HOW TO MAKE CONTACT WITH GOD

What Every Christian Needs to Grow - Part 2 of 4

Matt. 6:5-15 & Selected
Rick Warren

Matthew 6:5-15 - Jesus explained how simple and easy it is to make contact with God: through
prayer.

I. HOW TO MAKE CONTACT WITH GOD (v. 5-8)

1. _____________________________________________

"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." (vs. 5)

* Don't try to

* Don't try to

2. _____________________________________________

"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." (vs. 6)

3. _____________________________________________

"Don't recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do, who think prayers are answered
only by repeating them again and again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need
before you ask Him!" (vs. 7-8 LB)

II. WHAT TO SAY WHEN I MAKE CONTACT WITH GOD

"This, then, is how you should pray..."

1. PRAISE: _____________________________________________

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." (vs. 9)

2. PURPOSE: _____________________________________________

"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (vs. 10)
 3. PROVISION: _____________________________________________

"Give us today our daily bread." (vs. 11)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Phil 4:6

4. PARDON: _____________________________________________

"Forgive us our debts..." (vs. 12a) "sins" Luke 11:4

5. PEOPLE: _____________________________________________

"... as we also have forgiven our debtors." (vs. 12b)

"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 yours." (vs. 14-
15)

6. PROTECTION: _____________________________________________

"and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." (vs. 13)

III. THE POWERFUL KEY TO PRAYER: ______________________________

"OUR Father... give US ... OUR daily bread ... forgive US ... OUR debts ... as WE have
forgiven OUR debtors ... lead US not into temptation ... deliver US ..."

"I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done by my
Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them." Matt. 18:19-20

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 HOW TO MAKE CONTACT WITH GOD
What Every Christian Needs to Grow - Part 2 of 4
Matt. 6:5-15 & Selected
Rick Warren

... Prayer warriors who get up at 4 a.m. in the morning and pray for four hours and spend all
night in prayer. They were travailing. More than anything else I wanted to be a spiritual giant.
I tried that. I got up at 4 a.m. and went out to the dugout of the baseball field at the college I
went to and prayed and half the time fell asleep. I never did realize that all those guys -- John
Wesley, Martin Luther, Calvin -- who got up at 4 in the morning to pray, there was no electricity
in those days. That meant they went to bed at 6:30 in the evening. Anybody can get up at 4 in
the morning if you're going to bed at 6:30 in the evening. But being in college, in the dormitory,
I didn't even start my homework until 10:30 at night. So I was trying to burn the candle at both
ends. I remember forcing myself to be in these marathon prayer meetings to pray all night.

I remember the first time I prayed all night. I went to this prayer room, got down on my knees
and started praying. I mentioned everybody -- every distant cousin I could think of, people I
didn't know, movie stars and the president. I named every country I could think of. I was
praying around the world. I looked down at my watch when I was all prayed out and I had gone
25 minutes. This is going to be a long night! I felt like I wasn't spiritual enough to be a prayer
warrior. That was really my honest feeling. I just don't have what it takes spiritually to have
that kind of prayer life like I read of.

Many of you may be able to identify with this from a book by Chuck Swindoll. It says, "To be
painfully honest with you most of the stuff I've ever read or heard about prayer has either left me
under a ton and a half truckload of guilt or wearied me with pious sounding phrases and
meaningless god-talk. Without trying to sound ultra-cynical, I've frequently walked away
thinking, `Who needs it?' because I didn't spend two or three grueling hours a day on my knees
as dear Dr. So and So did, or because I failed to just say it the right way (whatever that means)
or because I wasn't able to weave several scripture verses through my prayer or because I had
not been successful in moving mountains, I picked up the distinct impression that I was out to
lunch when it came to this part of my Christian life. It seemed almost spooky, mystical and
(dare I say it) even a little superstitious, a lot of verbal mumbo-jumbo laced with a secret jargon
that some people had and others didn't. And I definitely didn't."

Some of you can relate to that and feel that way. I want to tell you here this morning, on the
authority of God's word, that God did not create prayer simply to create guilt in your life.

Jesus Christ, when He came to earth, was constantly sharing radical, revolutionary ideas. He
exploded the myths about prayer. He taught us that prayer is not a guilt producer. It is an
anxiety reliever. It is not a dreaded obligation. It is a wonderful privilege.

