Practical Helps For Your Prayer Life
Key Passage: Matthew 6
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bible, if you would, to Matthew chapter number six. We have taken this month of April Sunday mornings and just talked about praying in our prayer life. And we’re ending that this morning.
I just want to give you some practical helps about your prayer life. I’ve really looked at it and tried to think, what would truly help you? You get an inspirational sermon. That’s a help. That’s a boost. But sometimes that’s a little temporary. If I give you helps that you could put in your prayer life long term, that would help your prayer life, I would be thrilled about that. So we’re kind of this morning just throwing out some things, and maybe one of those things will be helpful for you.
In this little series, I’ve never heard, never read this before, but about a week or so ago, I read this little thing, and it’s helped my prayer life. Sometimes just a little bit of things—your prayer life goes through stages. It’s a relationship. Just like in your marriage, you have stages. There’s a stage where you get up off the floor, you understand that. And then there’s a stage of you saying, “Yes, dear.” You understand these stages. It’s the same thing: stages in relationships, there are stages in your prayer life. But in a good marriage, a good husband and a good wife is always looking for something to add to their marriage or say, “Hey, we need to work at this a little bit.” We’d like to have a little bit more love, a little bit more kindness, a little bit more romance. Every guy in the world wants a little bit more romance. You’re looking for things to build your marriage. If you have a good marriage, you’re going to work at it. That looks like a good book for us to read on marriage. That might be a good retreat for us. That’s right to do. Same thing: If you’re going to have a good prayer life over the years, there’s going to be times you get a little stagnant maybe, and you’ll have to look for things, and you have to pray. No one has it all figured out. Nobody’s got the perfect prayer life. I’m going to share maybe a little bit of my prayer life this morning, just a little bit, and I fear to do that because as sure as I’ll do that, I’m going to fall flat on my face this coming week. That’s just the way it goes.
I think about one of the disciples of Jesus, one that was there with Jesus. The Bible doesn’t tell us; it says, “a disciple,” but I tend to think it’s one of the apostles, I’m not sure. It’s in Luke 11. They heard Jesus pray, and they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” John taught his, “Would you teach?” When I say that, probably one of the best Christians in the world at that day and time, he still said, “Man, I got to learn. I got to grow in this thing of prayer.” That’s the way everyone should be if you’re honest and sincere: “Man, I could be a better prayer warrior.” You’re always looking for something that will help. Maybe it’s just a spark I need. I forgot to mention the thing that’s helped me here recently: Spurgeon. Did I tell you what it was? No, it’s Spurgeon. I just read a little quote from Spurgeon. This has helped me pray. It’s one of those little things that’s helped me here recently. I was reading a little bit about prayer and Spurgeon. Spurgeon said this: “Rarely is there fifteen minutes go by that I haven’t talked to my Heavenly Father.” Now, I’m not there. That’s been a great challenge for me. I’m not saying I’m right there at it, but for me, that was one of those little things. Man, that’s awesome. I like to get there one day, and it’s helped me work at that. I don’t know what it might be for you, but I want you to just look for some little something that will help in your prayer life.
That’s what we’re after this morning. And maybe if it’d be a long term or a help for you for years, that’s what we’re after this morning.
Satan will fight prayer. You’ve heard it said. There’s a little direct quote. Let me read it for you. I’ve got it. William Cowper, I believe. He said, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest of saints on his knees.” You’re like, “Man, I’m going to get the devil.” The devil laughs at you, but when the weakest of Christians gets on his knees, Satan trembles. So Satan fights prayer. He’s going to do his best to keep you from praying. Have you ever started praying and your mind starts wandering? Have you ever found yourself saying, “Lord, I’m sorry, my mind keeps drifting off”? It was a good day for me when I heard another preacher say, “You know, I found myself,” and I thought, “Man, that’s just a relief to realize other people do the same thing.” I say that: it’s a battle to pray because Satan doesn’t want you praying. So stay in the battle. That’s where true spiritual victories are won. We see them on Sunday, and we’re like, “Praise the Lord for that.” But honestly, that victory, I promise you, was won somewhere where someone was pouring their heart out before God in prayer. Victories are won through prayer.
Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” The way to get him involved is prayer. So spiritual victories are won through prayer. Stay in the battleground. Don’t go AWOL. Don’t settle into silence. Don’t let the devil convince you that God doesn’t hear you when you pray. If you go by the way of the cross, friend, you have a right to go to your Father in prayer. Victories are won when God’s people say, “I’m going to use the privilege Jesus won for me.” That’s why I said, “Come boldly to the throne of grace,” because of our High Priest, Jesus. Prayer—I hope something inside you says, “You know what? I want to be someone that is willing to battle in prayer.” God needs Christians that will say, “I’ll battle on my knees before the Lord.” That’s where it’s won. Jesus said in Matthew 6, “Your Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Three times he makes that statement. Twice he says, “Your Father, which is in secret.” We work so hard at the things that everybody else sees. And that’s not bad to do. You’re a testimony. You’re a light for the Lord. “Let your good works so shine before men that they may glorify your Father.” Nothing wrong with that, if it’s not about you, it’s about the Lord. But the things that are in secret, we kind of let go by the wayside because nobody sees them. But great victories are won for your kids, for your marriage, for your grandkids, and your country, and your church. Great victories are won by someone praying in secret.
Oh, friends, I hope you’re just getting a little bit inside you and say, “I want to pray.” Prayer is a key. John Rice used to say, “Every failure is a prayer failure.” Great Christians used to say, “Prayer is one of the things we talk about so much but practice so little.” I hope that’s not true.
Satan’s going to fight it. He’s going to battle you. He’s going to make you… What happened when Jesus went over there and prayed in the garden? When Jesus was in the garden praying, you know what happened to the other guys? Satan, when you say, “I’m going to pray,” Satan will start singing that lullaby. What does a mom sing the baby to put the baby to sleep? “Rock-a-bye baby in the treetop.” Satan will do all he can to put you to sleep. How many has ever slept when they’re supposed to be praying? That’s not a coincidence.
Daniel chapter number 10—just referencing it—Daniel is praying, and there’s this major spiritual warfare battle going on. The devil has his five-star general battling against that, and the Lord has his five-star general. There’s a great spiritual warfare. The devil himself was involved in that. It shows you when you pray, there’s a spiritual battle. The devil doesn’t like it when a saint prays. He’ll whisper, “The Lord’s never going to hear you.” He’ll do everything he can to defeat you in your prayer life. It’s a battle, and someone has to say, “I’m willing to battle.” It’s not glamorous. It’s going to be somewhere that says, “I’ll just stay in here and I’ll battle this thing out in prayer.” Can you imagine if we had thousands upon thousands of battling Christians in America? By the way, I hope you’re praying for the election coming up. We need spiritual giants in prayer. That’s the key. That’s the key. Now, we’ve got to get to the sermon here because time.
Look over, if you will, Matthew 6 in verse number 6. We’re just going to try to get some practical helps briefly this morning. You may have heard some of this many, many times. But we’re trying to throw some things out. Maybe one of these things will be the thing that just kind of helps you. That’s what we’re after this morning. Matthew 6. We’re going to start in verse number 6.
The Bible says, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”
“But when you pray, use not vain repetition, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.”
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.”
I love that last verse. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
A good way to close your prayer is saying, “Lord, you’ve got all the power in all the world. You have the right to answer this thing.” I used to have a Bible college teacher, and he was all about us writing our government officials. He would always say, “Use the sandwich effect.” By that, one good slice—you butter them up, say all kind of good things. The middle, tell them the dirt—man, you’re wrong, you’re so wrong. And then put some butter on the bottom side, and good, tell them the truth, and then the other good, brag them a little bit. It’s a little bit of the same scenario as he’s finishing up: “God, you’ve got all the power. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.”
First of all, I want you to notice this. He says, “But thou.” Now, “thou” is singular. He and you is plural. “Thou” or “thee” is singular. He’s not talking about group praying, though that’s a wonderful thing. Here he’s talking about you praying alone. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into…” What are the next two words? The closet. Isn’t it interesting that the Lord says, “closet”? Why does he tell you to go pray in your closet? He’s using this saying about you getting away and alone from everybody and everything else, and you getting in some room where just you alone are with God. It’s not a coincidence. He’s talking about you getting in a closet somewhere. You say, “A closet is about as boring as can be. There’s nothing in there.” That’s what he wants: where nothing else is going on around you. You’re kind of just isolated from everybody, everything. It is just you and God one on one. That’s what he’s wanting.
By the way, if you have a good marriage, you’re going to have to have times when you and your spouse get away from everybody, everything—find a babysitter, turn the phones off—and just be husband and wife together. That’s important to have a good relationship. For you to have a good relationship with the Lord in your prayer life, you must turn everything off. I fear that we are getting used to never being alone, and we’re losing being alone with God because we’re always connected to the world. If you’re going to have a good prayer life, you have to turn them off, leave them somewhere else, and get in the closet alone with the Lord. You’ve got to do it.
