James Meehan - Transform Your Prayer Life With This as a Guide
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Question for you. If you are trying to get to know somebody better, like, you wanna strengthen your relationship with them, what do you do? I would suggest that it boils down to like two main things. You spend time with them, and you talk to them. Like, no matter who it is. It could be a friend. Could be a family member. It could be that person that you are interested in romantically. Like, if you want to strengthen your relationship with them, you gotta do two things. You gotta spend time with them, and you've got to talk to them. So when my wife and I, before we got married, before we were dating, when we were first interested in one another, and by interested in one another, I mean I was really interested in her, and I was very interested in getting her to be interested in me.
So I did what I could to spend time with her, and talk to her, so that we could get to know each other, and the more that we spent time with each other, and the more that we talked with each other, the more our relationship grew. Until eventually, we went from acquaintances to friends, to boyfriend and girlfriend, and then I got on a knee and I popped the question, asked her to be my wife. She didn't say anything for about 30 seconds because she just was so shocked by the moment. I kid you not, she like fell down, and then like made this weird noise that was not a word, and so I'm sitting there, waiting for her to respond, like just tell me yes or no. If it is no, say the words, because I cannot handle the suspense.
Thankfully, she said yes, and now about 8 1/2 years later, we are married with two amazing kids. But I tell you all of that because it illustrates that if you want to grow in a relationship, if you wanna get to know somebody better, you gotta spend time with them and talk to them, and that is very, very true in our friendships, with our family, in romance, and also in our faith. And that's why we're talking about how to pray. Because prayer at its most basic level is simply talking with God. Prayer is talking with God. It is a spiritual practice where we spend time with God, and we talk to Him, so that we can get to know Him better, so that we can share with Him what's going on in our lives, so that we can become more like Him, and we can ask Him to change the things that we are experiencing in the world.
Now, the thing about prayer is it is a really, really big topic, and prayer is slightly more challenging than getting to know another person. Because unlike with my wife, who I could sit down with, and I could talk to, and look at, and touch, God is invisible. God is beyond space and time. And so to talk to and spend time with God can be a little bit trickier, because when you're talking to God, you might be wondering, is He actually listening? And when God wants to speak to you, you might be wondering, what is He saying? Or maybe you might even be wondering, is He saying anything at all?
And so because prayer is such a big topic, what we did, in addition to this message that you're about to hear, is we actually did like a deep dive on our podcast, the Switch Youth podcast, where we answered 10 of the most commonly asked questions from students just like you about prayer. So on the screen, you're gonna see a QR code that you can scan, and that's gonna take you to that podcast. If you haven't listened to it before, it is a resource we created for you, so that you could dive deeper into the truth that we're sharing week in and week out through these messages. And this one, in particular, I think is gonna be helpful for you because in the course of this message, I'm gonna give you a very, very high level overview of what it looks like to pray in a way that is faithful to God, and will actually help you grow closer to God.
But at some point in this message, you might be wondering, but what about this, this, or that, and I don't have time to cover all that in this message, but I bet if you listen to that podcast, you will find your question answered. So with all that being said, what we're gonna do today is we're going to look at the passage of scripture right at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the greatest sermon ever preached. It is three chapters from Jesus about what life in the kingdom of God is supposed to look like, and throughout these three chapters, Jesus is continually raising the bar of what it looks like for us to be God's people, and He's getting to the heart of who we are meant to be, of what it is that God wants to do within us, so that we can become the kind of people who love God fully and love others deeply. And right at the heart of this sermon, Jesus teaches us how to pray.
So we're gonna look at Matthew 6:9-13, where Jesus says this. He says "This is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one". So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take that prayer from Jesus, and we're gonna pull it apart one piece at a time to make sure we understand what it is that Jesus is teaching us.
And then at the end of the message, we're gonna put it all back together, so that when we walk out of our time today, you will be able to be confident in your conversations with God, that you will know how to pray not just from like some random person on the street, not just some random influencer on social media, but from Jesus Himself, the smartest person who ever lived, God in human form, the son of God who came down to the earth to show us what God is really like. So when it comes to praying like Jesus, it begins with honoring the one you are praying to. He teaches us to honor the one you are praying to. He began that prayer with "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name".
Think of it like when you go to your mom or your dad, and you're like asking them for something. If all you ever do is ask them to give you what you want, then you're treating them less like a human being and more like a vending machine. Like, if you just say the right words, or you ask nicely, if you input the code, then what you want will come out of it. But that is not what it looks like to live rightly in relationship with your parents here on earth, let alone your Father in heaven. The thing that we have to understand is that the God that we are praying to is so much more than some impersonal force, like the universe or karma. God is so much more than some distant deity who set the entire universe into motion and then turned His back on us. God is not a superpowered Santa Claus sitting up in heaven with a list that he's checking twice to see if you are naughty or nice.