This morning I want us to look at "How Do You Make Contact With God". We're going to look
at what Jesus said. I want you to throw out, for a few minutes, every idea you've ever had about
prayer. Just put in on the shelf and let's go the Master, the Authority, and see what He had to say
about “How to Make Contact With God.”
HOW TO MAKE CONTACT WITH GOD
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Jesus, in Matthew 6, which is in the Sermon on the Mount, gives us three specific instructions
first of all on how to make contact with God.

1. BE REAL

Be honest with God. Matthew 6:5 "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." Circle
"hypocrites". In the New Testament times, the Pharisees were pros at pretentious prayers. It was
a regular ritual. The Pharisees prayed at 9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m. every day -- just like
drinking Dr. Pepper. It was set times. They had set prayers. It was all cut and dry. You did
your thing. You said your ‘Hail Mary's’ or whatever it was -- your rituals-- and you did your
thing. It was kind of like Moslems do today -- three times a day bow toward Mecca. It became
quite a source of pride. They were showing off. They'd stand out on the street corners and
proclaim.

The point that Jesus is making here is prayer is not something you do to be seen. He said you
need to be real, be honest with God, be genuine.

A couple of suggestions that will revitalize your prayer life:

1. Don't try to impress others with it. Have you ever heard a prayer prayed and when they
finished you wanted to go, "Wow! What a performance!" It sounded so good and you thought
that it was great.

Or have you ever been in a prayer group and everybody's praying around a circle and you're
thinking, "There's only three left until me... only two left... only one... I'm next! What am I
going to say that hasn't already been said? What are they going to think?" The moment you
stop worrying about what other people will think about your prayer life, you're going to be
released to enjoy prayer. Stop trying to impress others.

God doesn't care two bits about how you say it. There are no rules. He doesn't care how you
say it. Don't try to impress other people with fancy words and sounds.

2. Don't try to impress God with your prayers. That's a little more subconscious, subtle.
Often we do it unconsciously. We pray things that we think God wants us to say, rather than
praying what's really on our hearts. God says, “Be real.”

2. BE RELAXED

v. 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." Remove the
distractions out of your life. Get off where you can focus in on God, where you can relax, calm
down, be quiet for a minute, loosen up, let go of tension and just tune into God.

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I have a habit in my prayer life, before I pray any prayer -- it is almost spontaneous -- that I take
a deep breath. I just relax, settle down, let go of all the tension. Then I'm ready to tune into
God. Just take a deep breath.

Be real and be relaxed. Hurry is the death of prayer. When you to hurrying, when you're rushed
it's going to kill your prayer life.

3. BE REVEALING

Share what's really on your heart. Tell God exactly what's on your mind, not what you think you
ought to say but what you're thinking about.

v. 7-8 (Living Bible) "Don't recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do, who think
prayers are answered only by repeating them again and again. Remember, your Father knows
exactly what you need before you ask Him." In New Testament times, the prayers were long,
wordy. It was a meaningless ritual. There were actual set prayers you prayed for certain
occasions. There were prayers already written out. No spontaneity, no genuineness. He says,
“You just need to reveal yourself.” Don't get caught in a rut.

For years I tried to copy other people's prayers. If it sounded a certain way, I'd try to make my
voice a certain way. I got caught up in all of these religious cliches. I love to hear new
Christians pray -- no pious pomposity. They haven't learned the cliches yet. They just say, "Hi
God. It's me." That kind of thing. We get caught in these cliches-- "lead, guide and direct us",
"bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies", "bless the gift and the giver", "God, help so
and so...". Our favorite word... when you don't know what to say, you say the word "just" --
"God, we just want you to do this, Lord, we just thank you," That's a spiritual word for "uhh-
mmm". It's a filler. Don't you get tired of religious cliches? I do. You hear the same thing over
and over, you click out, snore city! You wonder who's going to say the cliche first so I can't
repeat it.

God says don't get into ritual and these kinds of things. Just pray your heart. Reveal yourself.
A couple weeks ago when we were talking about the Fatherhood of God I said can you imagine I
walk in the door at night and my kids say, "Oh, almighty procreator of our family. How
wonderful thou art, who sovereignly deposits our allowance to us. Oh, the majesty of thy
wonderful self! We beseech thee to come eat dinner with us." Hey! I'd check my kids' pulse,
their temperature, if they started talking to me like that. I want them to say, "Hey! Dad's home.
Good to see you, pop!"

