[JP-Facebook-Like]
What do we think of when we hear the word prayer? The word pray means to entreat, to beseech, to intercede, to make supplication, to ask for something humbly or earnestly. The Holy Scriptures provide much guidance about this vital subject – about how we are to pray. Although this article is not a thorough study of the subject, it looks at some specific examples of Jesus Christ, King David, the Apostle Paul, and others. And, it examines verses where God has given us detailed instructions about how we are to pray.
Religions of the World
When we look around us, we can see society and its many civilizations and religions have developed multiple ways for human beings to pray – to approach their idea of God. Each religion has its own special way for worshippers to make their voices heard before their god.
Some pray by chanting or reciting the same words over and over again. Others write their prayers on paper or cloth and burn them so that the prayers are carried to their god in the smoke. Others may place their prayers inside of a prayer wheel so that at every turning of the wheel, the prayer is offered to the deity or deities. Others pray facing a certain direction, towards a certain city, and at specific times of the day.
Prayer to the True God
Is the God of the Bible approachable through these methods? If not, then we must understand that billions of human beings are now, and have been for millennia, using methods that the true Creator God does not recognize or to which He does not respond.
Has our exposure to these various methods of prayer, devised by men, affected us in our personal appeals to God and in our understanding of the subject of prayer?
As we examine this important question, let us also consider whether there is a difference between the God of the Bible and the gods of the other religions of the world. Have we accepted that there IS a difference, and have we recognized that our heavenly Father’s Son, Jesus Christ, IS our personal Savior and the Savior of all of mankind? If so, then we can understand that we must go to Almighty God’s Source Book, His Instruction Manual, the Holy Bible, where He reveals to us how we are to structure and live our lives.
We Want God to Hear Us!
Certainly, all of us want to have God hear our prayers. We all want our heavenly Father to respond. We want to know we are not alone in the universe. We want to know that we are loved – that our Creator cares about each and every one of us, and that He wants the best for us. We also want to know our prayers can make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of our loved ones. Simply put, we want to know that our Creator hears us and that He will respond to our petitions – that He hears our words when we praise Him and tell Him we love Him.
How to Pray
So, with these things in mind, let us look at some specific instructions given to us by Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son of God, during His earthly ministry. Some significant instructions are recorded for us in Matthew 6:9-13, with a parallel in Luke 11:2-4. These Scriptures are known to many as “The Lord’s Prayer.”
In Matthew 6:7, a few verses prior to the Lord’s Prayer, we are admonished “do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.” So evidently, there is a difference in how the God of the Bible should be approached compared to how various religions of the world approach their deities. This would include pre-manufactured, man-made prayers, chants, or Scriptures repeated over and over in personal prayer or in a ritualistic worship service.
Why is it that millions of professing Christians mindlessly utter, over and over, the specific words of the “Lord’s Prayer” when approaching God? Or why do they repeat the words of Luke 1:28 and Luke 1: 42, words spoken to the virgin Mary by an angel sent from God? Why recently have people been taught to repeat The Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles. 4:10) every day for one full month, so that they can receive this very same blessing Jabez received from God (The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson)? Is there something powerful or “magical” about speaking these exact words? Or perhaps, have many been misinformed about the proper approach to prayer?
Jesus instructed us not to repeat what people have referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer” or any other Bible verses over and over verbatim and in vain repetition to our Heavenly Father in prayer. The words, “do not use vain repetitions” are simple and basic.
According to the words of Jesus Christ, a person who uses vain repetitions is following the lead of the heathen. And, what is a heathen? The word heathen carries with it the meaning of pagan or unbeliever. What is it the unbeliever does not believe? Why, an unbeliever does not accept or believe in the Word of God, the Holy Bible. This revelation may seem shocking to some, but Jesus’ words are plain.
If we believe the words of Jesus, and if we believe the Holy Scriptures are the divine, inspired words of our Creator recorded for our benefit (2 Timothy 3:16-17), then we must not be using “vain repetitions.” The word vain means futile. Do we want our prayers to God to be futile? Of course not!
It is obvious that followers of Christ must begin to believe the words of God and stop following after the “traditions of men” (Mark 7:6-9, Matthew 15:3-9). What, therefore, should a believer do? How should a believer pray? When we look at Jesus’ own example of prayer as recorded in John Chapter 17 and Luke 22:41-44, we can see that our prayers must be spontaneous, sincere, fervent, and from the heart.
In Matthew 6:9 Jesus says, “In this manner, therefore, pray….” In other words, when we pray, these are major topics that we should pray about. And additionally, this is a proper order in which we should pray about those topics. It is wise to look to Christ’s model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 for guidance, direction, and inspiration. So, let us examine these Scriptures verse by verse and commit ourselves to understanding what Christ is specifically teaching on this subject.
