Today is a big day in our Sunday Conversations.  We are supposed to be finishing up our study of the book of Daniel with one last talk about prayer.  This time, we discuss praying with humility and honesty.  And, hey, we will talk about prayer, but to do this, we are going to move beyond the book of Daniel to some of Jesus’ teachings that are too important and clear on this subject to ignore. We have spent the last few weeks discussing prayer, examining various characteristics in Daniel’s life that we observe in him, which enable his prayer life to keep him deeply connected to God as he navigated brutal circumstances and lived in a godless world. What encourages me as I read through this list of characteristics we see in Daniel’s prayer life (slowing down to be with God, focusing on God and seeking Him, trusting Him, and being grateful and thankful in prayer), these are all things we can have too!  Today, we will discuss what I believe may be the most important of all: praying with humility and honesty.   After we discuss that, we will lean into some practical advice on how to pray.  We will look at how to protect ourselves from a world that wants to keep us separated from our Heavenly Father. To do that, I’m going to show you what your enemy is up to, and we will end with a daily checklist for you to use in your time with God.  Today is going to be loaded with things we can take with us right into our daily life that hopefully will enhance our time with God, enabling us to grow closer to Him…so take notes, or screenshot things out of the app, or take pictures of the screens, because today has the opportunity to unlock some new growth in your prayer life.  With all that said, let’s talk about the importance of humility in prayer.

Humble prayers are honest prayers.  They are real, open, transparent, and prayed by people who may still wrestle with God’s will from time to time but are fully surrendered to it.  Here are some of my favorite examples of this from Scripture.  First, Elijah, in a moment that will come up this fall in the Stress Series for sure…

1 Kings 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."  NIV

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing his Crucifixion was right in front of Him…

Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." NIV

One of the best and clearest examples we find in humble prayer is found in one of Jesus’ teachings.  It’s so clear and shows us the difference between a prideful prayer and a humble one, which makes it really helpful as we try to avoid pride and step into praying with humility. This is found in Luke 18, it’s called The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

Luke 18:9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." NLT

This teaching has always fascinated me for several reasons.  First, it is who Jesus is talking to and exposing here.  He is literally telling a story, exposing the religious leaders here.  This isn’t done through email or an anonymous, nasty 1 out of 5-star review of the religious leaders on the internet.  No, this is face-to-face, looking them in the eye and exposing their pride-filled hearts. The second thing that I’ve always found fascinating is the characters.  You have a Pharisee, considered the elite of his society, and a tax collector, who was considered the lowest of the low of society.  But what has always hit me is the Pharisee’s prayer. “Lord, thank you that I’m not a sinner like the rest of the world, and a special thanks that I’m not like that guy…pointing to the broken, hurting tax collector.  Wow, that is a prideful prayer.  While this elite religious leader prays so proudly, it’s the tax collector who comes before God with humility and honesty, and what does Jesus say?  Well, let’s look at verse 14 again…

Luke 18:14 Jesus commented, "This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself." MSG

The Pharisee has fallen into the enemy’s big scheme.  Our enemy uses the world, the people of this world, anything and everything, right down to good things, to keep us from God.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve decided to call these things he uses against us “The 8 P’s”, and the Pharisee has fallen victim to a few of them here. Here are the 8 P’s that the enemy uses to keep us from God. Pride, People, Pain, Pleasure, Provision, Production, Problems, and Pressure.

This Pharisee has fallen to a few of them.  Pride, definitely.  Also, Production, he thinks God cares about what he is doing rather than who he is.  ‘People’ is a thing here too, as he stands and makes a grand show of his prayers, which I’m sure impressed many of the people standing nearby, but if the goal was impressing God…well, it doesn’t. You know, at the end of verse 14, Jesus said something massively important at the end of this teaching.  He said that when we are content with simply being ourselves, living our true lives, we will thrive.  It’s only when we can humbly and honestly be ourselves that we can grow, change, and experience healing and our best lives.  As long as we aren’t open to the truth and aren’t content to simply be us, we are blocked from everything we want.  You know how much I love quotes.  I'd like to show you one that I keep coming back to, because it’s so profound and important. 