I'm not saying be flippant. God is not the Big Man Upstairs. But He is your Father. Jesus said,
“Pray Abba Father.” Daddy. You don't have to use fancy language. Prayer is spontaneous. It
is conversation with God. You talk to God in conversation. God couldn't care less how it
sounds, so forget trying to impress Him. Forget trying to impress your pastor, or your Bible
study leader, or anybody else. Just focus in on what really is coming out of your heart.

That's how you make contact. What do I say when I make contact with God? Fortunately, Jesus
tells us. He gives us a model. "This, then, is how you should pray..." Circle "how". It does not
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say, "This, then, is what you should pray." In the Bible, we are never commanded to pray the
Lord's prayer, although we do. Many churches pray the Lord's prayer every week. Just prior to
that, Jesus has just said don't use a prayer that you repeat over and over. So why world He say
don’t use repetition over and over and then say, “Here’s what you should pray.” It doesn’t say,
“This is what you should pray.” It says, “This is how you should pray.” This is not exactly the
wording, but it is a model, a framework, and outline by which you can learn to pray.

Prayer is an act of giving and receiving and Jesus says there are six things we can give to God in
prayer.

1. BEGIN WITH PRAISE: I give God my love.

v. 9 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” He’s talking about praise. You start by
praising God. That’s how you should begin your prayers.

What is praise? Praise is thanking God for who and what He is. To praise God means to prize
God, to value Him, to esteem Him. It means to brag on God. Praise means bragging on God.
God, You are good! That’s what it means to praise.

How do I do that? Simply read the Psalms. If you don’t know how to praise God, read the
Psalms. Do it aloud.

Why should I praise God? Because it gets your focus off yourself and onto God so you can talk
to Him. That’s why we start with praise.

Notice it says “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Did you know that God has
many names? In the Old Testament there are at least eight different names of God—Hebrew
compound words. A name, in the Bible, meant your character. The Bible reveals the character of
God. Each name has a different meaning.

I’ve done an outline on the eight names of God and how you can pray those back to God. You
can actually pray the names of God – God is present with me, God is my shepherd, He is my
provider, He’s my healer, He’s my peace, He’s my victory in conflict. All of these things. To
say “…hallowed be thy name” means to pray the names of God. It means to remind yourself that
God has promised to take care of all your needs, remind yourself of who he is, what He’s done.
You declare what God is like. You begin with praise. I give God my love.

2. PURPOSE: I give God my life.

The second part of prayer is to commit myself to God’s will. I give Him my life. Notice it says,
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven.” Circle “your will”. God has a will for your life. A specific will for your
life. Success is knowing the will of God and getting right in the center of it. Part of prayer is
saying, “God, what is your will for me today? I want to know Your will. I want to do your will.”
The problem is, God’s will is not always done. That’s why we’re to pray, “Your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.” Why? Because in heaven, God’s will is done perfectly. On earth it is
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not done perfectly. We’re saying, “God, what’s happening in heaven, I want you to do it in my
life. Put heaven in my life.” I give God my love and then I give Him my life. I say, I want to
submit to You. I want to be involved in Your will. I want to do what You want me to do.” God
has a specific will. The Bible says in Romans 12 that His will is good and perfect and it fits.

There are two or three attitudes you can use to phrase this – “Your will be done.” You can say it
in resentment—“Thy will be done, but I don’t like it.” Or you can say it in resignation—“Thy
will be done, because I can’t help it.” Or you can say it in anticipation—“Thy will be done,
because, God I know it is the best and that’s what I want for my life today!” I give You my love.
I give You my life. I want Your will in my life.

Remember the show years ago on television, “Father Knows Best”. Your Heavenly Father
knows best. That’s what it means to say, “Thy will be done” God, I want to give You my love
and now I want to give You my life.

Once you have done those two things – you have given God your love and you have given God
your life – then Jesus says there are four other requests that you can make that categorize every
need you’re ever going to have.

3. PROVISION: I give God my worries

v. 11 “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread represents the necessities of life -- your
physical needs, your material needs. God wants you to pray instead of worry. When you pray
for things then you don't have to worry about them. He's promised to provide all our needs.
Philippians 4:19 "My God shall supply all of your needs."

