LUKE 11:1-4 A PATTERN FOR PRAYER2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 11:1-4 A Pattern For Prayer

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, as we begin our time in the Word this morning, I would begin by asking you the question, who taught you how to pray? Who taught you how to pray? It's an important question because, well, how do you know that you're doing it right? How do you know that when you pray, you're doing it well, that you...

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Have the right approach to prayer in your life.

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You and I, we have a great opportunity this morning to sit in the classroom with the disciples to hear the great instructor, Jesus himself, teach them how to pray. And so we're looking at this morning a pattern for prayer. Jesus provides his disciples with this pattern that we can consider, that we can follow, and there's some great advantages that we have as a result.

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It begins in verse 1 when it says, And so this account begins with Jesus spending time in prayer. And so there he is, he's praying, he's alone with the Father, and yet the disciples are there.

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And the disciples, it seems, are just kind of hanging out. You know, they're lounging around, they're kicking back, and there is Jesus praying to the Father. And when Jesus is finished, one of the disciples approaches him and says...

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Would you teach us to pray? You know, they've been watching him pray. They've been perhaps seeing the fruits of prayer in his life and in his ministry. And so there the disciples are watching and they're waiting. And they see this is an opportunity for us to learn how to pray like Jesus prays. Now this gives us a little bit of insight about prayer. Because prayer, as we discover here, as we look at it, it's not...

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Amen.

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And so Jesus, as they ask him to teach them how to pray, he says, okay, in verse two, he says, so he said to them, when you pray, say, and then he goes on to lead them in what we refer to often as the Lord's Prayer.

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Now this prayer that Jesus provides is not meant to be a prayer that is only recited verbatim. That it's, you know, you only say it word for word and that's how this prayer is used or that's the purpose of this prayer. We also see this prayer recorded in Matthew chapter 6.

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And in verse 9 of Matthew 6, Jesus says, And so Jesus is explaining that this is a pattern. This is a model to follow. It's not, you know, an exact magic formula. That if you use the right exact words, then, you know, all your wishes will be fulfilled. That's not what this prayer is. It's a pattern. It's an example.

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It's a model for us so that we can pray in a similar fashion. And you know, it's good for us to have a pattern when it comes to prayer because it does help us think through our prayer and it opens up things that we would not have thought about.

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You know, very often in our prayer lives, we get caught up in our routines and we become kind of, you know, familiar with the situations that we pray for. We pray the same words often or the same types of things. We lift up the same types of needs and it becomes a little bit routine.

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Very often. And so this type of pattern is really good for us to help, you know, push out the boundaries so that we extend the scope of our prayer to not just those favorite topics or favorite needs, but that we really spend a good time in prayer with the Lord on things that really matter.

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Now also I would say that this is not the only way to pray. That you know, hey, if you don't pray this way, it wasn't a valid prayer, it didn't work. You know, so make sure you always pray this way. You can look at other times in the Gospels where Jesus prayed to the Father. And you can see he didn't use these exact words every time. He didn't use this exact pattern every time. So that's not the point, that it's only this way.

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The point is, this is a pattern for us to follow. It's a great example for us to work through and to consider to enrich our prayer lives. This word for prayer that's being used throughout this passage is not a specific kind of prayer, but it's kind of a general reference to prayer. And so it includes, you know, everything that we think of in prayer. It includes those petitions and requests and presenting our needs, and

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It also includes that praise and thanksgiving to God for what he has done. It's a general reference to prayer. And so as we look at prayer in general, we have this pattern that Jesus provides. And so there's six points I'd like to share with you in this pattern. The first of which we find in verse 2 as Jesus begins the prayer. And that is recognition. Recognition.

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As we consider this pattern, one of the first elements that we see is recognition. As Jesus says in verse 2, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Recognition. When we pray, we begin first by recognizing who it is that we are praying to. First we recognize who He is. He says, Our Father in

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Who are we praying to? Well, we're praying to our Father, our Heavenly Father, our Creator. It's a great word that's used here in Father in that it describes to us the kind of relationship that God desires to have with us. The way that God views us. That He's not, you know, some impersonal distant force, but He's a Father to us. Jesus will...