“We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.” CS Lewis

This is a massive starting point for us if we are going to connect deeply and intimately with our Heavenly Father.  We live in a world that has trained us to act and suppress our true selves, and sadly, even if we know that God knows every thought and motive in our hearts and minds…it can be so hard to lay before God what is in us, and we can tend to take to Him what we think should be in us.  We must lay before God who we are, not what we think we should be.  Now, some of you are thinking, Whew, if people, let alone God, knew my thoughts, motives, and what goes on when no one is looking, I would be mortified…”  If that is you today, I want you to remember that God loves you just as you are.  You must understand how loved you are and try your best to extend some compassion to yourself, so that you can open yourself up to God, who loves you…and already knows the good, the bad, and the ugly of you.  Until you can be honest and stop pretending, suppressing, and even lying, nothing will ever change in your life.  Scripture often speaks of the importance of honesty, not as a religious obligation, but rather as a constant encouragement to be honest, open, and authentic in order to thrive in life.

David was open and honest with God, and he encourages us to do the same thing if we want to enjoy life.

Psalms 34:12 Would you like to enjoy life? Do you want long life and happiness? 13 Then keep from speaking evil and from telling lies. 14 Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart. GNT

Paul urges Christians not to lie to each other, to stand in our true selves, and not the old self. This is so important in the world we live in today…

Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. NIV

Now, what is interesting is we can read Scriptures like this and think I’m good here.  I don’t lie to people.  I do my best to tell the truth.  But we are not honest and open about who we are.  We hide, we act, we present who we think we ought to be to God and to people. We aren’t honest; we lie to one another and to God, unwilling to share who we truly are, and instead, we continue to present what we think people want to see.  This is why Jesus encourages us to approach God as simply and honestly as we can, so we can truly experience Him and His grace.  We seem to have learned to hide who we really are, then wonder why we aren’t experiencing God’s grace.   Here's another quote that is sticking with me lately. 

“Modern Christianity wants Jesus as a therapist to heal their trauma, but not as Lord to lead their life. You can't have one without the other.” Jimmy Belloso

That is so true.  But if Jesus was a therapist, he still wouldn’t be able to help us if we weren’t honest with him.  In therapy or any counseling, one of the first things you learn is that if you want to change, you have to be honest, you can’t keep telling lies, and making excuses for why things are the way they are in your life.  It takes a lot of courage, but you have to be open and willing to face things and own things if you want to change and grow.  Without honesty, nothing will ever change in life, and the same holds true for our faith.  We may say we want to give our lives to God and change, but we aren’t open to it.  We live our lives the way we want, and are blocked from everything we desire.  Now, we look around at our life circumstances and the people who have hurt us, and convince ourselves that that is what is keeping us from our best lives, but it is actually our inability to be humble and honest with God. 

I often wonder why we struggle to change and grow.  No one is walking through life thinking, “How can I stay miserable? How can I avoid my best life?" No one wants to merely survive, but to thrive and find joy, peace, and everything Jesus says we can have. So, what is the deal?  Well, it starts at the root of all sin, which is Pride.  This is beyond those who have an overinflated sense of self-confidence.  Pride keeps us faking it, keeps us trying to bully God and life into our box, and doesn’t allow God or anything to mess with the life we don’t want to change in the first place, even if we say we do! We say we want to live our best lives and experience our true, God-created selves, but it is so hard to get there, isn’t it? That is because your life is opposed.  You live in a world controlled by your enemy, who is doing all he can to keep you from all that we want and could have and experience through Jesus.  That is where those “8 P’s” I mentioned earlier come into play. 

“The 8 P’s” that can derail us from experiencing our best lives, and connecting deeply with God are Pride, People, Pain, Pleasure, Provision, Production, Problems, and Pressure.

These are the major tools that our enemy uses against us, keeping us from experiencing all that we want to experience in our lives and in our relationships with God and others. I think seeing them, and knowing that they are the tools of the enemy, can help us take some big steps forward in our relationship with God, which in turn leads us to all Christianity advertises that we struggle to find and experience any other way. 

As we close today, I want to show you how Jesus taught us to pray. Then, I’m going to get practical and share a daily checklist I use, which I believe can help you navigate a world that pushes against you in every way, with those “8 P’s”.

Matthew 6:1 "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. 2 "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure — 'playactors' I call them — treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. 3 When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. 4 Just do it — quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat?” MSG

So Jesus starts by once again asking us to be true to ourselves. Not to come before God and present what we or people think we ought to be or what we think God wants to hear, but to be ourselves, to be humble, real, and honest.  If you notice, he is already warning us against two of “The P’s.”  Pride and People.  Then Jesus teaches us how to pray.  In most versions, Jesus says something along the lines of 'this then is how you should pray. ' I like to point out that any time Jesus says this, then is how we should do something, well, this then, is how we should do it!  Let’s stay in the Message version and read how we should pray.