It's interesting the phrase "daily bread". Circle "daily". The word daily in the Greek is the word
epiousios. The only time this word is used in all of Greek literature is right here. It's only used
once in the Bible and it's not found in any other Greek document in history. Many Bible
scholars thought Matthew made the word up, until in 1945 when they discovered the Dead Sea
Scrolls. They found a little fragment of paper at the side in the cave. It was a shopping list -- a
several thousand year old shopping list. That word was on the shopping list -- epiousios. It was
a category of things to buy at the market which represented perishables. They didn't have
refrigerators in those days so some things you had to buy every day. He's saying, "Give me
today what I need for today so I don't have to worry about it."

What do you need today? Energy to make it through the day? Finances? Wisdom? Give me
today my daily bread. Remember manna in the Old Testament? God gave it, God provided it,
but it spoiled if you tried to keep it longer than a day. God wanted them to trust Him moment by
moment.

Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." You've got two alternatives: panic or pray. I
don't think we really believe this verse. It says, in everything. Circle that. You can pray about
everything. I would be embarrassed to tell you some of the prayer requests I've made in my life.
Some are kind of silly or petty or not really of major importance. But it doesn't embarrass God.
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God says you can pray about everything. Have you got an ingrown toenail? You can pray about
it. You got a tough decision to make today? Pray about it. Whatever. Anything that is worth
worrying about, is worth praying about. If we prayed as much as we worried, we'd have a lot
less to worry about. Give God your worries.

Nothing is too great for God's power. Nothing is too insignificant for His care. You can talk to
Him about anything. I have discovered that the more specific I am, the quicker God is able to
answer the prayer. When you say, "God, bless me", what does that mean? God, give me a
bunch of things? How are you going to know if He answered it or not? What's a blessing?
Sometimes a blessing is a problem. You'd better be careful when you pray, “God, bless me.”

Be specific. I remember when Kay and I were praying for a home. We needed a home to live in
down here. I prayed very specifically. I wrote it down in my prayer journal four things:
I want a place with a view.
I want a place with pine trees on the property. I grew up in the country, in a little town of
less than 1000.
I want a spa.
I want a dark room.

You tell me the likelihood of finding a house like that in the Saddleback Valley with all four of
those things. Yet that's exactly what God gave us. Exactly. I challenge you to be specific. Get
specific.

You know why you're not specific? Because you're afraid to back God in a corner. If you want
to learn how to be specific, listen to the prayers of your kids. I pray with my two older ones,
Amy and Joshua, 7 and 5. Some of their prayers are so specific I'm thinking, "God, how are
You going to get out of this one?" I've developed the habit of anytime I have a major request, I
delegate it to my kids because they're a lot more specific than I am. Now for a year and a half,
my kids have been praying for land for the church, every night, "Dear God, we're waiting on
You for the land." I didn't tell them, they remember it on their own. Someday when we get it,
we'll put up a little monument, "Prayed here by Amy and Josh". Kids are incredibly specific.
They don't have any problem believing God. If God said it, they believe it.

Notice it says, "Do not be anxious about anything [don't worry] but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving..." underline "with thanksgiving". When you pray, be specific and do
it with thanksgiving.

Last week we took the whole family and went grocery shopping together. We came out, loaded
all the groceries in the car. We were talking about how great it was -- all the selection -- I said,
"Why don't we stop right here and thank God for groceries?" Right in the parking lot, in our
jeep, we prayed around. Everybody in the family prayed and thanked God for the groceries.

I'm trying to teach my kids gratitude. Gratitude is the healthiest emotion, psychologists say, that
you can have. The more gratitude, the more grateful you are, the more you develop the attitude
of appreciation for other people and your family and others and to God, the healthier you are

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emotionally. It says pray with thanksgiving. We thanked God for the money to buy groceries,
the selection we had. We developed a chain of thanksgiving.

God says here's how you pray. First, praise -- I give God my love. Second, purpose -- I give
life. Then he says provision -- I give God my worries.

4. PARDON: I give God my guilt.

"…forgive us our debts..." That's the next category of prayer. All of us have regrets. All of us
make mistakes. All of us fall short. I don't come up to my own standard, much less God's. It's
not very hard to admit you're not perfect.

I was listening on a radio station to one of these talk show psychologists. A guy called in
consumed with guilt. The guy was devastated. He was pouring his heart out to this doctor on
the radio. He said, "Doctor, I want to know, how can I get rid of my guilt?" This talk show
psychologist said, "You can't. You've got to learn to live with it." I wanted to say, "Wait a
minute! Give me the phone number. Let me call that guy. I know the secret!" He doesn't have
to go through life filled with guilt.

