry pronounces his name Hipocritee, short vowel on the “o”, long vowel sound on the end rather than a silent “e”) You thought you knew him till the day you were allowed to follow him around invisibly. You were shocked at the contradictions you saw in his life. Harry turned out to be a different person than you thought.

Harry woke up with the alarm at 5 AM and began his day with Bible reading. This seemed to fit what you knew about Harry, a deacon and Sunday School teacher at church. Harry always came across as if he considered himself to be pious. After Harry read from his Bible, he said his prayers. When his family got up, he prayed with his family at the breakfast table. His wife Margie looked haggard, like she was under appreciated and living under heavy expectations. So far this was the only thing that seemed different from the picture perfect family you thought you knew from Sunday.

It was when you saw Harry in the work force that you began to be confused by Harry’s character. The conversations Harry had with the other men at work were definitely less honorable than what you heard from his lips at church. You felt shame for the things he laughed about with the men. The humor was off color, and well, frankly, out of place. They shouldn’t have been talking about the women at work the way they did.

Later, when one of Harry’s workers messed something up on the job, you heard a vocabulary and volume that surprised you. Then, you were shocked as you watched Harry take advantage of one of his very well to do business clients who Harry believed to be a little naive. You couldn’t help but think that Harry's conscience was made of some very elastic material. It stretched to meet different circumstances. It was one way at home, a different way at church, yet a different way at work. Then, worst of all, you watched as Harry was on a business trip where he thought he was out of sight from everyone and alone in his hotel room.

You saw a Hypocrite as God sees him. Just when you were thinking this was more than you wished to see, God decided to give you even a closer look. He allowed you to hear his thoughts not just his words.

The alarm went off and he began his day again. You listened as Harry’s thoughts forcefully come to your opened ears. Harry sounded placating with his mental verbalization, saying how much better he was than Bob because Bob didn’t have a quiet time like he did. Throughout the day, you realize Harry’s self talk is continually self praising and self affirming and at the same time judging others. Harry gloated at church, telling himself how people thought well of him. There seemed constantly to be comparison going on in Harry’s head. He told himself he was a good person because he prayed, because he was active in church, and read the Bible. You listened as Harry judged others, you listened again as Harry justified himself over the same things he judged others. Harry judged others by their actions but he justified the same actions he did by his intentions.

As Harry listened to the preacher speak about sin, Harry immediately thought about the other guy’s sin rather than his own. Harry didn’t apply the message to himself at all. When the preacher read about the fool in Proverbs, Harry thought about George, a man Harry considered a fool. When the text spoke about the wise man, Harry imagined himself living out the principals of the wise man, with a smile he nodded his head, and said out loud, “Amen”. The text didn’t seem to bring any conviction. Harry actually felt better about himself when he should have felt a great deal of guilt given what you had been witnessing in his life.

Just when you thought there was no hope for Harry, you were allowed to watch and listen in on a nightmare Harry began to have as he tossed and turned in his bed. In his dream Harry faced a huge desk in a white room. It was not an ordinary room. Everything was white and bright and ethereal. A businessman came in the door behind the white desk, pulled up his chair, lifted his brief case, set it on the desk top, opened it and pulled out a book.

"Are you Mr. Harry Hypocrite"? He asked.

Harry answered, “I pronounce it Hipocritee, not Hypocrite”

"Hipocritee, Hypocrite, I don't care which syllable you emphasize. The truth remains however you pronounce your name that you are the son of hypocrisy.”

Harry winced. You noticed that this interview is making him squirm. You realized you haven’t ever seen him squirm before.

“Harry, you've been called here for an audit. Is everything in order?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, sir. What is being audited?”

"The assets and liabilities of your life, Harry. This is called the reckoning. We will first look at your assets.” The businessman turned a few pages as he looked at his book. “Yes, here they are. Your hypocrisy seems to have paid you some dividends. Lets see here, Number one, you were well thought of by those in your church.”

Harry sits up feeling a little encouraged.

“Number two, You were always among the first to volunteer for many church jobs.”

Harry’s sad face brightened.

The businessman continues without noticing Harry, “I see you especially like the jobs that came with a title.”

Harry’s smile faded a little.

“Number three, People thought you were friendly. Number four, People thought you were a model citizen. Number five, They saw you with your Bible and your family at church, and hoped their son would be like you."

“You keep using the past tense,” Harry interrupted. "Do people not think well of me anymore?”

“Well, yes, Harry, I have been using the past tense. . .”

Harry interrupted, “Is that because I’m dead?”

“Well, that’s part of it Harry. But that doesn’t explain it really, everything is in the present tense for the chosen who face me. The past tense reflects what the people NOW think back where you came from. With many people who have passed on, good thoughts about that person continue to live on for years. But with you Harry, I’m afraid the thoughts about you are past tense already because they have already stopped thinking about you.” You saw that this was a blow that knocked the wind out of Harry. He was so sure they thought so well of him.

