Overview
Prayer is not a task you complete but part of your God-given identity, the very fiber of your being. Teaching at the Your God-Given Identity conference, Vera O’Neal shows from Matthew 6 that Jesus warned against vain repetitions, repeating words when your heart is not engaged, and then gave a model prayer that opens with adoration for the Father before it ever asks for daily bread. From 1 Timothy 2:1 she works through the four categories that make up a prayer life: supplication, prayer, intercession and giving of thanks, made for all men, including kings and all that are in authority. Romans 12 sums it up: devoted to prayer, continually seeking wisdom, guidance and strength.
Transcript
Prayer Is Part of Your God-Given Identity, Not a Task to Complete
God bless you. I am delighted to be here. I’ve been anticipating being with you guys for quite a while because one of the things I get to do as part of having Oikeos as a tool is planning fun events. Is that not the greatest? Cherry on top, after getting to plan a fun event, I get to teach on prayer, which is like my favorite thing. So delighted with this privilege. So now we’re talking about prayer, huge concept, but prayer in light of our God-given identity, living it always. Basically, we have a God-given prayer life. It’s not a task that we complete. It’s part of who we are, the very fiber of our being.
When we’re talking about prayer, we are talking about the fact that we get to go into God’s presence with great confidence, not because of what we’ve done, but because of what he did. We could never have that confidence without it, but what Jesus Christ sacrificed was so complete that it just changed everything. It ushered in our ability to come before God as his child, as a child would approach a loving father.
My oldest son has a one-year-old, a two-year-old, and a four-year-old. So when he comes home from work, he goes out to an office, wears a suit, does the whole thing. He comes home, opens the door to great excitement. The littlest one just goes, hi, but everyone else is like, dad, dad, and they go running to him. That is the essence of prayer. We go running to our father. Prayer to be healed, to be encouraged, to be transformed, you know, just it’s a spiritual hug. We get to go to God. It is such a unique relationship, and it is the most important relationship we will have as we live our days on earth.
Blocking Out the World to Gain God’s Viewpoint in Prayer
For Jesus Christ, he leaned in hard to his prayer life. You see it always, and that’s what we were going to do. We do. It’s an intimate relationship where we block out the world, and we just think about him, and we go not, yes, we tell him what’s on our mind, but we also go to gain his viewpoint. It’s that intimate fellowship with him to get his perspective, not just to give him ours, which he knows already. So morning time, huge.
That’s the time to wake up before everything starts happening, and to just get with him. Now, I don’t know about you. I hope this is not true, but I can wake up with a to-do list flying through my head, like what do I have to get done, and I can get myself worked up before my feet hit the floor, but I have learned hard stop on that, like the day that all will come. This is the quiet time. This is when I get to go to the father, so I have special place in my house. We moved to Virginia recently.
The Greatest Part of Waking Up: A Quiet Place to Meet With God
We were looking for a house. The real estate people say, so what are your must needs? I’m like, well, I need a window that I can sit and look out at, and I can see a tree, because for me, that helps me be peaceful. Like, you know, I don’t want to look out the window and see a brick wall. I want to see a tree, and so we’re looking at all these houses, and no window with a tree. Okay, well, there’s nothing here. We’re moving along, but we got our house, so it has a preserve.
You know, God likes to go big. We got a nature preserve out the window, and so I get up, grab that coffee. I’m going to go to that chair, and I always have this thought, and some of you guys are going to get this. Some of you young ones are not going to get this. The greatest part of waking up, which, of course, then I laugh, because the, okay, for the young ones, the rest of that is Folgers in your cup, which is such a joke. The greatest part of waking up is that we get to go into the presence of God and fellowship and live a day with him, and that’s the morning. That’s how we start the morning, but I do think it’s funny that I still think that. Power of marketing.
From Saying Prayers to Actually Praying
This was not always the way that I was thought about prayer. The way I thought, when I first grew up, we would say our prayers. In other words, you said your prayers, and then you were done with them. You went on all day, and then you said them again before you went to bed.
All the time in between, it was just kind of empty, except one year in my house, we had a relative in Ireland that was sick, and my mother decided that when we think, one thing we could do was we were going to say prayers every night together, which we did, and we got our beads, and we sat, and we would like kneel up against the couch in a little thing, and we would say all of our prayers, and I’m a former New Yorker. We can talk really fast. I have two sisters.