There is no reason in the world that you leave this place today and have guilt. None at all! God
has made a provision for that. It is called confession. You don't repress it. You don't suppress it.
You confess it. That's how you get rid of guilt. God says, "I will cleanse you" and He forgives
us instantly, totally, completely, freely, continuously. He says one of the benefits of prayer is
that I can unload my guilt. There is no reason a Christian should carry guilt in his life day after
day. None at all. If you are, you're not taking advantage of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. I
give God my guilt.

God wants to forgive you. He says that over and over. When you come to God and you confess
your sins to Him, you don't beg God ("God, please! Pretty please with sugar on it!"). You don't
have to beg Him. And you don't have to bargain with God ("God, if you forgive me, I will
never do it again.") If that's your area of weakness, you'll be back there within a day or two.
You don't have to bribe -- "God, if You'll forgive me, I promise to always read my Bible. I'll
take notes on all of Pastor Rick's sermons." You don't have to beg, you don't have to bargain,
you don't have to bribe.

You simply have to believe. You believe that you are forgiven. That's what He's saying.
"Forgive us our debts." I give my worries to God and then I give my guilt to God.

If you ever run out of things to pray in prayer time, what you need to do is get specific about
your sins and your weaknesses. I've discovered that when I talk about my weaknesses and sins, I
never lack for subject matter. In fact, I'm always coming up with new material. There's plenty
of things to talk about in my life that need to be changed.

5. PEOPLE: I give God my hurts.

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Prayer involves other people and our relationship, because relationships are important. "Forgive
us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." People. In life you will be hurt.
Sometimes intentionally. Sometimes unintentionally. How you handle that hurt determines
your happiness. When you bottle up hurt in your life and you hold onto it, that is called
resentment. Somebody hurt you years ago and you're holding onto it, that's called resentment. It
will poison your life. For your own happiness, you must learn to forgive.

v. 14 "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 yours." He's saying if
I don't forgive other people, I am burning the bridge that I've got to cross myself to get to
heaven.

Somebody came to John Wesley one time and said, "I just can't forgive that person! They hurt
me too badly." Wesley said, "Then I hope you never sin." The Bible says forgive and be
forgiven. They are inter-related. For your own sake, let go of the past. If somebody hurt you,
let go of it, release them. That's one of the values of prayer. It helps you unload. Forgiveness is
the only way to get rid of the past. Forgive them and let it go. Get on with life. Forgiveness
erases that videotape of that hurt memory that keeps playing over and over in your mind. Stop
rehearsing it.

In my own marriage, the times I've felt closest to Kay, the times of most intimacy and oneness,
have been times after a major blow-up, an argument. We've worked the thing through. We both
confessed to each other, asked forgiveness, then we pray together. The oneness that comes out
of that kind of experience you can't explain unless you've experienced it.

We let go of our hurts. I give God my love. I give Him my life. I give Him my worries. I give
Him my guilt. I give Him my hurts. This is what prayer is all about. See how practical it is?

Then he says...

6. PROTECTION: I give God my fears and my temptations.

"... And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." That's protection.

Two questions:

1. In what area do you need self-control? What is out of control in your life?

2. What scares you the most? The fear of failure? The fear of bad health? The fear of a
divorce? The fear of rejection? The fear of the future? What scares you the most?

Jesus says that those are the two things you ought to be talking to the Lord about. That is prayer
material. The areas where you're most tempted, you ought to be praying about. And the areas
that scare you to death, that's what you ought to be praying about. That is prayer material. God
understands.
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Hebrews 4:15 talks about Jesus Christ, why we can come to Him with our hurts and our
temptations and our fears. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet without
sin." This is talking about Jesus. The Bible says Jesus came to earth, He walked around for 33
years, and it says He experienced every temptation known to man, the same ones we do. It is
not a sin to be tempted. It is a sin to give in to temptation. The closer you get to God, the more
you will be tempted.

The Bible says Jesus experienced all the temptations. The devil pulled out all the stops. If he
had any greater ones, he would have used them. He experienced the greatest temptations ever
and yet He didn't give in. The Bible says when I come and I pray, "God, I'm struggling in this
area. I'm just not making it here. I keep stumbling. I keep falling," God understands because
Jesus has been there. He knows what it's like. He knows what it's like to be single and deal with
those kinds of temptations. He knows what it's like to want to be depressed, to want to be angry,
lash back, to be misunderstood, to be lonely. He understands it all. Every temptation.