The businessman cleared his throat and continued. “Now where were we?” He mumbled to himself, “Number four, People thought you were a model citizen. Number five, They saw you with your Bible and your family at church, and hoped their son would be like you.” Then he spoke again loudly, “Oh, here we are. Number six, You were satisfied with yourself. You thought that since everybody thinks so well of you, you surely must be someone special. I see here You derived a great deal of satisfaction from being well spoken of.” The businessman closed the book and put it back into the brief case. “So much for your assets, Harry. I'm afraid all your rewards have already been paid in full. Now, lets take a look at your Debits.” The man pulled out another book from the briefcase. It looked much older than the first book, as if it had been much used. It was also thicker.

“I see that you had a very difficult time sweeping clean your conscience, though you worked hard at telling yourself all those good things you were doing. I'm sorry, Harry, but you were wrong. You were telling yourself you were doing good things for God, but, Harry, it shows here you were doing all those good things just for you.”

It was sad as you listened to the man explain to Harry the reality of his motives, and the selfishness of his deeds relating occasion after occasion. This took some time. Harry at first tried to stick up for himself, but soon he gave up. There was nothing to say.

The businessman began to sum things up. “Harry, I'm afraid all this shows up as debits.”

Harry looked despondent.

“Harry, are you still with me?”

Harry nodded slightly.

“These deficits are severe. Any deficit I suppose is severe when you're broke,” the man chuckled, but Harry saw nothing funny in the comment.

“Though you derived satisfaction while thinking people thought well of you for helping them, the simple truth, Harry, is this. People could tell you didn't care about them. Harry, people didn’t think you were as great as you thought you were. You were not as well thought of as you imagined. You tried to be very careful around people, but it was hard for you to keep from showing the people the real you. Take Margie your wife for example. You always blamed her for the way she wasn’t coping well. You blamed her for the fact she had to take pills for her depression. Harry, Margie wasn’t the problem. You were. You gave her nothing but a bundle of expectations she could never live up to. She tried. But she gave up long ago.”

“The real you slipped out during crisis, or the times you were sidetracked in the heat of competition. There was that embarrassing verbalization when you hit your thumb with the hammer at the church workday. Then there were those little lies you told, forgot, then tripped over that gave you away to more than just a few. You tried to broadcast your Sunday deeds while you hushed your Monday through Friday deeds, it worked for only those who were but acquaintances. You worked so hard not to be discovered for who you really were, but most people already suspected, and kept a safe distance from you. False piety is lousy on friendships.

You thought you did well with most audiences and you might have fooled some. But the most important audience was never fooled even once. Which leads me to go ahead and skip to the last thing on the loss column of this ledger. Harry, the last and most condemning thing on this list is the fact that God saw it all and he abhorred your pretending. I'm afraid the Almighty Absolute Truth cannot stand pretending. Harry, I regret to inform you, we have a problem here. No amount of personal assets ever offset debits. Your time is up, Harry, since none of your debts were forgiven and covered. It is now time for all your secret thoughts and secret deeds to be made known. It is time that all your deeds of darkness that were never brought out to light, must now be exposed for all to see. I'm afraid Harry you have to turn in your mask.

“My mask?”

“It is something you never noticed grew on you. I'm sorry to say You believed your own deception Harry. I'm afraid the fact that you believed your own lies led to many of your other debits. I've seen this so many times. You preferred wearing your mask for other people to see. You preferred wearing it as a blinder even for yourself. You liked the mask because it disguised the real you. It's such a shame that those who are deceived don't know they are deceived. Then of course if the deceived knew they were deceived they wouldn't be deceived, now would they?” The man chuckled again, and would have laughed harder but sighed when he looked at Harry.

“It is so difficult to convince the self deceived they are wearing blindfolds and walking in danger. Now is the time for the mask to be removed.”

While holding one hand on Harry's head, the man waved his hand from left to right over Harry’s face while he said, "May the Truth be Revealed"

Harry screamed with horror. “Aaaaah.” And held his face. “Why does it hurt?”

"Unforgiven truth always hurts.”

Harry moved his hands from his face to his ears and shook his head. “What’s that hissing noise? I think my ears are burning off.”

"What?”

“That hissing noise.”

“Oh. That hissing noise is not your ears burning, that's the host of heaven hissing at what they see. They can't stand the sight of sin. Even they couldn't see it clearly until the mask was removed. Harry, I know this sounds like a surprise going from your position as Church Leader and Sunday School teacher but you will now follow the escorts to take your position among the members of hell?"

“Hell. That’s impossible. I’m a deacon. I’ve been serving Jesus.”

"Yes. I've heard that excuse before.”

“I taught all about Jesus. I read the Bible all the time.”

“Yes, I know you taught while using his Name. Yes, I know you used his Name when you prayed. Yes, I know you read all about him, knew all about Him, taught all about him. Harry, it was all ABOUT him. You never knew Him, not really, not as the God who is really there, really watching. The one who is really true, the way, and the life. You lived your way, your life, and by your definition of truth. Harry, He never knew you, and you never knew Him, only ABOUT Him."[iii]

Just then Harry woke up struggling tangled in his sweaty sheets, and suddenly you remembered, this was just a nightmare. You begin to pray for Harry. You pray that he will recognize the lie of his life and really wake up, now that he is awake.