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Use this illustration yet further in verses 11 through 13 later on in this passage. We'll get to that in the next week or so. But the point is that God relates to us as a father. It's an indication of the type of relationship that we have with him. That we get to come to him as his children.

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That He cares for us as a father cares for his children. It's an illustration to help us understand the relationship that God desires to have with us. He is our Heavenly Father, our loving Father. Sometimes we get this kind of mistaken notion in our head that

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You know, the father is kind of grumpy. He's a little bit angry. And he's the one who wants to judge the world. And it's only Jesus standing in between and saying, no, don't do it, don't do it. That's why we're not destroyed. You know, that he's the only reason. But that's not a picture that the Bible paints for us. That's just a picture that we get in our minds sometimes. The Bible says, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.

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You see, the Father loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die upon the cross for your sin and my sin, to pay the price that we could have that relationship with Him and access to the Father. And so the point is, we have this relationship. He's our Father. This is interesting as you compare this to many of the prayers of the Old Testament.

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It's an indication here of the access that we have to God because they didn't have this kind of personal connection to God. They didn't begin with, you know, our Father. But they were referring to God. They were referring to the Creator. But in Christ, we have a much closer relationship. And so we recognize who He is. He is our Father.

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Our creator who loves us and wants to have that father-child relationship with us. Well, we also recognize where he is. Recognizing who he is, but also where he is. He's in heaven. He's in heaven. He is where we want to be. In heaven, he has, well, he has a great vantage point. He can see the beginning and the end and everything in between and all of the hidden things.

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You and I, we of course have earthly fathers. And earthly fathers do their best to help their kids, to direct their kids, to lead and guide their kids. They do their best, but they are limited because they're earthly. They don't know everything. They know a lot more than we do, but they don't know everything. Our heavenly father though, he's in a different place. He really does know everything. He can see it all. He knows it all.

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And he's where we want to be. So as we begin to pray, we're recognizing who he is, but also where he is. Well, he's where we want to be. And he wants to bring us to himself. We'll see that thought continued on a little bit further. So we recognize who he is, where he is, but also what he is. Because Jesus says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Now the word hallowed is not a word that you probably use unless you're quoting this prayer. So it's probably not one that you're real familiar with. The word hallowed, it simply means to sanctify or to set apart. It's related to the word sanctification or the word holy. Again, it's that idea of being set apart. Jesus is reminding us here that God is holy.

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As you say, hallowed be your name, you're saying you are holy. You are set apart. Our Father in heaven is a holy God. He is far separated from everything that you know and everything that you've ever experienced. This means that God is nothing like us. You and I, we only know things that have been affected by sin.

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We only know people that have been affected by sin. And we only know what we know and the things that we think which are affected by sin. Wherever you go, wherever you look, there's the effects of sin. It's affected us. And it affects the way that we think, the way that we relate to people. And it affects everyone around us. We know nothing apart from the effects of sin. God, on the other hand, He is God.

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holy. He is set apart. He is set apart from sin. Completely sinless and perfect. Which means that we have maybe these very crude parallels. Father and a child, for example, in the relationship that, you know, it's a picture of the relationship that God wants to have with us. But it's just like a tiny little grasp of really who he is. And in reality, he is far superior, far greater than

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then we can begin to comprehend because we only know things and people that are affected by sin. While God is perfect, sinless, absolutely and completely. And so as we begin in prayer, Jesus says, look, here's the pattern. Start with recognition. When you pray, recognize who it is that you're talking to. You have a unique relationship with him. He's your father. He loves you.

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He's also holy and set apart, perfect. There's no darkness in Him at all. And so first we need to remember who we are praying to. Well, the second thing that we find as we continue on now in verse 2 is expectation. As we follow this pattern that Jesus paints for us, it's expectation that we need to have in our prayer. And He says in verse 2, Your kingdom come.

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So he says, here's the model. Here's the pattern. Have an expectant heart for God's kingdom to be established. Have an expectant heart for God's kingdom to be fulfilled. Here as we recognize who the Father is, now Jesus says, okay, first things first. Before you go any farther in your prayer, remember the final goal. Remember the end game, the end result. What are we looking for? Eternity with God.