No, God is a good and loving father, who wants what is best for his kids, and God is a holy and righteous king who has the power to do the impossible. This is who we are coming to in prayer. So, like, imagine the kindest person you have ever met. Maybe it is a parent or a grandparent, maybe it's a friend or a loved one, and that is the person where you know, no matter what you go to them with, that they are a safe place, that they have your best interest in mind. Now, when you're thinking of them, I also want you to think of the most bad to the bone person you can think of, like John Wick, Jack Bauer, James Bond, Jason Bourne, all of those, and then take those two people, put them together, and that's almost what God is like, right?
Because God is good. He's loving, He's a perfect father, and He's a holy and righteous king who has the power to do the impossible. So when you come to God, honor Him. Come to Him with confidence, knowing that He cares for you, and with reverence, respecting the fact that He is the king and creator of the universe. This is how we are to begin our prayers, by honoring the one we are praying to. In the next verse, Jesus goes on to tell us to pray for His kingdom, God's kingdom to come, and for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. If you're taking notes, what that means, most simply, is that you would pray for people to join God's kingdom and to do His will, that you would pray for people to join God's kingdom and to do His will, because a kingdom is a people ruled by a king.
And if God's kingdom is going to grow, if it is going to advance, that comes when people join his kingdom. And if God's will is going to be done here on earth as it is in heaven, that's going to happen when people who are part of God's kingdom do the stuff that God wants them to do. At its most basic level, we are praying for people to know Jesus. We're praying for people to trust and follow Jesus with their whole lives. Because the kingdom of God is the church. It is the people of God who are living under the rule of God, and here's the beautiful news, is that Jesus himself said that he will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
What we have to understand is that when we are praying to God, He's a good and loving father, and He's a holy and righteous king. And when Jesus stepped into history, he came so that anybody who was far from God could come home, and he came to destroy the works of the devil, to cast out darkness, to overturn hell, to put the devil in his place, and so when we pray to God, we are to pray for people to join His kingdom, and for people, us, to do His will. When that happens, we start to see a little bit more of heaven here on earth.
One of the most powerful examples of that in my own life was with my dad. When I became a Christian, my dad and I's relationship was very rough and rocky, like not good. And so I prayed over and over again that God would get ahold of him, and it took a while. Like, I very specifically and vividly remember one day, after I had been serving at the church, wearing my host team T-shirt, I am driving with my dad and my little brother home from the church, and there is a car on the road behind us that is just a little bit closer than my dad is comfortable with.
And so my dad, being my dad, decides to hold his hand out the window and perform a gesture that is not kind or Christian, and so then the car behind begins to honk and perform a gesture in return that is not kind or Christian, and my dad, being my dad, is like "Oh no! Whoa, I may have started it, but I'm also gonna finish it". So he literally waves them off the side of the road, parks in a parking lot, and I see what's happening. The car follows into the parking lot, and I'm like "Oh my gosh, I'm wearing my church T-shirt. I'm a Christian now. I can't be okay with this".
So before my dad gets a chance to, I hop out of the passenger seat, run over to the outside of the driver door, and hold him in the car. And while I'm holding my dad in the car, the person from the other vehicle gets out, walks over to the other side of me, and I'm literally holding my dad in the car, holding this person back right here because I know that if my dad gets out, he would've pounded this person into the pavement. And I'm wearing my church T-shirt. I'm a Christian. And as I'm holding them apart, all I'm thinking about is, "Oh my gosh, I hope this person doesn't read my T-shirt"! Eventually, things calmed down enough that they got back in their car, they drove off. My dad calmed down enough that he and I were able to have a conversation, and I kid you not, what I told him as we were driving home was, "Dad, you can't do stuff like that anymore. I'm a Christian now".
Now, what's amazing though is that eventually, my dad surrendered his life to Jesus, and my dad, who was always a fighter, picking the wrong fights, learned to fight the battles that God had actually called him to. And so for the last decade of my dad's life, he started to live with a purpose that is bigger and better than his own. Instead of just doing what he wanted, his will, he started to do God's will, and I got to see heaven come down in the life of my father. I got to see the power of darkness being cast out of a human being, of heaven breaking in, and God using them to quite literally push back, to knock down the gates of hell.
This is what it is that Jesus is inviting us to pray. He's asking us to recognize the one we're praying to, and to pray for heaven to break into earth, for people to join God's kingdom and to do God's will. In the next verse, Jesus tells us to pray, "Give us today our daily bread". Give us today our daily bread. If you're taking notes, Jesus is teaching us to ask God to provide for our needs. Now, I want you to notice what Jesus does not say. He does not say, "Give us today our daily steak and lobster," because this prayer is not about getting what we want. It's about getting what we need. God is not a rich grandpa that wants to spoil you. He's a loving father who promises to sustain you.
So we ask Him for what we need, not just what we want. Jesus doesn't say "Give us our weekly, our monthly, or our yearly bread," because this isn't like going grocery shopping where you stock up on all the stuff that you want and need, so you don't have to go back for another week. This is about daily, coming to your father who loves you in dependence, trusting that He has your best interest in mind, and that every day when you come to Him, He will give you what you need. Jesus doesn't say "Give me today my daily bread," because when you join the kingdom of God, you are adopted into His family. So it's not about you anymore. It is about us together. Believers in Jesus from every continent and generation united under one mission. As the East High Wildcats from "High School Musical" would say, "We are all in this together," so pray for God to provide for our needs. The next verse, Jesus goes on to say, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors".