I’m for husbands and wives praying together. Someone shared with me yesterday that when a husband and wife had spent time praying together, God really did something. That’s wonderful. But that is not what he’s talking about right here. He’s saying, “thou,” you on your own, getting alone in some place where it’s just you and God praying. By the way, he wants to meet with you when you’re stuck in your bed, or you’re eating ice cream, or you’re watching that game. God is over there saying, “Hey, I want to meet with you. I’m waiting to meet with you.” It’s not a matter of whether God answers prayer or whether Jesus’ grace isn’t sufficient. It’s a matter of God’s people getting alone, making the time to be a prayer warrior. We must do that, friend. Without God and his power, we are so weak. We’re so frail. But, friend, the thing is, when you get God involved, the weakest of Christians become mighty. Satan can’t stop God in his word, friend, but someone’s got to get God involved. God has given us the way to get him involved. It’s called prayer.
Some of the greatest Christians in the Bible had a closet, they had a space. Jesus often went to a garden; that was one of his prayer spots. Sometimes you’ll see Jesus go up on a mountain; that was his prayer spot, that was his closet. Daniel went to his house three times a day and opened that window toward Jerusalem; that was his prayer spot. Let me read for you from Genesis 19:27: “And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord.” Did you hear that? Even in the Old Testament, he had a place where he stood before the Lord.
Years ago, we had a men’s spiritual warfare retreat over by Center Hill Lake. Beautiful. We rented out this cabin, a three-story cabin, maybe twenty or thirty guys. God was meeting with us in that retreat. On Saturday morning, they said, “We’re just going to take maybe an hour, and we ask, would you men scatter out? It’s the middle of the woods. Would you just scatter out over this little mountain here and just find you a spot to go pray?” The men took off. God was just moving in our hearts. It was a good retreat, and I never forget it.
I went out back behind the cabin. There was a little cliff overlook; that would be a beautiful place to pray. I went over there, and some guy had my spot. So there was a trail leading off this way. I went down that trail, and another guy had my spot. I went over on that dirt road, and another guy had that spot. Everywhere I went in those woods, there was a man praying. I loved it. That may be one of the days that our church is blessed the most because many men were out there, alone meeting with God. Friend, I’m telling you, the resource we have to have God’s blessings in our lives and our church is prayer, but somebody’s got to get alone with God. You’re too busy not to pray. God’s a gracious, merciful God, but you seek and ask for his grace in faith, and God can get things done a whole lot quicker than you ever get them done. Make the time to pray.
Notice what else he says there, verse number six. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door…” That means turn that stupid little box off. Shut the door. I’m talking about a phone. Now, there are prayer list apps, and if you use your phone for that, I understand totally. You need to find someone smarter than I who knows how to turn off the cellular data on your phone so it’s not connected. Nobody can call you. The world will get along without you. Disconnect from all that. If you’re going to use your Bible app or your prayer list app, I understand that, but turn that thing off. You shut the door.
If I can pray out loud in my prayer life, it helps me. A lot of praying in the Bible was out loud. You can pray anywhere, anytime, any place. But, friend, getting alone with God and then shutting the door—if I can pray out loud, it helps me. Hearing myself helps me get into it. Let me read a couple of verses. David said, Psalm 55:17, “Evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice.” Psalm 64:1, “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from the fear of the enemy.” Psalm 66:19, “But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” Psalm 77:1, “I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.” Psalm 86:6, “Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend unto the voice of my supplication.”
Sometimes just pray aloud. I like to get away from everybody, everything, where nobody can hear me. Nobody in this world knows me like my wife does. She knows me inside and out. As much as I know her and I love her, I can’t fully pray like I like to if I think my wife can hear me. I want to be away and I want to shut the door so I can just tell God everything.
Having a pen and paper is helpful because the devil will remind you of everything you have to do. When you go pray, you’ve got 10,000 details to do. I have a pen and paper. The devil reminds me, “I forgot to pick that up in the store.” I want to write it down, get it out of my mind because I want to pray. Have a pen and paper with you. You’re trying to take away things the devil will try to bring to your attention.
Verse number 11. He says, “Give us this day our daily…” What’s that next word? Day. Here’s what I’m getting at: seek to meet him daily. If you miss a day, God’s not going to beat you over the head. He’s a loving, forgiving God. But seek. I want to meet with him every day. I want to have a close relationship. I want to open up my heart to him, and he cleans the crud out of the heart. It seems like God cleans the crud out of my heart, and I wake up the next morning, and a lot of the crud is back in there. Daily. You’re getting alone from everybody, everything, getting in your closet, and shutting the door, because that’s how you meet with God every day. Daily.