Matthew 6:7: Use Not Vain Repetitions in Prayer
We could get through these things at lightning speed, but the thing about it is we got through the whole prayer time, and maybe it was better, but I don’t know that I could tell you one thing that we actually said. We were just repeating. We were just doing those prayers, and God always knows our hearts, so he is so good, but let’s go to Matthew 6 because this verse was shocking to me when I read it, and well, these verses in Matthew 6, when you think about prayer, you’ve got to think about, well, I wonder if Jesus Christ said and taught us anything about how to pray, so we’re going to look here, so great, in verse 7, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking, so we use not vain repetitions.
What that means is to repeat the same things over and over again when you’re not engaged with your heart. That’s the problem with it when you’re just speaking words, and you know, that can be a temptation always if your prayer life always sounds the same or if you’re not fully engaged going to God, going, okay, this is something we’re doing together with God. We are praying. We are not just repeating words.
Here’s the New Living Translation says, when you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating the words again and again. It’s not just repeating words. It’s the heart that you’re going to the Father, so continuing on in Matthew, be not therefore like unto them, for your father knows what things you have need of before you ask him. Wow, what a revolutionary concept that is.
This prayer, this prayer life we have is just part of us being with our father, talking to our dad. You’re not, he doesn’t need our advice. He doesn’t need us to tell him what he should do. We need him, and that’s what this prayer time is.
The Lord’s Prayer Is a Model That Begins With Adoration
But Jesus Christ, he models to them how to pray. So here we go, verse nine, after this manner pray ye, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So I could say this really fast too, you know, with all my practice. But when I stopped, I went, wait, we’re starting off. The first thing he does is he opens with adoration and with awe for the Father, honoring his holiness and his goodness. Who he is, that’s the beginning of prayer, is acknowledging God.
Then he says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What’s our priority? Our priority is God’s authority and his purpose over our personal desires. You know, it’s what God wants. That’s why we’re praying. We’re praying for us to have what God wants.
Daily Bread, Forgiveness and Deliverance in the Model Prayer
Verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. We can bring requests to him. And of course, we know in Philippians, he said he would meet all of our needs. Verse 12, and forgive us our debts or trespasses as we forgive our debtors. He, of course, paid the price for our forgiveness. We remember that in our prayer life, always thankful that we can have forgiveness because of what our Lord and Savior did and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
We’re asking for him just to be completely involved in our lives for the opportunities that come up, that they will come up, but that he is always there with us. And for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. It is praising God’s eternal power. Now, of course, this was never supposed to be turned into a vain repetition. It was just a model that when we pray, we are acknowledging God. We are acknowledging his promises. We are thinking about what he says to us. And then we go to him and go, I know this is your will for my life.
John 14:16: Jesus Prayed the Father for Another Comforter
And we’re thankful that we know that is going to happen. When Jesus Christ taught that to his people, let’s go to John 14, greater things were coming. When he said, thy kingdom come, he was ushering in that kingdom. This was one of his prayers, John 14, verse 16. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.
Boy, he’s praying that spirit is going to come to mankind. This is huge. This is God’s will. He so loved the world that he wants what for them? Not comfort and to have a great day. He wants them to know, he loved them, and he wanted to give them eternal life. That’s what we want too.
Sons of God Who Can Experience God in the Present
Because of what Jesus Christ did, everything changed. Now we are the sons of God. We experience God in the present. I don’t have to wait. I can go in the morning. I can go in the afternoon. I can get away and go behind the bathroom door for a moment of quiet and pray. God is ever present with us. What a privilege that we are never, never alone.
We can approach God with great confidence, knowing who we are. When I used to do those prayers that I repeated, I didn’t know God. I didn’t know who God was, but I didn’t know who I was either. I think I actually did get born again in all of those times, but to enjoy it, to love it, to have this power, to know what it is to be a son of God. I’m so very, very thankful to know his word right now.
1 Timothy 2:1: Supplication, Prayer, Intercession and Giving of Thanks
Let’s go over to 1 Timothy, and now we’re going to see where we are now. We are God’s sons and daughters, and how does he want us to pray? 1 Timothy, Paul is writing to Timothy, and those days were dark. People needed help from the sons of God. You know what today is? Dark. It needs help from us, the sons of God. It needs us to live all that Christ made us to be, and prayer is such an important part of that.
