Drawing inspiration from an earlier message on prayer, this sermon frames the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern to be understood and applied rather than simply recited, using the image of a believer’s spiritual bank account to explain why prayer often goes unanswered: not because of insufficient provision, but because believers do not know who they are in Christ or how to rightly present that identity before God.
Scripture Reference
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Key Points: Knowing Who You Are Before you Pray
- The message answers three questions about prayer: who, meaning identity in Christ, where, meaning one’s position and place of meeting with God, and how, meaning the approach that gets results.
- Fundamentalists are described as having correct belief without the faith to act on it, while Pentecostals are described as having faith to act without full possession of the word’s revelation, pictured together as a man who can write checks with no money in the bank paired with a man who has money in the bank but cannot write checks.
- Every redemptive blessing is described as already deposited into a believer’s spiritual account through hearing and affirming the word, with prayer functioning as the act of writing a check against that account rather than asking for something not yet provided.
- A story of an impoverished woman who did not realize that valuable money orders were tucked inside her Bible is used to illustrate believers who possess spiritual riches they have never learned to access.
- Praying our Father is presented as a statement of identity and family membership, available only to those who share what Jesus shares with the Father, explained here as being restored, through receiving the word, to a place believers held with Christ before the beginning.
- The word our is explained as designating a specific family rather than a generic address to God, meaning the prayer is only rightly prayed by those who can rightly claim that family identity.
- The message closes partway through the prayer, having covered only the opening phrase our Father, with the remaining phrases promised for a future message.