Getting Real with God

WORD PICTURE: SHOPPING LIST

Scriptural Reference: 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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 "This, then, 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.)

for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

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.

1.  Show a SHOPPING LIST (It doesn’t matter what is on it, as long as it’s a list you might actually use.)  Have someone(s) read Matthew 6:5-15 from various translations.

2.  Tell this story:  A Sunday School teacher was reviewing the Lord’s Prayer with her class.  She was surprised by some of their notions.  One little girl said, “Our Father, who does art in Heaven.”   A little boy said, “Harold is His name.”  “No!” insisted another, “It’s HOW do you know MY name?”  Another boy piped up with “Give us this day our jelly bread.”  Then a girl added, “Forgive us our trashbaskets as we forgive those who trash back against us.”  A boy said, “Lead us not into Penn Station, but deliver us some e-mail.”  Finally, another little girl said, “For Thine is the kingdom, the flowers, and the jewelry.”

3.  This funny story illustrates one problem with repetitive prayer.  The Lord’s Prayer is a suggested flight pattern – a model for approaching prayer.  But we MEMORIZE it, and after awhile, we just zoom through it by rote -- half attentive, half understanding.   In a way, it is like zooming up and down the supermarket aisles with a shopping list saying “I need this, and this, and THIS!”  

4.  I brought this SHOPPING LIST because I’m realizing that so many of us (me included) simply never were taught how to pray.  Either I was taking a SHOPPING LIST “I need this— please help me with that” or I was zooming though some memorized prayer.  What I want us to share about is how God asks us to pray – and listen – and how that relates to each of us when we turn to God. I’ll go first.

What I Shared

For me, prayer is an ongoing, running conversation I have with God that is occasionally interrupted by life.  The Lord’s Prayer is a model -- a flight pattern.  It reminds me to remember who He really is: how high and mighty God, how able.  My own adaptation of the flight pattern is to seek His kingdom purposes for my life -- praying for knowledge of God’s will for me and for the power to carry it out.  To do this requires listening to Him as much as reading to Him my shopping list.  In fact, I get in trouble when I pray a list, so I tend to look at my list and ask Him who I should pray for.

I am sharing this because I keep running into people who are blown away when I pray for them.  It’s not that I’m some fabulous, eloquent prayer warrior or anything -- it’s that they’ve not actually experienced informal, unwritten prayer very much (if at all).  What I’m discovering is twofold:

People just love it (examples: Janine in her living room; Laurie in the marsh).   They are so surprised by how nice it was, how much better they feel.

Secondly, I am also discovering a distinction:  many believe in God.  But faith is more than believing in God -- it’s believing God.  Believing that it’s God’s heart to bless His people, those who are loyal to Him, who trust in His Word.  He WANTS to be glorified.  Praying scripture reminds us of this.

I’m not recommending hollow, repetitious prayer like that of the confused Sunday School students.  But it’s helped me to use the Lord’s Prayer as an outline, or to read scripture, then pray by substituting myself in the appropriate places.

For example, Proverbs 4:11-12

 I guide you in the way of wisdom  and lead you along straight paths.

 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.

I might pray, “LORD God, I know and thank You that You are guiding me in the way of wisdom and leading me in straight paths.  By faith, when I walk, I trust that my steps will not be hampered, and that I will be able to run as You direct me without stumbling.”

All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).

Copyright by Whitney McKendree Moore, August 2006