Matthew 6:6 "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 7 "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. 8 Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. 9 With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this… MSG

I’m going to switch to the NIV and show you the prayer now, and as we go, try to think through those things the world throws at us that block us from God.  Jesus is showing us how to pray and stay protected and connected to God from all these things that can divert and block us from Him. 

Matthew 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray:"'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. NIV

Do you see Jesus praying through fending off pride?  God is great.  It’s His Kingdom and His will that will be done, not ours.  He continues…

11 Give us today our daily bread. NIV in the NLT Give us today the food we need.

Do you see Jesus praying through fending off Provision and Production here? Even Pressure and Problems here.  Lord, give us enough today.  Thank you for enough today…and I like that Jesus centers us on today, not the future and all that could be down the road.  Thank you for providing enough for me today.  He continues…

12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. NLT

What do we see Jesus addressing here?  Pride and People again in verse 12, and we see Him addressing Pleasure and Pain in the concepts of temptation as well.  All 8 P’s that our enemy throws against us are addressed in this prayer, do you see it?  This, then, is how we should be praying. 

As we close today, and end this epic Summer Bible Study, and this last month-long conversation on prayer, I wanted to give you something very practical to help you in prayer.  It’s also something very personal to me.  These 8 P’s, and the daily checklist I’m about to share with you, stem from my time with God, journaling, praying, and working through so much in my own life.  These are things that God has given me as a gift, and they are helping me so much that I wanted to share them with you.  So my encouragement to you is to set aside 15 to 30 minutes a day and work through this checklist each day.  Prioritize this, start your day with it, even if that means sacrificing 30 minutes of doing something else. I believe that over time, it can change your life. 

Here’s the Daily Check List to Work Through In Prayer

1.      God First!

2.      What Extra Weight Am I Carrying?

3.      Remember Who You Are!

4.      Stop Negative Thinking!

5.      Let Go and Let God!

Here is how to use this checklist.

First things first.  Turn off or silence your phone, close your laptop, and turn off the TV. Try to relax and be present in the moment. 

Second, ask God for help with the 8 P’s on this day.  Lord God, protect me today, and please don’t let me get derailed by pride, people, pain, pleasure, provision, production, problems, and pressure.  After we settle in and ask for help with the 8 P's, we can move on to the checklist.  As we do, think about how the world and your enemy will use the 8 P’s to keep you from accomplishing this simple list. 

God First.  Lord help me to keep your first today.  Lord, first in my thoughts, desires, choices, priorities, first in my day, my week, my family, and relationships, my finances, my future.  Lord help me to keep you first in all ways, in all things, on this day. 

Scriptures – Matthew 6:33, 10:38, 22:38-40, Colossians 3:17, Proverbs 3:5-6,9-10

Today, I will place God first over all things in all ways in my life!

What Extra Weight Am I Carrying?  Lord, on this day, help me to focus on controlling my controllables and not continue to carry things in my life that just aren’t mine to carry. Lord, help me on this day to carry only what is mine to carry. Life is hard enough without adding to it.  Here are a few examples of weight we carry that we just can’t.  Loved ones' choices and responses to us.  How people view us.  What people do with what we provide for them.  Other people’s response to God. And the list goes on.

Scriptures – Proverbs 3:5-6, 16:3, 19:9, Psalm 55:22, Colossians 1:17, 1 Peter 5:6-7

Today I will not carry weight that isn’t mine to carry

Remember Who You Are!  Lord, help me today to remember who I am.  I am not what I do.  I am not what this world and the people of this world try to tell me I must be; I am not my job.  I am not what I have or what I don’t have.  I am not what my bank account says I am.  I am not my past.  I am your child, loved and valued by you!  Help me stay anchored in who you say I am today!

Scriptures – Genesis 1:27, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 2:9, John 1:12, Psalm 139:13-14

Today I will stand as the person you say I am, God!

Stop Negative Thinking!  Lord, help me today to grab hold of my negative thoughts and replace them with praise, worship, and gratitude.  Help me not to get stuck in negative looping thoughts today, but to replace them with you God!

Scriptures – 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 4:6-8

Today I will replace negative thinking with prayer, praise, and gratitude.

Let God and Let God!  Lord, I give this day to you as an offering, I will let go and let you lead it, I’m yours. 

Scriptures – Mark 8:35, Psalm 46:10, 55:22, 1 Peter 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6

Today, I will let go and allow you to lead my life!