1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1 says, I exhort, Paul urges, therefore, that first of all, love that. First of all, like this is the starting point, and then now we have four words, supplication, prayer, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men. So, there’s four different things here, and they’re about prayer, and what we see here is not, they’re not separate kinds of prayers, but they’re separate categories that intertwine for all of what is a prayer life.
This word supplication is entreaties. We talked about that. It’s expressing a need with great reverence, like when Zacharias was told that him and his wife did not have a child, and it’s in Luke, it said, your prayer has been heard, and they had a child. It’s when we go to God with a specific need.
The next word, prayers, emphasizes and addresses God with great humility. It’s the word that described Cornelius when he’s told by the angel that thy prayers and thy alms are come up to him for a memorial before God. Cornelius was a Gentile, and God heard his prayer, and it wasn’t one prayer. This was the way he lived, and history was changed after the Cornelius thing, and it was recorded in the word. That prayer, it’s just what we do. It’s the fiber of our lives.
Intercession and Praying for Kings and All Who Are in Authority
Now, this word, intercessions, really interesting. We don’t see that word in the Old Testament, but here we have it, and intercessions is something that we can do for all men. We can go to God for the presence of healing of God on behalf of others. It’s unique after Pentecost that we can pray like this. It’s spirit-enabled and spirit-guided, hitting the mark. We can pray in the spirit, and we can pray perfectly.
We can visit the presence of God, and he never tires of us, and then this other big deal, be made for all men. If you look through the church epistles and you see prayer, what it’s for? There is a lot of prayer for all men. Now, some men are mentioned specifically in verse 2, for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in godliness and honesty.
So, we are to pray for these. We’re not supposed to fight about politics, but what can we do? We can pray for politicians because their decisions can affect our lives and our brothers’ and sisters’ lives. You know who else they can affect? All over the world because we have brothers and sisters all over the world that need our prayers, and this is something we can do so that we can live the goal, quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty so we can live his truth.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. When we go to God, we want to see them the world as God sees the world. We want to get God’s viewpoint, not our viewpoint because it’s so limited, but we want to look at all men the way that God sees them.
Giving of Thanks and Acknowledging God Are One and the Same
Then also in this verse, it’s after intercessions, it says, and giving of thanks. This is so vital in the five-group prayer, and when I think about giving of thanks and acknowledging God, it’s one and the same because where we are and who we’re with in our very lives are where he placed us, and so we always have things that we can be thankful for, and we go to him to understand more and more.
So just looking back at that scenario, I want to look at some of these verses that we see through the church epistles about intercession and giving thanks being done for all men. I’m going to read from the ESV, but in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 11, I’m just going to read this verse from the ESV, you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessings granted us through the prayers of many. What can we do? We are never helpless. We can pray. What can we do for others? We can pray.
2 Corinthians 9:14, and by their prayer for you, which long after you with exceeding grace, with for the exceeding grace of God in you. We just pray for people. Ephesians 6:18, praying at all times in the spirit with prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. I was like, you know, I think I missed this because I did a lot of prayers that were not so directed. This is something that’s part of the one body lifestyle that we pray for each other, and we pray for all the saints, and we make supplication.
Epaphras Laboured Fervently in Prayer for the Colossians
Kind of as an example, Colossians 4:12, Epaphras. It says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Wow, this is, we can, and the great thing about prayers is you can do it from anywhere, at any time, in the comfort of your own home, or in another location. We can always labor fervently in prayers. Why? That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. God has to be in this thing, and God is in this thing.
He is, he is, he’s guiding our prayers. They’re energized prayers. So, what kind of things should we be praying for? We pray to intertwine our lives with him as we acknowledge him in all our ways, and prayer is one of the ways we acknowledge him, and we go to him for wisdom. So, we don’t know what we’re supposed to do, but he does, and we go to decree his promises. We go to the word so we know what his will is, and then you can talk to him and go to God like that. Not, it’s not begging. It’s, God, you said you should supply all our need, and thanks for doing that. It’s not, it’s coming. He’s faithful. He is always faithful.
1 Chronicles 29: Bringing More Praise Into Your Prayer Life
Let’s go to Chronicles 29. It’s an Old Testament prayer, but I love how sweet it is. One of the things that I’ve been growing in is just having more praise in my prayer life. It just makes it more joyful and fun, like my favorite thing to talk about, God, who is all good all the time, and I love these verses. I also love psalms in the Passion Bible. They’re so great to praise. They just, they sound like us. They don’t sound quite as like a different language, but here we go in King James in Chronicles 29.