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You know, this is following the pattern that Jesus gave us in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. We all know that verse, right? It's a famous verse. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. And we'll come back to this verse in a couple verses down from here. But the point is, seek first the kingdom of God. That's what we're doing even in the midst of our prayer. Saying, your kingdom come.

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Looking to the fulfillment of God's kingdom. Because heaven is what we are longing for. What your heart desires, where you want to be, is heaven. And yet we forget. That's what we're longing for, but we forget. We get distracted by the things that are right in front of us.

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We have these situations right in front of us. Whether they be, you know, luxuries and great things and oh, you know, I want to go do these things. It'd be so great and so fun. Or sometimes we get distracted by difficulty and pain. It's so hard and hurtful and oh, there's just this huge mess and how am I going to get out of these problems? And we get distracted from the end result. What is it that we're longing for? What is it that we really need?

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We need his kingdom to come. And so here Jesus calls us to look to eternity. Eternity is our hope. Eternity is our promise. It's in eternity that all wrongs will be made right. All injustices will be corrected. It's in eternity that all of those promises that we love to hold on to from God are ultimately and finally fulfilled. Here in this life we get little snippets of fulfillment.

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And it's great and it's very exciting as you see God work and those promises fulfilled. But the full and final fulfillment of them is in eternity. You know, we hold on to the promise of Romans 8, 28. All things work together for good. But very often we don't see the fulfillment of that promise in this life. We might see little glimpses of that promise being fulfilled. But it's in eternity that we can see the real fulfillment. As we look back and we realize...

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God has worked all things together for good. Eternity is our promise. It's where we receive our promised new bodies. Where we don't have to deal with sin anymore. We'll be perfect. And have that perfect fellowship and communion with God. Those promises are fulfilled. Maybe...

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This promise is more familiar to you. Revelation chapter 21 verse 4. It says, there in eternity, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. That's the promise that is fulfilled in eternity. And so Jesus, as he gives us this pattern, he says, look to eternity. And it's amazing how an eternal perspective changes.

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can change everything. Where you come to God at first in a panic, you know, frantic about your situation, but if you'll zoom out a little bit and take in the eternal perspective, how it changes the situation dramatically. It changes your heart, your approach, your attitude dramatically. Apart from Christ, you know, the worst thing that can happen is death.

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But in Christ, that changes. When you have the hope of eternity, this expectation of His kingdom. Well, death is the entrance into the rest of eternity. It's the beginning of that life in eternity with the Lord. It's a dramatic difference. It's a big change. And so when you pray, look to eternity. Remember where your hope is. It's in the fulfillment of God's promises.

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That take place in eternity. Well as we continue on in verse 2. We find the third point in this pattern that Jesus gives us for prayer. And that is submission. Submission. There he goes on in verse 2 to say. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now this one may be a bit challenging. We don't really like the word submission. We're familiar with it. It's not like it's a foreign word. But it's not necessarily a comfortable word either.

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Here's the reality that you and I have to face. As we say, your will be done, if that's your genuine prayer, that requires submission. That requires you saying, God, I want your will. I choose your will. I submit to your will. And that can be hard because many times, God's will includes some difficult things, some painful things.

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You can see a very clear example of that as you look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. There He is just hours before He's going to the cross and He's praying to the Father. And He's praying with great intensity. He tells His disciples, My heart is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. He's just overwhelmed, broken hearted. He's praying with such fervency and intensity that great drops of blood are falling.

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Coming off of him. I'm sorry, great drops of sweat mixed with blood are coming off of him. That there's this fervency. He's praying. What's he praying? He says, Father, if there's any way, let this cut pass from me. He's saying, Father, if it's possible for these people to be forgiven, to be saved, to have the hope of eternity. If it's possible any other way, let it be that way. If there's another way besides the cross,

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Let's go that route, Father. But then he concludes the prayer saying, Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. You see here, Jesus is submitting. He's saying, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, I think we would all agree, the cross was a difficult, painful, agonizing thing. Yet it was part of the will of God. It was part of the will of God. When God's will...

