Transcript

Max Lucado has shared the story of a dying man who knew the vitality of prayer. A few days before his death, a minister visited with him in the hospital.

Next to the man’s bed was an empty chair so the minister asked if somebody had recently been by to visit. The old man smiled and said, “I imagine Christ on that chair and I talk to Him.”

He went on to explain, “Years ago a friend told me that prayer was as simple as talking to a close friend. So every day I pull up a chair, and I have a good talk with the Lord.” Several days later the man passed away.

His daughter had been sitting with him but slipped out for a few hours because he seemed to be resting so peacefully. When she returned to the room, she found that he had passed away. Strangely, though, his head was not resting on the pillow, it was resting on the empty chair beside his bed.

When she related this unusual scene to the minister he not only understood its meaning, but also gained a greater understanding of prayer. Oh, that we would all have that kind of closeness with God.

Prayer is about closeness with God, and it draws us nearer to Him as we spend time with Him in prayer. And closeness to the Lord is where strength, joy, and peace is found in life.

As this gentleman said, prayer is about having “a good talk with the Lord.” In our relationship with the Lord, He speaks to us by His Word, and we speak to Him by prayer.

And the Lord wants us to speak to Him all the time and to share what is on our hearts. It doesn’t have to come out perfectly. God just wants us to be open, honest, & real with Him, because prayer is not about a religious, superstitious, striving for acceptance with God.

Matthew 6:7-13: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, 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.”

Both Protestants and Catholics make much of repeating the “Lord’s Prayer.” They repeat it singly and in unison, in times of trouble, sorrow, sickness, death, disaster, in peace-time and war, at funerals and weddings, before meals and at church services, all with little or no regard to its contents.

It is significant and ironic that in the giving of this very prayer, our Lord cautioned His disciples: “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do Be not ye therefore like unto them” (Matt. 6:8,9).

This instruction is violated constantly. And Sunday after Sunday, thousands upon thousands upon thousands repeat the words of this Scripture.

And this very prayer is repeated word for word at practically any occasion, whether it applies or makes sense or not, and it’s all vain, empty, pointless repetition, as the Lord says.

The Lord’s Prayer has real meaning. Christ never intended for His disciples to repeat this prayer word for word. He says in verse 9, “after this MANNER therefore pray ye.”

“Manner” means “in this way” or “like this,” not intending for them to repeat the same words over and over again.

It is a wonderful and beautiful prayer, because it is after all, the very words of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. But these words He spoke were spoken to Israel.

And it was spoken to Israel in view of them surviving and living through the seven-year Tribulation period. And as we’ll see, it applies perfectly to the Tribulation.

These words were not spoken to, nor is it instruction for the Church, the Body of Christ. We are not Israel, and we have the sure hope of being “delivered from the wrath to come.”

We have the pre-Tribulational hope of the Rapture, the Lord’s coming to catch us away to heaven before the Tribulation ever begins. Any instruction about the Tribulation period does not apply to us, because we won’t be here for any of it.

The Lord’s Prayer is not for us under grace, and we are not to repeat it, or pray after this manner.

“Our Father which art in heaven.” Israel had a relationship with God. He was their Father, they were His children.

The Gentiles, the nations, at that time were considered “dogs,” not children. For Israel to pray “our Father” meant that they recognized they had a covenant relationship with the true and living God. On this basis, God was their Father.

“Hallowed be thy name.” The name of God is very important in God’s prophetic program with Israel. This was a reminder to Israel that as God’s chosen people, they had a responsibility to not profane His name among the nations by their sin and disobedience, but to keep it holy and hallowed by how they lived, served, and worshipped Him.

They were to keep God’s name set apart and not cast a poor reflection on it in being God’s people and in making His name known. This reminder is for the believing Tribulation Jew when they are scattered among the nations in that day.

“Thy kingdom come.” The believing Jews in the Tribulation period will literally BEG for God’s kingdom to come from heaven down to the earth at Christ’s Second Coming.

Their hope will comfort them, and they’ll be looking beyond the Tribulation, looking forward to their deliverance from the horror of it and their suffering in it.

When demon-possessed locust-like creatures are released from the pit of hell and they sting and torture people, when fires rage, earthquakes level mountains, water turns to blood, the sun, moon, and stars don’t give their light and it is darkness all over the world, they will look forward to the joys and peace and glory of the kingdom when Christ reigns on earth, and they’ll fervently cry out, “Thy kingdom come!”

They will be begging for Christ to come to establish His kingdom. This will mean something to them in that day.

When the Lord’s Prayer is recited today, it is usually done with a dull, monotone sound: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. But it won’t be prayed like that when it means something to those in the Trib.

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” This is actually a perfect definition of the kingdom that they are looking forward to come. In the kingdom, God’s “will” will be carried out on the earth as it is in heaven.

They are not looking forward to go to heaven, like we the Body of Christ are, they look for a kingdom to come and be set up on the earth, in which God’s “will” is done on earth as it is in heaven.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” In the middle of the Tribulation, it will be required of all to take the mark of the beast to be able to buy and sell, and thus those who believe in Jesus Christ and who refuse to take the mark will be unable to get food.