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and on earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, for thou art exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, to give strength unto all. Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name.
This is a beautiful prayer. You know, it’s, prayer is not all about stuff. Prayer is our fellowship in the presence of God to talk about what he wants to talk about, taking care of all things for us.
Prayer Is the Answer to Anxiety in Philippians
We don’t have to be anxious about anything. Philippians says that. Don’t be anxious about anything. It is the answer to anxiety is prayer. If you start feeling like, I think I’m worried, or you sound like you’re worried, like worry kind of sounds like when you’re saying the same thing over and over again. Hard stuff, right? Hard stuff. Think about Philippians. Be anxious for nothing. Instead, what do we do? Pray. How powerful is that? It’s our leverage.
Romans 12: Devoted to Prayer, Continually Seeking Wisdom, Guidance and Strength
To close, I’d like to go to Romans chapter 12, and I’m going to read from the Amplified. I just feel like this is a great summary of living our God-given identity in our prayer life. So, in the Amplified, this reads, be devoted to one another with authentic, brotherly affection as members of one family. Give preference to one another in honor, never lagging behind in diligence, aglow in the spirit, enthusiastically serving the Lord, constantly rejoicing in hope because of our confidence in Christ, steadfast and patient in distress, devoted to prayer, and then it has some parentheses, continually seeking wisdom, guidance, and strength.
That is prayer. It’s going to God for what we need to live this life of our God-given identity. It’s not so that we can just go and do good at our nine-to-five job and come home and cook dinner. It’s so that we can change the history of man and impact lives with what Jesus Christ accomplished for us to do in our prayer life. God bless you.
Key Takeaways
- A God-given prayer life is not a task that we complete. It is part of who we are, and we go into God’s presence with confidence not because of what we have done but because of what Jesus Christ did.
- Vain repetitions in Matthew 6:7 means repeating the same things over and over again when your heart is not engaged. Your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him.
- The Lord’s Prayer was given as a model, not as something to be turned into a vain repetition. It opens with adoration and awe for the Father, then puts God’s authority and purpose ahead of our personal desires.
- 1 Timothy 2:1 gives four words that are not separate kinds of prayer but separate categories that intertwine: supplication, prayer, intercession, and giving of thanks, all made for all men.
- Intercession is spirit-enabled and spirit-guided prayer on behalf of others. We are never helpless, because we can always pray, from anywhere and at any time, as Epaphras laboured fervently in prayers for the Colossians.
- Prayer is the answer to anxiety. Be anxious for nothing, and instead pray, seeking wisdom, guidance and strength as Romans 12 describes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Matthew 6:7 mean by vain repetitions?
Vain repetitions means repeating the same things over and over again when you are not engaged with your heart. Vera O’Neal describes growing up saying prayers with beads at lightning speed and afterwards not being able to tell you one thing she had actually said. The New Living Translation renders the verse, do not babble on and on as people of other religions do. Jesus then says your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him, so prayer is the heart going to the Father, not words being counted.
What are the four kinds of prayer in 1 Timothy 2:1?
Paul lists supplication, prayer, intercession and giving of thanks. They are not separate kinds of prayers but separate categories that intertwine into one prayer life. Supplication is entreaties, expressing a need with great reverence, as when Zacharias was told his prayer had been heard. Prayers addresses God with great humility, the word used of Cornelius when the angel said his prayers had come up for a memorial before God. Intercession is going to God on behalf of others, and giving of thanks acknowledges God for where he has placed us.
Why should Christians pray for politicians and people in authority?
Because 1 Timothy 2:2 says to pray for kings and for all that are in authority, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Vera O’Neal says we are not supposed to fight about politics, but we can pray, because their decisions affect our lives and our brothers’ and sisters’ lives, and we have brothers and sisters all over the world who need our prayers. God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Scripture References
Matthew 6:7; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 6:9; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 6:11; Philippians 4:19; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:13; John 14:16; John 14:17; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:1; Luke 1:13; Acts 10:4; 1 Timothy 2:2; 1 Timothy 2:3; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Corinthians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 9:14; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:12; Proverbs 3:6; 1 Chronicles 29:11; 1 Chronicles 29:12; 1 Chronicles 29:13; Philippians 4:6; Romans 12:10; Romans 12:11; Romans 12:12
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
