02-05-23 Abel Irvin - Prayer As An Expression of Hope

Prayer as an Expression of Hope- Matthew 6:13
For the last 36 days we have been using the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 to guide our own prayers during the week.  We have talked about prayer as worship, prayer as Kingdom partnership, prayer as petition, prayer as confession, and prayer as spiritual warfare.  
In English, we often use the word “hope” to express a desire that we ______ to see come to pass but aren’t sure that it will.  When we use the word “hope” here and talk about prayer as an expression of hope, what we mean is that prayer is an expression of our _______ in God.  
1.  We trust in God’s ____________.  
• Our world is filled with examples of ________ and of ________.  
• ___________ was very familiar with hardship in his life.  
• Psalm 23, Psalm 27:13-14, Psalm 69:13-18, Matthew 7:9-11, Galatians 5:2-23
• Prayer is an expression of hope because it is a reminder that even when our lives feel like they are spiraling _____ ____ __________, we can hold on to the knowledge that God is good.
• God is good _____ _____ ______, not just when it is easy to feel that he is good.
2.  We trust in God’s ________.  
• It can take a lot of faith at time to trust that ______ will win out over ______ in the end.
• We often do not understand how God’s plan fits into the ______________ that we see around us.  We forget that the most important thing for us is not necessarily to _______________, but to ________.  
• When you are feeling discouraged or depressed about things happening in your life or in the world around us, you have my full permission to pick up your Bible and ______ to the ______.  
• Revelation 21:1-4, 22-27, 22:1-5
• The things happening to us now are _____________, but his kingdom is _________.
3.  We trust in Jesus’ ______ ____ _____ ________.
• The first two words of the Lord’s Prayer demonstrates the _____________ that believers have with God.  He is our Father.
• Although God loves every human who has been born, he cannot have a relationship with us due to our _______.
• Romans 3:21-26
• When you read these verses, it makes it clear that there are not ______ ways to have a relationship with God, but only ______.  
• Jesus paid the _______ for our sins so that we could have a restored relationship with God.