Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Key to Prayer | New Testament | Hebrews 10

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

Did you ever learn how to pray? What even is the point of prayer? Is there a "right" way to pray? Tanya discusses Hebrews 10 in today's episode and shares some insight behind prayer. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Hebrews 10

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Do you know why we say, in Jesus' name, I pray? Is it a tagline we add out of habit? Is it a way we make our prayer sound more official? Does it supercharge our prayers so they get delivered more efficiently to the right place? Why do we do it?

Why does it matter? One time someone stopped me after a Bible class I was teaching to point out that when I prayed that morning, I didn't pray in Jesus' name. And then she said, I'll be praying for you. What the heck does that mean? For several weeks after that, I noticed myself super aware to make sure I always said it. I didn't want her to think I wasn't a real Christian. But what's the why? Do we say in Jesus name I pray because it's a tagline?

do we say it because it matters? If I don't say it, does it mean my prayers aren't authentic? That I'm not a Christian, that God doesn't hear them? Hebrews 10 helps us answer this question. Why do we say in Jesus' name, I pray? It's not merely a mechanical expression that we tack on to the end of our prayers. It's not a magical saying intended to make our prayers more powerful. It's not a phrase to impress the people who are listening to our prayers. The important thing is that our prayer really be in Jesus' name, which means we understand him as our only mediator with God. He is the only way we have access to our Heavenly Father.

And because of him, we do have access to our Heavenly Father. See, before Christ died, people had to go to a priest to be the mediator between them and God. And the priest would offer sacrifices for their sins so they could be cleansed. but they had to do this over and over and over. And even with that, there was a separation between them and God. The temple where the sacrifices were made had this curtain guarding the holy place that separated God's presence from his people, and to go behind the curtain was death. So this is a really big deal for us, and this is why we should be ecstatic about praying in Jesus' name.

Because when Jesus died on the cross, that curtain of the temple was torn into, and the Lord opened wide our access to him. And Hebrews 10 explains this, starting in verse 22. It says, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. The New Testament tells us to be bold in our prayers because of Jesus. The New Testament tells us that God will not destroy us if we come too close. The New Testament tells us to come confidently and ask big things of God. Hebrew specifically tells us Jesus is our mediator and our intercessor.

He sits at the right hand of the Father, and he actually is bringing our prayers to the Father on our behalf. So when we pray, we're able to talk to God with assurance because of the sacrifice and intercession of Jesus. saying then in Jesus name we pray is a verbal way to remind us and tell God that we're coming only because of Jesus. Now since prayer is a personal relationship with God, we can't let it just run on operations or mechanics. Just saying in Jesus' name we pray alone isn't enough. I mean, can you imagine if you treated your spouse or your kids like that? It would be one thing to say, I love you every day, but if this was the only way you expressed your love, would it be a real relationship, and so it is with our prayers. They are a relationship and an expression of a

relationship with God. And one aspect of relationships is that they sometimes disappoint. When this happens, we are still to come close to God as our good and loving father, trusting that he always does what is best. Now, Scripture informs us why prayers, even those in the name of Jesus may go one answered. He could be planning to do it, but other things have to happen first. The answer could be not yet. Paul says in Galatians 4-4 that God's answers come in the fullness of time. Our sins can be a reason God doesn't answer our prayer. We are all sinful, but there could be an influence that sin has on our lives or a complacency about a sin that interferes with our prayers. James 4-3 says, we ask and we do not receive because of our evil passions.

And it could be God's sovereign purpose to not answer our prayer. We don't know God's hidden will, so when we pray, we should do so in the posture of thy will be done. And Jesus modeled this prayer in the Garden of Gassimony, and we should qualify our prayers in the same way. So then, why do we pray? Well, God uses our prayers to change things, whether it is outward or inward. Sometimes he changes our circumstances, and sometimes he changes us.

Jesus said in John 16, 23, and 24 that prayer is the pathway to our joy. Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full. Now, you would be surprised how many of us can relate to this statement. I'm not really good at praying. If you feel that way, you're not alone. Do you pray the Lord's prayer? Do you use prayer cards?

Do you fall asleep when you're praying? Does it make you nervous to pray in public? We're all over the map on this. And you're not the only one that feels the way you do. Now, the Bible helps us with these things by showing us a better picture of Jesus. Because of Jesus, we get to pray. There's beauty. in it, no matter how we approach it.

There's beauty in the rituality of prayer. Like Hebrew says, Jesus as our high priest, replace an imperfect sacrificial system with a permanent sacrifice. Those rituals were a shadow of what Jesus would do. Their ritual characteristics of our prayer life, like memorizing or repeating, well, they have beauty because they remind us

of Jesus' work as our perfect high priest. If that's where you are, there's beauty in it. There's beauty in the spontaneity of prayer. Jesus made our access to God complete. So now we know there's nothing that we can do to separate us from the love of God. So we can pray anytime. We can pray anywhere with confidence and boldness.

We can pray in the best of situations, in the worst of situations. We should always approach God knowing that he loves us and knowing the full measure of his love for us. Hebrews 1039 says, We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. There's beauty in the persistence of our prayers.

If God doesn't answer our prayers, we should ask if it is His will. But we should continue to pray if we believe it is. Hebrews 10 tells us to have confidence and endurance as we follow God and wait for our eternal reward. Prayer is a great way to build our endurance. God may have reasons to delay an answer, but He is delighted in our asking. Basically, if you're talking to God, there's not a wrong way to do that. Because of Jesus, we get to talk to God.

Because of Jesus, he hears our prayers. Heavenly Father, help us become people who pray. Help us cut through the distractions that tell us to do other things. And help us to bring our needs first to you. Give us a desire to silence the noise around us and bring our anxious hearts to you to be silenced. Give us the grace to know the confidence and the power that Jesus has given us to pray to you and to do it and to want to do it.

And all of this, we pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.