Can I say this: don’t worry a whole lot about how long or how short it is. I’m going to start praying three hours a day in my prayer closet. You haven’t been in your prayer closet in three years. That’s like going from zero to 103 seconds. You say, “I’ll just start off meeting with him every day.” Someone challenged me years ago: “Meet with God for five minutes in prayer.” I thought, “Man, I could do that. No problem. Five minutes.” That’s like pre-kindergarten. But once I started doing it, five minutes was hard to do. Just start somewhere. If it’s a minute a day, that’s all right. If it’s 30 seconds, do 30 seconds. Just try to meet with him somewhere along daily. You’ve got to grow that. Just start somewhere.
Look at verse number nine. He said, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”
Notice how he says, “Our Father, which art in heaven.” It’s interesting how many times you find Jesus praying in the Bible. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? All four gospels mention it, which is very rare. If you read it, you’ll notice when Jesus took the bread, he broke it and blessed it, but it’ll usually say something like that, looking up into heaven. In John 17, Jesus gives us his high priestly prayer; he’s looking up. When Jesus was baptized and the Holy Ghost came upon him, he was praying, looking up. Often you’ll find Jesus in the Bible looking up. You can pray however, but sometimes it might help you to visualize you’re actually talking to God—look up.
We must work at this, or if we’re not careful, we become ritualistic. We don’t want to go through a ritual; we want to talk to someone up there. I want you to visualize: I’m talking to God; He’s in heaven. If you’ve got to look up, look up and visualize, realize, focus on the fact that you’re actually talking to a God that’s listening to you. Sometimes it helps me; I’ll visualize God leaning over the banished rails of heaven, cupping his ear. That helps us. When the devil’s trying to keep me from prayer, I need to get past my fleshly pull until I realize I’m talking to the God of the universe. Visualize it. “Our Father”—He’s your Dad. He wants to hear from his children. He’s waiting to meet with you. He’s listening for you.
I love this verse. This verse was a help for me at one point in my prayer life: Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” For a season of my prayer life, I’d claim that verse every morning. Lord, you’re nigh unto all that call upon you, and I’m calling upon you in truth. I’m using the truth of your Word. I’m being honest about who and what I am. I’ve sinned like everybody else, but I’m coming to you through Jesus Christ.
Look at verse number 10. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” It’s so very important in your prayer life that somewhere along there, you submit to God. Lord, I’m not coming to the prayer closet trying to get everything I want. Nothing wrong with making requests known to God; it’s right to do. But I’m coming and I just want to twist God’s arm to get what I want. When you start doing that and you submit to God, God begins to give you power to resist the devil. Before long, he’s out of that prayer closet. He says, “I’m getting out of here because they’re getting on their knees, and I flee when someone gets on his knees.” But you’re not going to get there without power to resist by your own strength. You get the strength when you submit to God: “Not what I want, Lord. You know better than me.” That must be part of your prayer life. It’s part of you getting yourself in tune with God.
Let me read for you a verse. First John 5:14: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.” When I submit and I start getting in tune with God, then I know the Holy Spirit has interceded, and I know I’m asking according to His will. That’s when the confidence comes in. God has heard me in that prayer closet. There must be part of it just getting alone from everybody, everything. “Lord, clean the crud out of my heart. I want to be in tune with you. I want to pray according to you. Not my will, but thy will be done.” That’s when power comes in prayer.
Isn’t it interesting there are parallel scriptures in Luke 11? That’s where that man said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” That’s when the Lord gave the model prayer. We read it over here, Matthew 6, the most popular place of the Lord’s Prayer. We call it the Lord’s Prayer, but technically that’s not right. It’s kind of like His outline of teaching how to pray. If you want to read Jesus actually praying, go over to John 17 sometime; that’s truly praying. But this is the Lord’s outline of teaching how to pray.
I think it’s a good thing in your prayer time to have somewhat of a prayer list. For some, maybe a businessman that’s very detailed, you may have a very detailed list. I heard a man say he prays for thirty-three things for his wife every day. I call that a detailed prayer list. He loves his wife. It’s not bad, but if you go too detailed, you get ritualistic, and we don’t want that. But I think it’s very good at least to have categories.
There are times that I pray, and I’ll say this: I start off, I do this—the Lord leads me. Later on, I learned this is what Jesus did in John 17. Jesus started off praying for himself. I start off praying for myself because I need to get myself right before I can effectively pray for someone else. In John 17, He prays for himself, then He prays for the saints, then He prays for the lost. Have an outline, a little bit, for your prayer life.