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includes hard things, you can rest assured that it's for good reason. When God's will includes painful things, you can rest assured that it is for good reason. Again, looking at this example of Jesus there in the garden. He's submitting to the will of God. He goes to the cross. It's a hard thing. It's a painful thing. It's agonizing and difficult. But at the same time, it's the greatest accomplishment of humanity.

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Because through his death upon the cross, you and I have the opportunity to be saved, to be forgiven, to have the hope of heaven. So it's for good reason. It's not just, you know, for nothing or just because when God's will includes hard and difficult things in our lives. He's accomplishing victories, but we need to be in submission to his will. Remember who he is.

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And remember where he is. He has the vantage point to see all of eternity. We're in the midst of it and we can't see any possible good coming from this situation, from this tragedy, from this struggle. But from his vantage point, he can see the end result. He can see how it works all together for good. And that's how he can promise he works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Because God wants what's best for you.

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He wants what's best for you because he loves you dearly. And so Jesus gives us this point. Submission. Your will be done. I want God's will. Is that your heart? Can you say that? Maybe just say it out loud just to practice. I want God's will. That was pretty weak. Tell your neighbor. Sound sincere about it. I want God's will. God wants what's best for you. He's got great plans for you. From his vantage point, he can see

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How it all works out. And so we can pray. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So when you pray, submit to God. Remember that He plans what is best for you. Well, continuing on now into verse 3, we see the fourth point in Jesus' pattern. And that is provision. Provision.

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As we're learning how to pray, now we come to the point where we get to present our needs before the Lord. Verse 3 says, Give us day by day our daily bread. Give us day by day our daily bread. We've spent some time considering who He is, where He is, looking forward to His kingdom being established and submitting to His will and His purposes. Now,

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we can present our needs before the Lord. David Guzik says, this is a prayer that puts God's interests first. It is His name, His kingdom, and His will that are primary. Our needs are addressed secondarily. Following this pattern of prayer helps us to have the right perspective. It helps us to see more accurately that we can pray with clarity.

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Because God must come first. Now, there is the place for us to present our needs. But consider where we're at by this time. We've remembered that our loving, all-powerful Father in heaven, who promises eternity and has the best plans for me, is the one that I'm addressing. And so,

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Although we might enter into that time of prayer in a frantic, you know, and just in a frenzy, just stressed out, overwhelmed. By this time in the prayer, we, well, we should be able to now rest as we remember. We should be able to trust as we remember and recognize who it is that we're talking to. We may have started out desperate and frantic, but now we can rest in Him because we've got our priorities straight.

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First things are first. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus goes through quite a lengthy discourse on the subject of worry. And he's teaching the people not to worry. And saying, look, you don't have to worry. In fact, he commands us, don't worry. In verse 31 of Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says, therefore do not worry, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear?

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He says, for after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. So Jesus is teaching, this is the conclusion of that teaching on worry, and he says, don't worry. Don't be worried about what you're going to eat, or what you're going to wear, or what you're going to drink. God knows that you have those needs. We don't pray to give God information. God, I don't think you know. I need to make sure you're informed. I'm hungry.

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He knows your needs. We're not praying to give him information. He knows that you have those needs. So he says, don't worry. But then it goes into verse 33 of Matthew 6, which says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. So that's the contrast in the completion of the thought.

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As he's saying, look, don't worry about what you're going to eat and what you're going to wear and what you're going to drink. God knows you have those things. So seek first the kingdom of God and all those other needs will be taken care of. That God will meet your needs. But notice the priority. Seek first the kingdom of God.

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That we need to put God and His kingdom first. And we've been doing that in this pattern with the recognition and expectation and submission. We've been putting Him first. But now is the opportunity for us to pray about all these things that will be added unto us. Jesus doesn't say, don't pray for all those things. He says, don't worry about all those things.

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You don't have to be stressed out and anxious about those things. But that doesn't mean that you can't pray about them and present your needs before the Lord. You have needs. So present them before the Lord. Perhaps your need is, well, bread. You need some food. Present your need before God. Maybe it's housing. You're in a situation and you don't know where you're going to live.