So Israel will need actual, real daily bread, daily food to be provided for them by trusting the Lord. They will pray for this, and God will supernaturally provide bread and food for them in answer to this prayer.

Oftentimes, the things that happened to Israel in her past foreshadowed something that would take place in her future. The daily manna, or daily bread, that God provided for Israel in her wilderness wanderings will take place again. At that point in the Tribulation, Israel will be hiding from the Anti-Christ in the wilderness, and God will provide daily bread for her.

Revelation 12:14 says that Israel will “fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

A time is one year, times is two years, so three total and then half a time. For the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation, believing Israel will be nourished by God and given daily bread.

“Forgive us our [sin] debts [or transgressions], as we forgive our debtors” or as we forgive those who sin and transgress against us. Israel will be severely persecuted during the tribulation by those loyal to Anti-Christ. The mark of the beast is for the purpose to more easily identify those not loyal to Anti-Christ, so they can be persecuted and killed.

God’s will for believing Israel in that day is that they forgive those who afflict them. Israel is actually REQUIRED at that time to forgive in order to be forgiven of their sin debts.

That’s what the Lord says after this prayer in verses 14 and 15: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15).

This is very unlike the instruction given to the Body of Christ under grace. We are taught the opposite, that we are to forgive others because we are already forgiven.

Ephesians 4:32 clearly says, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

So which instruction from God’s Word do we obey? To forgive others in order to be forgiven? Or to forgive because we are forgiven?

When we rightly divide the Word, we learn that we are to obey Christ’s instruction for His Church today under grace, found in Paul’s letters.

This requirement of forgiveness to be forgiven, written on the heels of the Lord’s Prayer, also shows how that prayer is not for us under grace.

“And lead us not into temptation.” When we see that statement, our first thought should be: what temptation? In the Tribulation, they will have one huge temptation.

The temptation in that day will be great to take the mark of the beast so they can buy and sell the basic necessities of life.

But according to Revelation 14:9-11, if they take that mark, they are immediately marked by God for the lake of fire. The mark of the beast is the great temptation of the Tribulation, and believers will have to endure to the end and overcome this temptation. They will pray not to be led into situations that tempt them to take the mark.

“But deliver us from evil [or the evil one].” Israel will pray for deliverance and protection to be kept safe from “the evil one,” the Anti-Christ, who will be searching everywhere and literally hunting believing Jews to kill and destroy them all.

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Again, Israel in that day will be sustained by their hope and will praise God for that coming Kingdom, which is God’s, established by His power, and for His glory, and will last forever and ever.

The Lord’s Prayer has real meaning and is not for us today. It applies to Israel in the Tribulation. And we should not repeat it like so many religiously do today.

We don’t pray with meaningless chants, religious repetitions or rehearsed prayers. We don’t say prayers, we don’t repeat prayers, we just pray.

We pray within a real relationship, speaking as a child to a loving Father, knowing that God is interested and involved in every area of our lives and desires for us to turn to Him constantly.

Philippians 4:6 reads, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

“Be careful for nothing,” speaks of not worrying about anything. When our Lord was visiting Mary and Martha at their home in Bethany, the Lord told Martha, who was busy preparing the meal, “thou art careful and troubled about many things” (Lk. 10:41).

The idea with the term “careful” is of being full of care and troubled about day-to-day things. There are many things in life that necessarily demand our attention and care and concern. We are not called to live a “carefree” life here, but rather to “not be anxious,” to not worry and be full of cares, or be constantly troubled and fearful.

A man said to his friend, “I’m really in trouble. I have a mountain of credit card debt, I lost my job, my car is being repossessed and my house is in foreclosure, but I’m not worried about it!” “How can that be?” asked his friend.

“I have hired a professional worrier, and he does all my worrying for me,” said the man. His friend replied, “That’s fantastic! How much does a professional worrier cost?” “$50,000 a year.” “Wow, that’s expensive. Where are you going to get that kind of money?” The man replied, “I don’t know, that’s for him to worry about.”

God doesn’t want us to be professional worriers. Worry is a joy stealer. God wants us to not worry about anything and instead to be “prayerful for everything.”

George Mueller writes “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”

1 Peter 5:7 says that God wants His own to “[Cast] all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” The Lord cares deeply for each of us, and He wants to bear all our burdens and cares. As we cast all our care on Him, we do so knowing that we cast it onto the all-wise, all-powerful, living God, who is over all and in control.

There is tremendous comfort in knowing that God is more than able to handle all our problems and that in His love He wants us to share our burdens and cares and give them all to Him. He wants us to trust Him in all things.

A lady came to the great preacher of the last century, G. Campbell Morgan, and said, “I only take the big things to God. I don’t take the little things to God.” G. Campbell Morgan looked at her and said, “Lady, anything you take to God is little.”

We can bring everything to God because anything we bring to God is little to Him, no matter how big it is and seems to us. He is Sovereign and greater than all.

Nothing is too hard for Him. And everything is little to Him, because He is so great and mighty. By His Word, we learn that He is more than big enough to solve our problems and carry our burdens.