It’s time I pray for myself, trying to get myself in tune with God, trying to get the crud out of my heart, trying to get right with God. I want to pray according to His will. When I start to get myself right, now I can pray for my wife, then my kids, then my extended family, the church family, and eventually our country and so on—a little bit of order. It might be talking points. If I’m going to meet with someone and want to discuss many different things, I’ll write it down, because surely I’ll forget to mention something to God. I have a little bit of a prayer list.
There have been seasons in my prayer life where I was getting too ritualistic, just reading the list, and I would toss the prayer list out. “Holy Spirit, you just guide.” Sometimes you say a prayer list will make you ritualistic. There have been many times in my prayer life, when I start praying through that prayer list, God gets me into my prayer life through the prayer list. A couple years ago I was asking people what really helps them during a series on prayer. More often than not, the most common thing I heard was: a prayer list. Prayer lists can be very helpful. There are apps for that, as long as you turn your phone’s cellular data off. We’ve got to hurry along.
Last thing. Look at verse number 11. He says, “Give us this day our daily…” What’s that next word? Day. Sometimes we pray so generally. “Would you bless the missionaries around the world?” You wouldn’t know if God answered that prayer or not. “Would you bless the church?” God always blesses the church. What do you mean by that? He said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Be very specific. Have specific things you pray for. Take care of so-and-so. That’s not bad, but you may say, “Lord, they’ve got the herniated disc in their lower lumbar, whatever it is, and say, Lord, would you help that one in their back?” And they come back and say, “My back’s been feeling better.” You said, “God, answer my prayer.” Pray specifically. I said this early, and I hate to do it because I know I’m going to fall flat on my face, but yesterday we were out trying to win souls, and I prayed, “Lord, would you give us three souls?” Someone had prayed and led some prayer for one, and praise the Lord for that, but honestly inside, I was like, “Lord, give us three.” And the Lord gave us three. I say that, and the rest of the day I said, “Thank you, Lord.” I wasn’t a good prayer warrior yesterday, but I knew God answered my prayer because I prayed specifically. Don’t pray so general you’ll never know God answered. Pray specifically, as the Lord leads, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”
Let me ask you, would you raise your hand if you believe God answers prayers? Wonderful. Then let’s put it to practice. Let’s seek to develop our prayer lives. Let’s work at this thing. It is our way to plug in. The Christian life really doesn’t work with any power at all unless you plug in. God gave you that way to plug in through prayer.
I’m going to ask a couple questions. Would you say, “You know, I’m going to commit to working. I’m not going to be perfect, but I’m going to work at my prayer life. I realize how vital, how important it is. It’s just the source God’s given me to connect with Him.” If that’s you this morning, lift your hand. I’m going to be working at my prayer life in some form, some fashion.
Maybe here this morning you say, “Preacher, I’m going to pick a time and a place.” I’m going to pick a time, maybe in the morning, maybe at night, and I’m going to try to meet with God. I’m going to pick a time and a place when I’m going to meet with God. If that’s you this morning, would you raise your hand before God? I’m going to work at picking a time and a place when I meet with God.
You say, “I’m going to make time.” We’re all busy, but I’m going to make time because I think it’s worthy of it. I’m going to make the time to work at my prayer life. If I got to stay up, I’m going to stay up. If I got to miss something, I’m going to miss it. But I’m going to make the time to work at my prayer life.
One last question. You say, “Preacher, He said over there, ‘Our Father.’ I don’t know if He’s my Father. I need to settle my salvation. I need to make sure I’m a child of God.” If that’s you, would you raise your hand?
Child of God, let’s get close to our Father. Let’s get to know Him. Would you please stand? I’m going to have a quick word of prayer. Would you come to an old-fashioned altar as the Lord leads you? Father, thank you. You invite us to pray. Lord, help us to work at our prayer lives, help us to find the right spot, the right time. Lord, help us to draw nigh to you in our prayer closets. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Lord, I want to work at this thing in my prayer life. That’s where victories are won. Satan trembles when the weakest Christian gets on his knees. Just spend some time and say, “Lord, I want to know you better. I love you. You’re everything. You’re wonderful.” Ask Him. Shocked how many verses He gives to those that ask Him.
Father, it is a privilege, Lord, to see the team you are putting together. Lord, what a blessing to see you work in our lives. We’re humbled, we’re honored. We want more of you. Lord, thank you for great people coming. Use us together, Lord, to help us to be a blessing to them and them to us. And then, Lord, use us together for you and for your kingdom to help a whole lot of people. Father, we thank you for what you do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Practical Helps For Your Prayer Life - Sunday AM 04282024