Here’s how to Aim for the Greater Reward

II. God Ignites my prayer when I

A. Pray “in Secret” for His Glory (v. 6)

⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Your Father sees what is done in secret! This by itself can be comforting or chilling!

What about Harry? Didn’t he get up in the morning to pray privately? He prayed privately, but it wasn’t for God’s glory. His prayers were all directed at self. It was a lot like the Pharisee’s prayer Jesus tells us about in Luke.

Luke 18:11-14 (NIV) ¹¹The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself [some translations, translate this “to himself”]: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
¹⁴“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Secret prayer for God’s Glory trains your own heart to do things for the right reasons. It trains your own heart to do things out of your love for your Father.

Jesus statement here is not a condemnation of public prayer. Jesus prayed publicly. The Lord’s Prayer was a public prayer.

It does mean that we must always remember who we are addressing. Prayer time is not a time to try to impress people, but to communicate with God.

If we talk to be heard by men, they will hear, but God will not.

B. Measure My Heart More than My Words (vv. 7, 8).

⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Mindless repetition is a pagan way to pray. Pagans practice the repetition of words. Jesus told us not to do this. Many Roman Catholics still have not learned to avoid this practice of repeating phrases over and over in prayer.

Jesus condemns mindless repetition, he does not condemn persistent prayer. He talks about this later. He condemn the pagan practice of repetition, like mantras. We are not to use incantations to get God’s attention. God always sees and hears the sincere prayer of the one crying out for help.

More Biblical Examples of Prayers God Ignores

There is another reason you need to measure your heart more than your words. Because if your heart is hard toward God, the Bible says he refuses to listen to your prayers. Here is a sampling of Bible references to the effect that God refused to listen to the prayers of Israel while they had gone too far in their rebellious disobedience.

(Isaiah 1:15 NIV) "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;"

(Jeremiah 7:16 NIV) ""So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you."

(Jeremiah 11:11 NIV) "Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them."

(Jeremiah 11:14 NIV) ""Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress."

(Jeremiah 14:12 NIV) "Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.""

(Jeremiah 22:21 NIV) "I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, 'I will not listen!' This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me."

(Ezekiel 8:18 NIV) "Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.""

NOWS THE TIME TO HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD AS WE PRAY

Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, was being interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "how could God let something like this happen?" and Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives, and being the gentleman that he is, I believe that he has calmly backed out.” [iv]

How can we expect God to give us his blessing and his protection if we demand he leave us alone? Ann Graham Lotz continued to say, “We need to turn to God first of all and say, God, we're sorry we have treated you this way and we invite you now to come into our national life. We put our trust in you. We have our trust in God on our coins, we need to practice it.” [v]

The Prayers God Never Ignores

God always sees and hears the prayers of his Children crying out to him on the basis of their relationship to His Son, Jesus. This is an understood relationship based on Grace. From the standpoint of that relationship, Jesus gives us a model prayer.

C. Use Jesus’ Model as an Outline (vv. 9-13).

Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)
⁹“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

If you are not sure how to use this prayer as an outline, come to CLASS 201 after you attend CLASS 101. In 201 you will learn among other things, how to pray with this prayer as an outline.

D. Let Prayer adjust my behavior, not just my mood (v. 14).

Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV) ¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Closing Prayer

Would you bow your heads and pray the Lord’s Model prayer as an outline this morning. I will guide you in this.

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,

If you are not sure you have been adopted into God’s family through Jesus Christ, then like the sinner crying out for mercy, ask the Father to forgive you on the basis of the forgiveness offered to you from the cross. It is because of Christ’s shed blood that you can receive forgiveness. He paid the price of your adoption. Ask to receive God’s offer to become his Child. If you have already done this, express your gratitude to your father.

¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Here I recommend starting with your own heart and moving out from there. Ask God to show you what he is doing in, around, and through you. Ask that his reign, and rule, his kingdom might be operative in your own life, through your own family, in your relationships, with friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Move outward from there. You can move to pray for God’s Kingdom purposes in your workplace, our church, our city, our state, our nation, our world. Pray for the president and our government officials. Pray for God’s will.

¹¹Give us today our daily bread.

Here ask God for your specific needs. What do you need today.

¹²Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Here, begin to pray for others. Start with those who are hardest for you to pray for, the ones you hold a grudge against.

¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

Ask God for his protection.

[i] Mike Jeffress, Jesus, A Man of Prayer, http://www.sermoncentral.com

[ii] http://www.preachingtoday.com

[iii] cf. Matthew 7:21-23

[iv] http://www.cbsnews.com/earlyshow/healthwatch/healthnews/20010913terror_spiritual.shtml

[v] http://www.cbsnews.com/earlyshow/healthwatch/healthnews/20010913terror_spiritual.shtml