“In every thing,” any matter of life, any circumstance, any physical or spiritual problem, any and all concerns of your heart or mind, is prayer material.

God wants us to give Him all worries, stresses, tensions, troubles, frustrations, failures, and to pour our hearts out to Him, “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.”

“By prayer,” speaks of simply talking to God, conversing and communicating with Him. When worries creep up, God wants our first action and reaction to be to think about Him, and to take it to Him.

Lee Eclov tells the following: “Travel back 200 years in Christian history to John Newton, the slave-trader-turned-pastor and hymn writer.

He believed in what he called ‘large asking.’ When explaining what he meant, Newton would cite a legendary story of a man who asked Alexander the Great to give him a huge sum of money in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Alexander agreed, and told the man to request of Alexander’s treasurer whatever he wanted. So the father of the bride went and asked for an enormous amount.

The treasurer was startled and said he could not give out that kind of money without a direct order. Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose.

‘No,’ replied Alexander, ‘Let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honor.

He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous.’”

And so Newton concluded: “In the same way, we should go to the throne of God’s grace and present petitions that express honorable views of the love, riches, and bounty of our King.”

We are to take everything to God in prayer knowing our God and how good and generous and gracious He is, and ask in light of this.

In bringing everything to God in prayer we express an honorable and true view of God, who is deeply interested in every area of our lives. He is loving and generous and we should pray to Him always. And when we do, we should pray big, making big and bold requests in light of the riches and bounty and majesty of our great God.

We also come before God with “supplication” or praying earnest, specific prayers to Him about any need, making defined, detailed, intelligent requests to God. He is eager to hear our prayers, and He wants us to spell them out to Him.

You see the word “supply” in “supplication,” and that is what we do, we spell our prayers out intelligently and specifically and we ask for God’s supply in answer to our prayers.

And we are to make our prayer and supplication “with thanksgiving.” We have many things to thank our God for when we pray, things such as free and continual access to Him. We should thank Him for hearing our prayers, for being there for us always.

We are to thank Him for specific things, noting His working, seeing what He has done and thanking Him for it. We should thank Him for answered prayer, whether the answer was yes, no, or wait. We should thank Him for Him, for who He is, that He is a good God, that He is the God of all grace and mercy.

We should thank Him for His countless blessings, both spiritual and physical, and specify these to Him. D. L. Moody summarized this verse as: “Be careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, and thankful for anything.”

Paul goes on and says to just “let your requests be made known unto God.” Timothy Jones writes, “We don’t like to stand speechless or stammering before God, but that doesn’t mean God holds it against us when we do.

“I remember a vacation with my parents in France when I was in high school. I had just completed two years of French, hardly enough to make me fluent. Still, there we were, tourists wanting to make the most of our time.

“So when we needed a bathroom, when we wanted to find a café, or when I lost my eyeglasses, I falteringly used my butchered French. I was trying—to the politely suppressed laughter of others—to speak the language.

“But I remember more than the townspeople’s bemusement. I remember how they warmly received my efforts. They strained to hear past my fractured sentences. They honored me by responding. Is God any less generous?

“He hears all that arises from us—the words of our mouth, the longings of our hearts, the thoughts of our minds, the intentions of our wills. Regret, grief, thanksgiving, hope—God hears our emotions, not just our grammar. Because of His grace, not our eloquence, we can pray, even if we stammer.”

What it comes down to for how to pray under grace is this: just pray. Pray all the time and pray about everything. We should let prayer be our practice and our passion.

God wants us “let your requests be made known unto God,” no matter how it comes out, and we pray knowing He knows our hearts and He hears our emotions, not just our words.

Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7).

As we are anxious for nothing and, instead, pray and share our concerns with thanksgiving, we have a promise from God. The promise isn’t that He will answer every prayer and give us all we ask or desire, like under Israel’s kingdom program.

God’s promise for us, the Body of Christ today, under grace, is that His peace, which transcends all human reason or understanding, will “keep” or guard, or garrison our “hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

God’s peace will garrison our thoughts and emotions and keep worry, anxiety, doubts and fears out, and keep His rest, comfort, peace, strength and security within.

God’s peace stands guard over the two areas that create worry: the “heart” or our feelings and emotions, and the “mind,” or our intellect and thinking.

J. Oswald Sanders has rightly said: “Peace is not the absence of trouble; peace is the presence of God.” Christ is our peace and the peace that passes all understanding is His presence in our lives, and a closer walk with Him results in greater and deeper peace.

Dave Dravecky, a former Major League pitcher who lost his pitching arm to cancer said this, “I have learned that God’s silence to my questions is not a door slammed in my face. I may not have answers. But I do have Him.” That’s where peace is!

So as we pray and trust the Lord, as we grow closer to Him, we’ll find and experience God’s all-surpassing quiet peace that, like Him, can’t be fully described or understood. And His peace comes to us as we trust and pray and draw nearer to Him.

Corrie Ten Boom once asked, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

May prayer not just be for emergency use only, but for power and guidance in life, for fellowship with the Lord, and to grow closer to Him throughout our lives.