Lesson Three • The Wording of Prayer
Devotion 1: He Hears and Has Power
Pastor John Carter
We are going to continue our study of Matthew chapter 6 and look intently at Jesus’ teaching regarding how our words matter to God. What we say and what we do makes a difference in how we approach the Almighty. We are going to walk through Matthew 6:7-8 this week focusing on the words of prayer. As we explore what Jesus is teaching us, I want to draw your attention to a passage in 1 Kings. Many of you may know this story in Scripture where a major victory was won for the prophet of God. This is one of my favorite accounts of history. Elijah basically calls out the people of God and says, “Hey, we need to stop pretending.” In other words, we need to be authentic. If God is real, then let us worship and obey Him. If Baal is real, then worship and obey him. I have this idea to put them to the test. If you have time this week read 1 Kings chapter 18. You will find it profoundly comforting to know that we have a God that can hear us and has the power to respond to us.
Without giving the whole story away, I want to share just a snippet of the story. Over 800 prophets of Baal are trying to accomplish the task set before them to try and show that Baal is real. In 1 Kings 18:26, we read, “And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.” In 1 Kings 18:29, he continues, “And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.”
This was the result of their pleading to a god with no voice, power, or authority. As you read the passage in 1 Kings, you actually really feel for the prophets because they so desperately desired to believe in this “god” named Baal. They thought they had to approach him in a certain way. They had to do certain actions in order to get his attention. They were even willing to cut and pierce themselves to bleed out, just to get their god to respond. Yet, at the end of the day, they were left with no voice, answer, or god to respond to their pleas.
In the verses we are going to walk through this week, we are going to see Jesus addressing this ritualistic repeating of phrases as though they are magic spells. Jesus will talk about saying prayers as though you are addressing Congress using lofty words and repeating words as though it somehow makes God hear better. In a lot of ways, Jesus will contrast the difference between Baal and the God of Elijah.
If you have not guessed already, the God of Elijah showed up in a big way! He “burned the house down.” Here is Elijah’s prayer on Mt. Carmel from 1 Kings 18:37-39, “‘Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.’”
I hope this is encouraging to you to know that when we are praying to God, Elijah’s God, we are praying to the only God that hears and answers!