Welcome back to Pastor Scott’s thoughts! In this weekly post, I give a little sneak peek at what we will be discussing in my sermon this week at The Shores Church. If you are looking for a “church near me”, and you live in the Saint Clair Shores be sure to join us at 10:30 AM this Sunday!

This week we reach the middle of our series, “Follow Me” and we are looking at 7 Traits of A Spirit-Filled Disciple. Today’s topic is prayer. So let’s get ready to dive into the topic and hopefully begin to grow your desire to be a person of prayer. We will be exploring Matthew 6 in just a moment, but I want to set up the passage first.

In Matthew 4, we see the beginning of his ministry. It starts with Jesus in the wilderness; listen to this…

In this passage, we can see all of the traits of a Spirit-Filled Disciple that we have already discussed….

Jesus is the personification of the word and is speaking it to Satan.
Jesus is Fasting, Praying, and worshipping the father.
Preparing to serve humanity and reunite them with the Father.
And who led Jesus to this moment? The Spirit leads him to this moment.

After this moment, Jesus calls the disciples and begins His public ministry, and we see the first substantial teaching occur in Matthew 5 – 7. In this teaching alone, Jesus lays out everything that anyone would need to know, and over the next three years, He lives it out.

First, we see the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:2-11.

Jesus then continues the teaching by addressing the following topics…

Once we are through all of these ideas, Jesus, the word of God made flesh, begins discussing praying. And I think this is intentional. Before we know God’s heart, we must seek out who Jesus is and spend time in His word. Begin to build a vocabulary. And we do that by meeting Jesus and learning to love people.

That being said, let's hear what Jesus says about praying…

I love that Jesus’ ministry comes right out of the gate, teaching us to love God, love people, and seek His kingdom. And notice that Jesus makes a clear distinction about Spirit-Filled Disciples. When you pray and when you fast. It's not if but when. A spirit-filled disciple must make choices to pray and fast. Timing and style and all of that can look different. But if we want to be led by the Spirit, we must make these choices.

Jesus Gives Us A Plan For Prayer

In the first four verses, we discover a plan that will help us pray in a way that is pleasing to the Father and keep us on track. In many ways, this is a simple plan for Prayer.

Praise - Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Praise is an important part of our prayers. We must never forget to honor our heavenly Father. We are creations of the Creator, and it is natural for us to worship Him.

Purpose - "Your kingdom come."

It's easy to forget we are responsible for fulfilling God's purpose in the world. We are a people on a mission, and we should be mindful and sensitive about the work of His Kingdom. Each day we are to be busy doing kingdom business.

Physical needs - "Give us each day our daily bread."

One of the promises that should give us hope for each day is that God indeed supplies our needs. When we pray, it is a part of the instruction of Jesus that we ask the Father for the things we need to make it through each day. Since it is part of His plan for us as we pray, we should never hesitate to ask.

Spiritual needs - "And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us."

There is not a day that goes by that we should not be mindful of God's forgiveness, grace, and compassion. It is a healthy reminder for a congregation to think of themselves as participants in a weekly meeting of sinners anonymous. The sin has been forgiven, and we are set free. But God provides for our spiritual needs, and we should not neglect to ask for that help.

Protection - "And do not bring us into temptation."

It makes sense that the same loving, compassionate, and kind Savior that went to such great lengths to have a relationship with us would also take the time to protect us. His plans and desires for us are much better than anything we might plan ourselves. The problem we have is that sometimes we don't make wise choices. He desires to help us with this.

…but praying is hard for me. What do I do?

START! We often define how to pray by what we see others doing. Experiment and find something that works for you. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say where, when, or with whom. Jesus just tells us to…

Praise God,
Pray for God’s will to be done, his purpose.
For our Physical and Spiritual Needs
In the process of praying for Physical and Spiritual needs, we need to pray the same for others.
Pray for Protection from temptation and sin so we can see God’s Kingdom come to fruition.

As you spend time in the word, your vocabulary builds. As you serve, you see the needs of other people.

As we have freedom in worshiping God, our love for what God has done grows, and we desire to speak with Him more. As we spend time with the Spirit, the Spirit will bring to our minds people to pray for and will bring the words to our minds of what to pray for.

Just. Start. Praying!

What Does This Look Like For Us?

Pre-School

· Know that Prayer is talking and listening to God

· Believe that God answers Prayer

· Pray for others

Elementary

· Disciples begin to develop a daily habit of Prayer and to learn about fasting.

· Disciples enjoy talking to God, listening to God, and telling God how they feel and what they need, expecting Him to move.

· Disciples take the initiative to pray for others when they learn of a need and learn to pray out loud in group settings.

Youth

· Disciples learn to hear and obey God’s voice, begin to distinguish His leading from their good ideas, and trust God when He answers.

· Disciples understand their partnership with God in intercessory Prayer and begin to understand spiritual warfare, continuing to trust God for salvation, healing, reconciliation and understanding that Christ brings victory.

· Disciples begin to experience times of solitude in God’s presence and regularly engage in corporate Prayer for God’s mission to go forward.

· Disciples learn to manage their emotions by bringing all their feelings and needs to God.

· Disciples learn to walk in forgiveness, enjoying God’s mercy and offering it to others.

Adult

· Disciples learn to hear and obey God’s voice, are able to discern His leading from their good ideas, and trust God when He answers.

· Disciples partner with God in intercessory Prayer and spiritual warfare, trusting Him for salvation, deliverance, healing, reconciliation for all, and affirm that Christ brings victory over all opposing forces of evil.

· Disciples enjoy solitude in God’s presence and regularly engage in corporate Prayer for God’s mission to go forward.

· Disciples manage their emotions by bringing all their feelings and needs to God.

· Disciples walk in forgiveness, enjoying God’s mercy and offering it to others.

Want to dive deeper into this topic? Watch the sermon here!