Then it says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." We can have confidence and come before
God knowing that when I pray, no matter what it is, God understands. He's been there. He
knows what it's like. He understands so you can come with confidence and find help at a time of
need.

Do you notice what Jesus is saying here in the model prayer? He is saying that prayer is the
antidote to life's four most damaging emotions. You give your love to God, you give your life to
God and then He says, you give Him your worries, your guilt, your resentment and your fears.
Those are the four greatest damaging emotions in life. That's what prayer is all about. Unload it
on God. That's why prayer is a stress reliever not a stress producer.

There's an overlooked element that many, many people miss. What is the powerful key to
prayer?

"OUR Father... give US ... OUR daily bread ... forgive US ... OUR debts ... as WE have forgiven
OUR debtors ... lead US not into temptation ... deliver US ..." All of the nouns are plural. It
does not say, "My Father give me my daily bread. Forgive me my debts and lead me not into
temptation, deliver me." What is the powerful key?

III. THE POWERFUL KEY TO PRAYER: Praying together.

Praying with other people. That is a powerful key. Many hundreds of thousands of Christians
miss out of so much in their life because they only pray by themselves. Jesus, when He laid out
how we pray said, we pray together. There is power in group prayer.

Experiment I read about recently: A psychologist named Dr. William Parker did a psychological
test case, a study, for over nine months to discover, to find out, if prayer rightly understood and
practiced would equal the treatment of psychotherapy.
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They got three different control groups. They all had emotional needs, crises, stress in their life
and were having different kinds of personal problems.

Group one over the nine months was given weekly individual counseling sessions.

Group two were made up of random pray-ers. They said, just pray about your problems.
Go home and pray about them.

Group three was a prayer group that was to meet weekly for a couple hour session to talk,
study the Bible, pray together.

At the end of nine months the tests revealed the following:

1. Those receiving individual psychotherapy showed 65% improvement.

2. The group that randomly prayed showed no improvement at all.

3. Group three, the group that prayed together and discussed and shared on a weekly basis
72% improvement.

There is power in group prayer. Do you have problems? It's because you're not sharing with
other believers in the body of Christ. You're not getting the support that you need. You're not
learning to pray with others. People say, "I just pray by myself." Then you're missing out on
one of the major benefits of being a Christian. You're missing out.

Matthew 18. Jesus said, "I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for
it will be done by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them." That's the power of praying with other people.

The question is this: Who am I consistently praying with on a regular basis? Who are you
praying with, on a regular basis?

In four weeks we're going to start the Saddleback small groups. You've been hearing about them.
Groups are not a gimmick. It's not some program. We've studied scripture and believe that this
is the church. God says we're to get together in groups. Encourage each other, pray for each
other, support each other. I would encourage you to sign up for one of those groups. Begin
thinking right now, "I'm going to become a part of one of those groups when they start." You
say you don't have time. Make time. You'd have a whole lot less hassles and problems if you'd
get into a group and learn to pray with other people. Last week we talked about the importance
of studying the Bible together. We interact, get ideas, share, question, answer, get’ insight.
Praying together is the power of prayer. You say you've never prayed with anybody before and
it scares you to death, you'd be intimidated. Relax. To pray in front of this many people here
today, that would be scary. When you get together with five or six other friends, you don't have
to pray if you don't want to. You can sit there and be quiet. Then over a period of weeks you
feel comfortable and develop and feel comfortable with people and you begin to pray. You'll
find a new level of stability in your life. Let God teach you.
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A couple of suggestions. If you've never prayed with other people before start by praying aloud
when you're alone. Hear the sound of your own voice. Pray aloud. I do most of my praying,
more than any other place, on the freeway. I'm driving down the road and talking aloud to the
Lord, "Lord, here's some things I want to talk with you about today." It takes me about 20-25
minutes to get to the church -- We live in Laguna Niguel. Every Sunday, all the way to church,
I just pray aloud the whole way. Talking to the Lord.

Then begin to pray at meals. Our family holds hands together. Sometimes we pray sentence
prayers. Thank you prayers.

It will unlock a new level of joy in your life. You'll find yourself dealing with stress a whole lot
better. I guarantee it on the authority of God's word.

Do you want to make contact with God this morning? Isn't it amazing how many different ways
people try to make contact with God? Seances. Hypnotism. Reading tea leaves. Astrology.
Different kinds of things. Trying to make contact with God.

You don't have to go to some seance to make contact with God? Jesus made it very simple, very
clear. It's called prayer.

