Narrow Road Series: Week 3 — Prayer

Matthew 6:5–13

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
— Matthew 6:6

Welcome back to Golf Church.

If this is your first time here, I'm really glad you're here. My name is Cooper, and I'm a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School while learning what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus one day at a time.

We're in Week 3 of the Narrow Road Series, walking through Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and looking at what it actually means to follow Him.

Last week we talked about loving your enemies, which is one of those teachings that's a lot easier to read than it is to live out.

For me, a lot of that came back to identity. For a long time I gave way too much power to what other people thought about me, especially with golf. Somebody could make a comment about my game, my swing or a bad round, and I would let it take up way too much space in my head.

Jesus has been teaching me that I don't have to carry everything people hand me. I can bring it to Him.

Which brings us right into this week. Prayer.

One Week Out

As I'm writing this, we're officially one week out from Q-School.

I'm back on the Central Coast finishing up my prep before heading to the tournament site, and I'm really enjoying this part of the process. I've worked toward this for a long time, so of course there's a lot going through my head.

On Sunday, I got away from golf for most of the day and spent some time at Morro Rock.

Morro Rock holds a pretty special place in my life. It's where I learned how to surf, it's where I was baptized as a kid, and it's also the place my dad technically illegally climbed over 40 years ago with a group of friends on Christmas night.

If you know Jim Coles, you're probably having a hard time picturing that right now. So am I.

I spent some time sitting on the beach in the Word and then went for a prayer walk up the coast. Nothing complicated. I was just walking and talking with God.

At some point I looked down and noticed all the sand covering my feet.

If you've spent any time barefoot at the beach, you know how it goes. Sand gets everywhere and you don't even notice it happening. There was no way I could tell where every grain came from. Some might have been there for the last half mile. Some probably came from the step.

And as I was walking and noticing all the sand, I started thinking about sin.

Walking through this world can look a lot like walking down the beach.

We pick things up along the way. Pride, anger, jealousy, lust, selfishness, unforgiveness, the need for approval or the desire to control everything. Sometimes we know exactly where something came from. Other times we don't even realize we've been carrying it until Jesus brings it to our attention.

Eventually I walked down toward the water and stepped into the ocean.

The sand just washed off.

I didn't have to figure out where every grain came from first. I didn't have to pick each one off before I could get into the water.

I just stepped in.

That picture stuck with me.

Come Confidently

Hebrews 4:16 says:

“Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I love that Scripture says to come confidently.

Not because we're confident in ourselves or because we've done such a great job cleaning ourselves up. We can come confidently because of Jesus.

Sometimes I think we make prayer more complicated than it needs to be. We think we need the right words, the right place or that we need to get ourselves back on track before coming to God.

But that's backwards.

Just like I didn't have to clean the sand off my feet before stepping into the ocean, I don't have to clean myself up before coming to Jesus.

That's the Gospel.

Jesus lived the life we couldn't live, died for our sin and rose again. Because of Him, we have access to the Father.

So when I mess up, I don't have to hide from God. When I'm anxious, I don't have to pretend I'm not. When I'm struggling to forgive somebody, I can tell Him.

And when I'm one week away from Q-School with a dream I've worked toward for years sitting right in front of me, I can bring Him that too. He already knows anyway.

When You Pray

That's one of the things I love about Matthew 6.

Jesus says, “When you pray…”

He doesn't say if.

Prayer is assumed to be part of following Him. But Jesus also makes it clear that prayer isn't a performance. We don't pray so other people think we're spiritual, and we don't need impressive words to convince God to listen.

Jesus says our Father already knows what we need before we ask Him.

I'm not updating God when I pray. He already knows how badly I want Q-School. He knows the work that's gone into it, the excitement, the nerves and everything I haven't said out loud.

So why pray if He already knows?

Because prayer isn't about giving God information. It's about relationship with Him. It's learning to depend on Him instead of ourselves.

Your Will Be Done

Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, and one part has been hitting me differently as Q-School gets closer:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

That's a lot easier to say when you don't really care about the outcome.

It's different when you're praying over something you've spent years working toward.

Of course I want to play well. I want to make it through Q-School. I want to play on the PGA TOUR. Those are real desires, and I don't need to pretend otherwise when I talk to God.

But there's a difference between bringing God my desires and asking Him to bless my plans, and actually surrendering those plans to Him.

“Your will be done” means I trust His plan more than mine.

That can be hard, but it's also incredibly freeing.

I can prepare as well as I possibly can, show up, compete my butt off and trust God with everything I can't control.

A few lines later Jesus says:

“Give us today our daily bread.”

I love the word daily, especially right now.

It would be easy for me to mentally play Q-School a hundred times before I ever get there. I could start thinking about scores, cuts, the next Stage and everything that could happen afterward.

But that's not where God has me today.

Today I get to practice. Today I get to spend time with my wife. Today I get to be in the Word. Today I get another opportunity to be obedient with whatever God puts in front of me.

Tomorrow will get here when it gets here.

Prayer Is Access

That's what I walked away thinking about after that day at Morro Rock.

Obviously, Jesus doesn't need us to go to the beach to meet with Him. You don't need Morro Rock, the ocean, the perfect worship song or a quiet morning with your Bible and coffee.

Those things can be awesome, but they're not what gives us access to God.

Jesus does.

We have access to Him on the beach, in the car, at work, sitting at home, walking down a fairway or standing on the first tee at Q-School.

That's what I want this next week to look like.

I'm going to prepare as well as I possibly can. I'm going to work hard, show up ready to compete because I love competing and believe this is one of the places God has called me.

But I don't want to spend the week gripping tighter trying to control what happens next.

I want to talk with God while I'm practicing. I want to thank Him that I even get to do this. I want to bring Him the nerves when they show up and keep handing this dream back to Him.

Because prayer isn't ultimately about getting God to give me the outcome I want.

Because of Jesus, I get to know God and walk with Him.

Q-School can't give me that. The PGA TOUR can't give me that. Golf can't give me that.

Jesus already has.

Golf is what I do. Christ is why I do it.

And prayer keeps reminding me who I'm walking with.

Let’s Pray

Father,

Thank You that because of Jesus we can come to You confidently. Thank You that we don't have to clean ourselves up first or pretend to have everything together.

Search our hearts and show us what we've picked up walking through this world. Help us bring those things to You instead of hiding them.

Teach us to pray, listen and trust You enough to actually mean it when we say, “Your will be done.”

Give us what we need for today and help us stop trying to live tomorrow before it gets here.

Wherever You've placed us this week, remind us that we have access to You right there.

Thank You for Jesus, thank You for Your grace and thank You that we never have to walk alone.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Take It to the Tee

This week, keep prayer simple.

Find some time to go for a walk with God. Leave the headphones behind and put the phone away for a little while. Talk to Him about what's actually going on in your life.

Tell Him what you're thankful for, what you're worried about and what He's revealing in your heart. Then spend some time being quiet enough to listen.

You don't need to figure everything out before you come to Him. You just need to come.

Sandy feet and all.