Now, I wanna take a little bit longer on this one because it's really easy to read that and think that what Jesus is teaching us to pray is "Hey, God, forgive us, and help us forgive others," and that's close, but it's not quite. And because Jesus is the smartest person who ever lived, He actually like doubles down and then clarifies at the end of this prayer what he really meant. So if we go a few verses later, verses 14 and 15, Jesus goes on to say, "Hey, like, here's what I meant when I said that". "I meant if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you". Cool, sounds great. "But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins".
If you're taking notes, what Jesus is telling us is to ask God to help us forgive others, so that He will forgive us. Now, there are some of you right now, as you're hearing that, it sounds like really heavy, and maybe even a little bit harsh. Because is God really saying that He will only forgive us if we forgive others? That seems to be what Jesus is saying. But what I wanna remind you is that Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus is the personification of our loving and good father who always wants what is best for us.
And so when Jesus says these words, we can have confidence that they are always said in love, and they are always for our good. Because what Jesus wants to guard us against is the dangers of hypocrisy and unforgiveness. Because, like, if you're gonna go and ask God to forgive you, but you refuse to forgive others, do you know what you become? You become what the rest of the world hates about Christianity. You become a judgemental hypocrite who receives forgiveness for yourself, but all you dish out to others is condemnation and judgment. You get one thing from God, but you give something else to other people, and Jesus wants it to be very clear to us that that way of life is ruinous to our souls. It is ruinous to our relationships with others, and it separates us from the forgiveness that God is offering.
I really like the way that Pastor Eugene Peterson words it. It helps me wrap my mind around it a little bit more. He says that "In prayer, there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God without also forgiving others. Like, if you refuse to do your part, you are cutting yourself off from God's part". If forgiveness is this gift that God wants to give to you, but instead of your hands being open, they're shut tight because you're holding onto a grudge, then you cannot receive what He's offering. Imagine you've got a friend who owes you 20 bucks because one day, you like helped them get some gas in their car, and they haven't paid you back.
So now, every time you see them, you remind them that they owe you $20, and you tell them, "Hey, like, I'm not gonna hang out with you until you pay me back," so you are constantly reminding them and trying to punish them for the debt that they owe you. But then you show up to church, you show up to Switch, you hear a message, and in that message, you are convicted about a sin in your own life because recently you fell back into that habit of sinful and lustful behaviors, and so you find yourself crying out to God, asking Him to forgive you again for the sin that you've committed.
I'd be willing to bet that if you find yourself in that situation, that God might be trying to prompt you to do for the other person what you want Him to do for you, to offer forgiveness. Because Jesus wants to guard us against the dangers of hypocrisy and unforgiveness. Because those will wreck your soul, and they will do harm and damage to your relationship with God and with others.
So in the final verse in this prayer, verse 13, Jesus tells us this, to ask God to lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from the evil one. So the final thing that Jesus teaches us is to ask God to direct us and protect us. Ask God to give you direction. Like, where should you go? What should you do? What choice should you make? What words should you say?
Ask Him to direct you and ask Him to protect you. Like, we already talked about it. Like, when you say yes to following Jesus, you are stepping into a battle between the forces of good and evil. Like, when you become a follower of Christ, you get put on hell's hit list, and the enemy wants to take you out, and he will do his very best to do exactly that. So ask God to protect you from his schemes, to protect you from his attacks, so that no matter what he does to you, you can stand strong and faithful, knowing that God is with you. So if we take all that we just said and we put it together, this is what it looks like. This is how we pray like Jesus.
"We honor the one that we're praying to. We pray for people to join God's kingdom and to do His will. We ask God to provide for our needs. We ask God to help us forgive others, so that He will forgive us, and we ask God to direct us and protect us". That's what it looks like to pray like Jesus. So just like really practically speaking, put it together in your own words as a prayer. It might sound something like, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one".
This is how we pray like Jesus. We take His words, we model our conversations with God off of those, and when we do, what will happen every time, I promise you, is that your relationship with God will be strengthened, that you will grow closer to Him, that you'll discover more and more of His goodness, and He will work in your life to make you into the kind of person who doesn't just pray the right words, but who actually partners with Him in His good plans for the world. That you would become the kind of person who alongside King Jesus is working to push out darkness, and to bring heaven to earth.
And so Lord Jesus, we come before you right now, so grateful for your example, for your wisdom, for the truth that you have shared with us, and more than anything, we thank you for your life, your death, and your resurrection, because it is through what you have sacrificed for us that can know you and have salvation in you. And so I pray, Lord, that every single one of us would trust and believe that you are good, that you always have our best interest in mind, and that we would let you lead us every single day. We pray all this in your name. Amen and amen.