Prayer:

Making contact with God is neither scary nor spooky nor difficult. You don't even have to
close your eyes. Let's make contact with God this morning. First, let go of all your old
ideas about prayer -- those preconceived ideas about the agony and guilt-ridden duty, God's
going to think more of me if I pray and less of me if I don't. That's not what grace is all
about. Prayer is a privilege. Would you just let go of those old ideas? First remember that
God wants you to be real. You don't have to impress anybody. You don't even have to
impress God. He can read your mind. It's just conversation, just talking with God about
what's on your heart. Be real.

Next, relax. Just take a deep breath. Just forget everybody else is around you and just focus
in on Him just for a minute. Calm yourself down and get still. "Be still and know that I am
God." Be real and relaxed.

Then reveal yourself. Tell God exactly how you feel right now. "Father, I want You to
know this is the way I feel. ... I feel a little tense right now. ... I'm tired right now. ... Father,
I don't even know what to pray right now." That's ok. I've often come to God in prayer and
said, "God, I don't even know what to say to You." That's a prayer in itself. Say, "Lord, I
don't even know what to say."

Then, let's do what Jesus told us to do. First, give God your love. That's called praise.
Thank Him for who He is. "God, thank You that You're loving. Thank You that You are
faithful even when I am unfaithful. Thank You that You're big enough for my problems.
Thank You that You care for eerie detail of my life. "Hallowed be Your name." Thank
You for who You are.
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Give God your love. Tell Him you love Him. "Lord, I love You, and I want to love You
more." Then give God your life. "Lord, Father, Your will be done. Father, I want Your
will to be done in my life today. I want to know Your plan for my life. I want to know
Your purpose. I know You didn't make me by accident. I know that You have a purpose
for my life. Father, I want to submit to it. Whatever it is, Thy will be done in my life. I
look forward with anticipation because I know You know best." Give God your life.

Next, Jesus said give God your worries. What do you need on a daily basis? Do you need
more energy? Some of you need financial help. Some of you need wisdom. Some of you
don't feel good and you need healing. You need help. "God, give me enough strength to
make it through this day." He won't give you strength for next year but He will give it to
you for today. Give God your worries. Whatever you're worrying about, right now,
mention it to Him.

Then give God your guilt. Be specific right now. I commit sins one by one, I ought to
name them one by one, not just say, "Forgive all the things I've done wrong." I committed
them individually. I ought to confess them individually. Say, "Father, I know I've been
selfish at home. I admit that I've been demanding at home.” Or, “I've been unkind. Father,
I have the tendency to exaggerate." Whatever… mention it to Him.

Give God your hurts. Let go of them right now. Somebody hurt you this past week. They
said an unkind thing. They did an unkind thing. They took advantage of you. They took
you for granted. Years of hurt have built up. Would you let go of them? Would you
release them for your own sake? Would you forgive? Say, "Father, I forgive them as
You've forgiven me. I want to let them go. I want to release them. I want to let go of that
hurt." "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

Then give God your temptations and fears. What's out of control in your life? Give it to
God. That's prayer material. "God, this is out of control in my life. I can't control my
temper. God, I can't control my wandering thoughts. I can't control my appetite. I can't
control this dependency. I can't control my tendency to..." Give it to God. What are you
afraid of? "I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all fears." Say,
"God, I'm scared to death about the future... or this new job... or that I'm out of work... or
that I've got a problem... or that I'll never get married." Give Him your fears. "Help me,
please!"

Some of you are saying, "I've heard all this before." You probably have. But it's one thing
to hear about prayer and it's another thing to do what the Bible says. If you're really serious
about growing as a Christian, I'm going to ask you to make two commitments this morning
in your heart. One, I'm going to challenge you to get a prayer partner, somebody you can
pray with every week. Call them on the phone. Call them at work. Say, "These are our
prayer requests this week. Let's pray together." There's power in group prayer. Get a
prayer partner. You need one.

Two, I'm going to ask you to commit yourself to joining a small group. Make time in your
schedule. It will be the most stabilizing factor that you can imagine -- even more stabilizing
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than coming on Sunday morning. There is power in praying together, studying together,
sharing together. Commit yourself to joining a small group.

Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You that prayer is not mystical mumbo jumbo or
something that was created to give us guilt, but to relieve us that we might be released of
these damaged emotions of worry and fear and hurt and resentment and guilt. We give You
our love. We give You our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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