What is prayer | Austin K

This message was preached by Austin K at Word of Grace Church on June 2nd, 2019. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

What is prayer

Matt 6:5-15

We see 4 important things in this passage.

1. Authenticity
2. Pray
3. Ask
4. Forgive and seek forgiveness

1. Authentic

Being authentic is not to be like a hypocrite. What is the opposite of a hypocrite? It is to be genuine, honest and real. What do hypocrites do? They go in public and put on a show. Hypocrites get their reward from public adulation.

Matt 15:8 - “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

This verse says, "Honor me" 
God is looking for honest, sincere and authentic people.

2. Pray

Jesus says go to your room, shut the door and pray to your Father. 
This is totally opposite to what the hypocrites do. They go in public to show off. But we're asked to go into a room, shut the door so that nobody could see us except our heavenly Father. The hypocrites get rewarded by the public but we get rewarded by our heavenly Father.

Matt 6:6-8 - 6 But 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

What do we need to avoid while paying?
Do not use empty words, do not babble.
When we lose intimacy, we stop ministering from our encounter with God but we start ministering from our memory. 
We stop relying on the Word but start relying on our own experiences.

Matt 6:9 - 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,

He is our Father because He created all of us and called us His own. This happens when we put our faith in him.

Gal 3:26 – 26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

1 John 4:15 – 15  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and them in God.

This morning if you have put your faith in Jesus, He lives in you. 

Matt 6:10 - your kingdom come, will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Kingdom comes – His Kingdom is where healings, demons fleeing, miracles, wonders, signs take place. When we pray this, we're surrendering our lives to Him.

3. Ask

Matt 6:11 - Give us today our daily bread.

Is anyone's birthday coming up? Will you ask your dad for a cake, gifts etc? Sometimes we don’t. Our God knows what we need but that does not mean we don't have to ask.

Mark 10:46-52- Blind Bartimaeus

As soon as he heard that Jesus was going by that side, he started shouting and asking Jesus to show mercy. Even when many rebuked him, he didn’t give up asking Jesus to heal him. He asked and Jesus healed him.

James 5:13-15 - 13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

These verses clearly tell us that we need to ask. When we ask, God will heal the sick, raise the dead and forgive the ones who have sinned.

4. Forgive and seek forgiveness

Matt 6:12 – 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

When we sin, God expects us to take responsibility to accept it and ask for forgiveness 

1John 1:9 - 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It's true that our sins, past, present, and future are forgiven. But we need to take responsibility for our own sins committed, repent and seek forgiveness.
We not only seek forgiveness but we need to forgive others just the way God forgives us. 
Sometimes, we may forget to do it. So keep a short account to ensure to seek forgiveness and also release forgiveness.
We will be tempted in every way.  Jesus said, "Pray!"

Matt 6:14 – 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

If you have anything against anyone, today is the day to set yourself free. Confess to one another, apologize and ask for forgiveness.
Don't stop praying for yourself and others. Let all the unanswered prayers rise again. God is faithful in answering them. Make biggest prayers boldly. God alone is able to do it for you. Maybe you prayed for a very long time and gave up. Let it rise again now.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.