Hemphill exhorts seminarians to kingdom-focused prayer

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Hemphill exhorts seminarians to kingdom-focused prayer
October 15, 2003
By David Roach

God-honoring prayer is not about merely informing the Lord of our need but is about enjoying God and committing to the expansion of His kingdom, Ken Hemphill said Oct. 2 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Preaching from Matthew 6, Hemphill, who served as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for nearly a decade, told students and faculty that the Lords Prayer models kingdom-focused prayer. Hemphill is National Strategist for Empowering Kingdom Growth (EKG) for the Southern Baptist Convention.

Somehow weve come to the notion that prayer is about informing God or even convincing God to be on our side, Hemphill said. Listen, God is so on your side that while you were yet ungodly, He sent His Son to die for you. Prayer is primarily an issue of enjoying God and [discovering] His priority for your life.

From its opening phrase, Our Father who art in heaven, the model prayer teaches believers to shift their focus from self to God and His church, he said.

Our is the nature of the community focus itself. I began to notice that we tend to pray me and mine prayers, whereas Jesus prayed our and Thine prayers. Prayers not so much about me. Its about Him and its about us, Hemphill said.

Subsequent phrases specifically teach us how to focus on Gods priorities, he said. Hallowed be Thy name, for instance, represents a commitment to honor Gods name with all of our actions.

The Lord desires for His people to live by [His] Word in such a way that your behavior and your character become a showcase for the authority of God, he said. I want people to be able to see what God could do in the lives of a yielded people.

In fact, hallowing Gods name before the world is the focus of the EKG emphasis in Southern Baptist life, Hemphill said.

Were asking the question, What remains in terms of Southern Baptists and evangelicals evangelizing the world? The first issue is our holiness, that God proves Himself holy among us in their sight, that theres an obvious salty character about our lifestyle, that there is a flavor of our life, that people see us and in us they see the Fathers image so clearly reflected that they know weve been with Him and that we are His, he said.

Thy kingdom come is a prayer for God to show believers His daily activity and allow them to participate in it, Hemphill said.

Christians often dont know what God is doing around them because they dont ask, he said. His activity isnt just here on campus. Its not just in chapel. It wont be just in your church on Sunday morning. God is at work all the time everywhere around us, and the problem is weve never asked Him to let us see.

Hemphill told chapel attendees that one encounter in the hallway at Southwestern Seminary provided him with an unexpected opportunity to join Gods kingdom activity.

On his way to preach in chapel one morning, Hemphill struck up a conversation with a student only to learn that the students wife had experienced a serious health crisis. Hemphill was able to pray for the student and offer financial help to his family.

You know what Ive began to realize? he asked. A lot of your kingdom moments are going to be in the side ditch. Theyre not going to be things youve planned. What were praying is, God, give me kingdom vision. Help me to see the world as You see the world. Help me to see needs as You see needs.

Thy will be done then is an expression of willingness to participate in Gods work when He reveals it, Hemphill said.

You cannot pray, Thy kingdom come, without praying, Thy will be done. Its a façade. Its a lie if youre saying, I hope somebody else does the kingdom, just not me, Lord.

In conclusion, Hemphill said that the benediction of the Lords Prayer defines mans purpose for living.

You know why youre here? Here is it: to advance His kingdom through His power for His glory. Thats it. Bottom line, why did God create you? Why did He redeem you? So that you could advance His kingdom through His power for His glory.