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Present your need before the Lord. Maybe it's a spouse. Maybe it's healing. Whatever the case may be. You have needs. Present them to the Lord. Pray for those things. It's not that you can't pray for those. It's not that God doesn't want you to pray for those. The priority is important. First things first. Seek first the kingdom of God. But then also cast your cares upon Him. For He cares for you.

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Well, how often do we present these needs and these requests before the Lord? Well, it's interesting. It says, give us day by day our daily bread. Gives the implication, the understanding here. This is not, you know, you pray this once a year. Lord, for the next 365 days, please give me food every day. No, it's continual. As you have need, as the need arises, day by day.

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Present your requests, present your needs before the Lord. So when you pray, ask God to provide. And remember that He wants to meet your needs. He promises to meet your needs. Well now as we go on into verse 4, we see the fifth point in this pattern of prayer. And that is justification. Verse 4 says, And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

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Here we see the idea of forgiveness or justification. The word justified, it's a great word. I always remember it this way. Justified. It means it's just as if I'd never sinned. Justified. Just as if I'd never sinned. When you are justified, you have opportunity to relate to God as if you have never, ever, ever sinned.

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I don't know about you, but this really boggles my mind. This kind of rocks my world. This is like hard to get my mind around. A lot of times you and I, we think of forgiveness this way. Well, I forgive you, but I still remember what you did. That's not how God forgives us. Relates to us just as if we had never sinned. As if you've been flawless your entire life. That you've never made a mistake, not even a tiny one. I mean, this is incredible.

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The forgiveness that we have in Christ Jesus, the access to our Heavenly Father, it's incredible. It's just as if you'd never sinned. It's amazing. Now, why do we pray this? He says, forgive us our sins. What's the purpose of that? Why do we pray this? Because we know as we look at the doctrine of justification that we have been forgiven.

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That it's finished. It's paid in full. When Jesus said it is finished on the cross. That he paid the full price of sin. That all sin. Past, present and future. Is forgiven. In Romans chapter 5 verse 1. Paul says therefore. Having been justified. That's past tense. Done deal. Having been justified. By faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By faith.

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In Christ. In his finished work upon the cross. We are justified. It's just as if we'd never sinned. And that means that your sin. Even the sins that you've yet to commit. They're paid for. They're paid in full. You're forgiven. You have right standing with God. As if you had never sinned. So why do we pray this? If it's already a done deal. Well just like the rest of the prayer. This prayer is really for us. Not for God.

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This is for us, for our sake. This is really dealing with the confession of sin. Just as we recognize who He is, here we're recognizing who we are. Recognizing our sin and our need. You're probably familiar with 1 John 1 verse 9, where John tells us, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's a verse we know and we quote. It's a great promise.

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But it goes on into verse 10. The completion of the thought is, if we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. And so there's a contrast that John is painting here. We either confess our sins or we say that we've not sinned.

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It's not about, you know, the kind of the Catholic idea of you got to go into, you know, the thing and confess each sin individually. That's not what 1 John 1, 9 is about. It's about confessing or agreeing with God that we are sinful. If we say we've not sinned, well, then we're calling God a liar. And so as Jesus is giving us this pattern and he says, forgive us our sins, it's not that, well, Jesus' death upon the cross is

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And then you asking for forgiveness. And then finally that sin is paid for and covered. The idea is, the understanding is that we are agreeing because it's important for us. The sin is paid for. But if we declare, if we say we've not sinned, we're calling God a liar. Instead, we agree with God. We confess our sins. We say, yes, forgive me for my sin. I agree with you, God. I am sinful and I need a Savior.

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And so why do we pray this? Forgive us our sins. Because it's our testimony. It's our agreement. God, I'm sinful. Thank you for the work upon the cross that I can have forgiveness that has been paid in full. Notice the connection that he makes here too. This is pretty challenging. He says, forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who's indebted to us. That's a tough one.

