empowering prayer: Practice

School has started. The summer routine (or lack of it!) now gives way to the regularity of school life. Sometimes this brings a relief from the flexibility of the summer schedule, but it also creates a sense of change and stress. Different routines always require adjustment. We are not always discerning about how to adjust, instead, we just begin to feel overwhelmed. As we increase the activity, it is easy to lose the things that give us strength and security. Our new sermon series is Empowering Prayer. This title has two dimensions. Prayer does empower us, but we also gain its benefit when we practice it regularly. The first sermon in this series is Practice. What can improve our practice of prayer? Certainly, if we have a goal to pray more, then one of the possible impacts will be a greater sense of God’s power. Maybe we need to pray smarter, not just harder! If we rarely pray, then harder is probably our best option, but how do we improve the practice of prayer? We turn to the words of Jesus and one of the greatest prayers of the Christian faith found in Matthew 6:5-15. Many of us can recite the Lord’s Prayer, (even with the longer ending) but as we look at the words surrounding it, it may help us pray smarter not just harder. It is evident that God’s power is available to us through this prayer but how do we best allow it to fill our hearts and lives? Jesus is not just giving us words to recite but a guide to lead us out of the clutches of the evil one into the strength of his presence. Our prayer for you is that you will be empowered as you read these words of Jesus in Matthew 6:5-15.

Matthew 6:5-15: “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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 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. ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ‘ ¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NIV)