Prayer Done the Right Way – Part 6

Praise the Lord saints.

The mature Christian prays through his sufferings, adversity strengthens our faith and trust, all of Gods great saints went through trials to perfect their faith even Jesus learned obedience by his experience of suffering and was brought to his goal becoming mature and complete. Heb.4:8-9. It when we are in the cauldron of adversity that drives us to pray like we are on fire.

Acts 21:14 “After Paul refused the warning of his being bound in chains and given over into gentile hands They all said let the will of the Lord be done.” If my prayer does not line up with God’s will as revealed in the Scriptures, then I need to ask Him to change my heart.  Molding us by changing our desire is part of the sanctification process. If a prayer does not have God’s will in its center, it is not a “biblical prayer. It doesn’t matter how many testimonials one gets to prove it was answered.”

Jesus prayed thy will be done and taught the apostles to do the same. The apostles followed Jesus ‘ way of praying God’s will. If God has no will then He would have no influence over the affairs of mankind, we would then be in charge which is not a comforting thought. Imagine hundreds or thousands praying for the same thing such as a job but only one would get it. It’s not because one prayed more or better.

God’s will is involved, he has a plan and we need to gain insight into it to be part of His plans. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray he taught them to pray in a certain manner, it was never meant to be a repetition said over and over, no prayer is. Jesus never said a certain prayer is more powerful than another.

Jesus taught the disciples to pray in this way, contrary to the way the Pharisee’s prayed.

Our Father which art in Heaven

speaks of our relationship- We are to consider the person we are speaking to and address Him in reverence.

Hallowed be thy name

speaks of worship, exalting him for who he is- We are speaking of our reverence and respect of Him who we now know praising and thanking Him.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Submission to His Lordship in our lives and our affairs on earth. Asking for his influence to change things that are contrary to his ways. First in us so we can be his representatives to others. We should look for God’s will in a given situation that we may be part of it. If it is not apparent to us we should pray that it will be.

Give us this day our daily bread

addresses dependence and petitions God to be our supplier. This speaks of our physical and spiritual needs to be met by his hand. We are promised he will supply our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors

forgiveness is to be consistent lifestyle. We want to practice forgiveness and let things that are not crucial roll off of us. We should be willing to hear things out and try to make peace. To forgive does not mean we intentionally ignore biblical issues but human ones.

Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

addresses our need for guidance and discerning good from evil. God will always make a way out for those who want to be delivered from bondage and evil. We should be aware of the schemes of the enemy.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

We are to give Him all the honor, allegiance, loyalty and worship. No man should receive this no matter how Godly they are, it is due  to the one who is our creator and the maker of all things.

 After Jesus died and rose from the dead, our access to God is now immediate as the book of Hebrews says we can come boldly before the throne of grace because of his shed blood.

It’s not the position of our body or how uncomfortable we are when we pray. It’s not how loud we are or how many we may have praying in agreement. Nor is it any repetition of our prayer that would bring a speedy answer.

It begins as a matter of our heart. We being open and honest. We are to seek God’s will in our prayer and that we are found inside it. If it is not apparent pray for His will to be known to you. Sometimes a person praying to receive an answer from God may get a yes -a wait or a no.

There are decisions from God that we will never understand this side of heaven and we are to accept them as his hand of divine providence on our lives.

Till next week,

God Bless.

Elder Dr. Robert L. Harrison