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He makes this connection. It's a direct connection. Forgive us our sins because we forgive everybody else. Wow. Forgiveness of others is important. In fact, God calls us to forgive others just as he forgives us. Jesus elaborates on this further in Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 and 15. You can check it out later on. But he establishes it's a clear connection. As it's often been said, forgiven people

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are forgiving people. That when we are receiving the forgiveness from God, it will prompt us to be forgiving to others around us. There's a direct connection between your forgiveness and how you forgive others. And when you cannot forgive people around you, well, it's an indication that you have forgotten how sinful you are. And you need to go back to 1 John 1.9.

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confess your sins. And He's faithful and just to cleanse you. And so it's an amazing, it's an amazing work of God. Where when you confess your sins, then it's just as if you'd never sinned. You're sinful. And when you agree with God, yes, I'm sinful, then He says, okay, great. Now I'm relating to you. You have access to me as if you've been perfect your entire life. It's amazing the work that God has done. The invitation that He's extended.

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But when we can't forgive people around us, we've forgotten that. And it's our testimony then, I don't have those kinds of issues. I don't struggle with those kinds of things. When we can't forgive, it's tied together because it's tied together. It's not just an arbitrary thing that God says, okay, I'm going to forgive you, but if you don't forgive others, then I take it back and I'm not going to forgive you anymore. No, no, no. The point is, look, if you're receiving the grace of God,

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and you're confessing your sins, and you're being honest, you're agreeing with God, yes, I'm sinful, then you won't be able to do anything else except forgive those who are indebted to you. And Jesus tells a parable about that. You can think about that. I'm not going to go into it because we've got to move on. So the final point of this pattern for prayer is protection. As we see the end of verse 4, it says, And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So protection now.

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concluding the prayer, wrapping it up with, Lord, help us in regards to temptation and the enemy, the evil one. Here, in this part of the prayer, really we're asking God to fulfill His word.

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Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. This part of the prayer as we pray for protection is again an acknowledgement of who we are and our desperate need for God.

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That we are subject to temptation. That we are, well, we're prone to fall in the midst of temptation. That we're weak. That as temptation comes, we're likely to give in and to gratify the lust of the flesh. But here we're asking God, be faithful to your word. Lead us away from temptation. Help us to find that way of escape so that we are not overcome by it.

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David Guzik says, true prayer is always offered knowing how weak we are in ourselves and how much we need the power of God. The word deliver, as he says, deliver us from the evil one. It's a cool word in my mind because it means literally to draw out with force and violence. It doesn't sound very pleasant. But the idea is, hey, if you're in a burning building, you know, you don't want someone to come and kind of gently take your hand. Okay, come with me.

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Right? Your life's on the line. No, I don't care if you pull my arm out of the socket. Yank me out of there. That's the idea of this word deliver. Deliver us from the evil one. This prayer is saying, look, I'm desperate.

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Because I am prey for the enemy. My life is on the line. And I need you to rescue me, to deliver me, to yank me out of there because I will give in to temptation. I'll fall into the traps of the enemy. He will destroy my life and there's nothing I can do. God, you have to deliver me. You have to protect me. It's a cry out for deliverance. A cry out for protection as we recognize and acknowledge how weak we are. And so when you pray,

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Ask God to protect you and remember how much you need him. And so here we have these six points as this pattern for prayer. Again, I would say these things are good for you. This pattern is good to follow because, well, it's important for our own hearts. Understand that our father is not like a Greek myth where, you know, he gets stronger because you pray more.

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Or he gets weaker because you're not praying very much. No. Our God, our Father is independent of you. Your prayer doesn't add anything to him. He doesn't need you. But he wants to have a relationship with you. And he opens up the invitation for you to come. To commune with him. And so this is important for you. It's important to put God first. Not because he needs it. But because you need it. It's important to acknowledge your need.

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To ask for provision and protection because you need it. To ask for forgiveness because it's important for you. And God wants what's best for you. And so he gives us this pattern to pray. God loves it when we pray. But he doesn't need our prayer. He's not reliant upon it. It's us. We're reliant upon it. And so we want to conclude our service this morning in prayer.

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And Vicki and Richard are going to come up and close us in prayer. And they're going to follow this pattern of prayer as an example. So that you can get a better idea that you can follow this pattern. How to follow this pattern. You don't have to quote it verbatim, but you can follow this pattern and spend time with God in prayer. So come on up and

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We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.