Preaching on Prayer

Reading: Matthew 5:1-12

 

Oct 2nd the birthday of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. His favorite passage in the Bible was the Sermon on the Mount. A portion of this Sermon (Mt 5:3-10) is engraved in the Gandhi Memorial in the city of Chennai. Reading through the Sermon on the Mount once a month will keep our walk trim before God and man.

 

Matthew 5 through 7 can be actually called a Sermon on Prayer. Here the Lord elaborates more on prayer than any other subject. At the very heart of this passage is a prayer which we call the Lord's Prayer (6:9-13). The priority Christ demands for prayer in our life cannot be over stressed. We shall be meditating on these passages today and the next four days.

 

 Mt 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

 

Prayer is a great sanctifier. A sinning man stops praying and a praying man stops sinning. The passion for righteousness should outrank our physical hunger and thirst. E.M. Bounds (1835-1913), an Apostle of Prayer, said, "Prayer and a holy life are one. The absence of one is the absence of the other."

 

 Mt 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."

 

Do not rush into prayer inadvertently. The heart must be quietened and mind calmed to see if there is any wicked way in us. Our prayers should begin with, "Search me, O God!" Hidden and confessed sin weakens prayer. It hides God's face (Isa 59:2). Take time to be holy!

 

 Mt 5:23,24, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled and then come and offer your gift."

 

Prayer is an altar. Cain must get right with Abel if God should accept his offering. While talking about reconciliation, we are not to find who is on the wrong. The one who comes to the altar should take the initiative to reconcile. A clear conscience means being right with God as well as with man. A. B. Simpson (1843-1919), the Founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, has this observation: "The spirit of prayer is essentially a spirit of love."