Matthew 6:9-13
Matthew 6:6
Matthew 6:7
Matthew 6:5
Romans 12:12
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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I have written about prayer before, but the Lord laid it
on my heart to write about it again. Prayer is one
of the most powerful things in the universe; Christians
are given the right to petition God Almighty and He has
promised to hear and respond!
So let's take some time and look at what prayer should,
and should not, be.
The Lord's Prayer
Here is the Lord's Prayer quoted from the KJV:
Our Father which art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, They will be done in earth, as it is
in Heaven
Give us our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil;
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever.
Amen
Here Jesus is teaching us to pray. We state who we
are speaking to, followed by saying that His name is to
be kept Holy. We ask for our needs to be met, on a
daily basis as this requires faith. We are not
taught to ask for enough food to last a lifetime, but
only for enough to meet today's needs. As the
manna in the desert only lasted one day, except that
gathered on Friday was good for the Sabbath also, so we
only ask for what we need today, and live by faith.
We ask that God forgive us as we forgive theirs.
If we go down one more verse Jesus explains that when we
forgive others, our Heavenly Father will forgive us.
We then ask to be delivered from evil and temptation,
and we close by stating that he is over all things
forever.
This is not a rote prayer that should be used over and
over; we may use it as is when appropriate, as these are
the very words that Jesus, the Word, spoke. Jesus
said "In this manner therefor pray ye:" meaning that we
are to pattern our prayers after this. The Lord's
Prayer is a blueprint for our prayers. When we ask
for forgiveness we are to name our sins and also ask to
be forgiven of any we may have forgotten or missed.
Naming our sins helps us achieve repentance as we think
of what we have done.
Pray in Secret
In Matthew 6:6 Jesus tells us that when we pray we are
to go into our room, or closet (a private room in our
house) and pray to the Father. Our Heavenly Father
is hidden away from the world; he does not come and walk
in the world with us as He did before the Fall. He
is hidden away in Heaven until the fullness of time and
He makes all things new, then God will be with us
continually. For now, He is hidden away from the
unrighteousness of the earth, for He is Holy and cannot
bear to be around sin.
I take issue with people who go into restaurants and
when their food arrives they sit or even stand, and pray
elaborate prayers that all around them can hear.
No! If you pray in this situation, keep it to
yourself, and private, so that your Father who hears in
private can reward you openly. If you bless your
food in a way that makes people look upon you as a good
Christian, then you have your reward. But as
secret prayer will be heard by God in secret and
rewarded openly, those who pray quietly to themselves
can be assured that their reward is that their food is
blessed. Your choice: the reward for your prayer
can be others saying how good a Christian you are, or it
can be God answering your prayer.
I don't care what reason people give you for the their
prayers in public, and they will tell you that it is a
witness for Christ, and many other things. But,
when Jesus himself tells you how to do something, that
is how you do it, regardless of all the fancy words men
come up with.
Pray Constantly
Paul tells us in Romans 12:12 and again in 1
Thessalonians 5:16-18 to pray constantly. We
should always be in a state of talking with God.
Do not wait until you get home at night and ask for
forgiveness of sins; those sins will have caused you to
miss many blessings that day! Instead, let the
Holy Spirit convict you as you sin and immediately ask
for forgiveness as you repent.
Staying in a constant state of prayer, or communication
with God, will result in much less sin, greater
conviction and leading by the Spirit in your life, and a
much better witness for our Lord and Savior. Be
careful though, as Satan will appear as an angel of
light and try to trick you. Satan will attempt to
make you believe that you are worse than you are, and
not worthy to talk to God. Run him off with the
Word of God, which is the Sword of the Spirit.
Ask According to His Will
In 1 John 5:14 the author tells us that we can have
confidence that if we ask anything according to His Will
then He hears us. The condition on this is that we
first discover what His Will is for us. Some
things are very clear, such as spreading the Gospel and
not sinning; we can ask for these things with a surety
that they are according to His Will.
Before we can pray for the correct things in our lives,
we need to have prayed as our Lord taught, saying "Thy
will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" so that we can
discover His Will for us. We must pray that the
Holy Spirit will guide us in the directions that the
Father wishes us to go.
Don't Pray Like the Pagans (Gentiles)
Have you ever heard that guy at Church that just drones
on and on in prayer? Well, read him Matthew 6:7.
When we pray we are to follow the blueprint in the
Lord's Prayer, and state our petitions simply and to the
point. We do not need to go on and on about the
same thing. The difference in pagan prayer and
Christian Prayer is that the pagans believed that if
they made enough noise and did enough things their god
would hear them and answer them. Those things that
they did might be cutting themselves, beating
themselves, burning themselves, and, of course, begging
for the same thing so many times that their god MUST
hear them and give it to them if just to get them to
shut up!
Christians on the other hand are to ask God simply and
then believe that He will do as He has said he would.
You don't need to remind Him as He never forgets.
If it is something that is bothering you, feel free to
tell Him that you are still bothered by the situation
and need the Holy Spirit to bring you peace so that you
can simply trust Him to provide. To constantly ask
God to provide something that you have already asked for
shows a lack of faith in His ability to hear you and to
take care of the situation. Ask, then trust Him to
take care of the need.
Don't Pray Like the Pharisees (Hypocrites)
In Matthew 6:5 Jesus tells us that we are not to pray
like the hypocritical Pharisees who loved to stand and
pray in the synagogues and on street corners, so that
others could see how Godly they were. Jesus says
they have their reward from others seeing what they do.
This statement leads into the next verse where Jesus
says to pray in private. I have these out of order
as I wanted to do the "Do's" and "Don'ts" separately.
Pastors, when you get ready to dismiss your service, do
not call on someone to stand and pray; instead ask
everyone to pray quietly, and after a minute or so,
simply say "Amen" and dismiss everyone. Don't
force someone to stand in Church and pray in direct
disobedience to Jesus' commands, then wonder why your
church is not as on fire as you would like for it to be.
The part about not standing on the street corners
applies to all public places, and, as I just wrote,
leads into the praying privately. Don't be praying
in public places!
There are many more scriptures about prayer. If
you search the internet, you will find lists like "Top
Forty Verses About Prayer". Search out these
scriptures and learn to pray the way that the Father
desires; learn to let the Holy Spirit guide you in your
prayers so that His Will can be done in your life.
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Please Note: I am now using the the Nestle-Aland Novum
Testamentum Graece (NA28) with the English Standard
Version in the sidebar, so Scriptures will be from the
ASV or KJV. Other translations, including the
Amplified will be used where clarity is needed.
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