Our Father Who Is in Heaven, Hallowed Be Your Name
The first important aspect of prayer is the acknowledgment of God as our heavenly Father, our “Abba,” our Daddy (Romans 8:15). God wants us to be in His Divine Family. We recognize His power, majesty, wisdom, mercy, and patience. We come before Him as begotten sons and daughters and communicate with Him to establish the very personal and intimate relationship that He desires to share with us. And we praise His Holy and Righteous Name, while telling Him how thankful we are that He IS God and that He loves us.
Notice Hebrews 11:6 plainly says, But without faith it is impossible to please him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. To start our prayers by praising God and acknowledging His sovereignty over our lives helps build that faith in Him that we all must have. And we talk to Him as any son or daughter would talk to their loving father.
Your Kingdom Come
Is there anything more important on God’s “Calendar of Events” than the Kingdom of God being established on the Earth under the righteous rulership of His Beloved Son? Romans 8:19-22 reveals the answer: For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (emphasis ours).
This “revealing of the sons of God” begins at Christ’s triumphant return (1Thessalonians 4:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, Revelation 3:11-12; 5:9-10; 14:1-5). It is quite evident from these scriptures why we now focus our minds on God’s Kingdom and His will for each of us as well as all of mankind. The vision of the soon coming Kingdom of God is what gives a Christian hope for the future. And, certainly each and every one of us truly desires “peace on earth.”
So, when we pray for the Kingdom, we reinforce this vision of hope in our own minds. And we demonstrate to our Heavenly Father that we understand what is most important to Him and His Son –– the One who will very shortly become “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Your Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is in Heaven
What is God’s overriding will for mankind? Is it not that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Timothy 2:4, Romans 11:26-27)? When we consider God’s overriding will, is there any more important message for the world to hear than the gospel, the good news, of the soon-coming Kingdom of God?
Matthew 24:14 says, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. And Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 28:19-20, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Assisting the Church through our prayers in the announcing of this good news gives a Christian’s life purpose and meaning. We become less selfish. Our thoughts are turned outward toward others. We grow to truly desire that everyone would hear the only message of love, hope, and liberty.
Prayer helps us learn to ask God to mold us and shape us into new Spirit-led creations so that we could be used as effective instruments in His hands for the announcing of this precious gospel. When we pray “Your will be done,” we surrender our will to God’s will and learn to view the Church, our brethren, our peoples, our lives, our future, and this world from our heavenly Father’s perspective. Jesus deeply understood this kind of surrender. His words in Matthew 26:39, 42, and Mark 14:36 are clear. He told His heavenly Father, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Notice that Christ’s model prayer is ordered in the same general manner as the Ten Commandments: God first, then man. This is an important lesson.
The Commandments teach us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In our daily prayers, after we talk with our Father of our “heavenly hope” (Colossians 1:5), and the work of preaching the gospel, we next address the needs of others, before our needs.
When we pray for our family, our brethren, and others in intercessory prayer, we become empathetic to their needs and suffering. Their pain becomes ours. We share in their trials. We learn to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).
Praying in this manner helps us learn to greatly appreciate the pain and suffering our Savior endured so that we could have our sins forgiven and be healed (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). We come to understand that we are all part of the “body of Christ” and “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1Corinthians 12:26-27). And, as we look outward to the needs of others, we become more merciful, compassionate, and tenderhearted. We take on the “mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:3-5). And, we desire even more fervently that God’s Kingdom does come to release this world from it’s suffering and bondage.
Although God knows our needs before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8), He wants us to learn to trust Him and be dependent upon Him. He very much wants us to share our hopes, dreams, desires, questions, faults, concerns and problems with Him. We are to become as “little children” (Matthew 18:3-4) who are teachable. Thus we come before our Heavenly Father as a child comes before its father.
Notice in Luke 11:3, the instruction is, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” Yes, sometimes it might appear to us that we are receiving just “the bare minimum” from God – that our most basic needs are being met “day by day.” During “lean times” it might appear that we have just enough food to eat or that the money to pay the bills arrives just in the nick of time. Are we “OK” with that? Certainly, it is a part of our human nature to want to have abundance and to not have to worry about “making ends meet.” But sometimes the depth of our faith is being tested, isn’t it?
The Bible is full of examples of how the great men and women of God were faced with seemingly insurmountable problems and perils from which they could not deliver themselves. Yet the great Sovereign God of the Universe did provide deliverance – many times at the very last instance. We need to be consciously aware of God’s day by day deliverances and to be thankful that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there for us.
We need to carefully consider the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 4:12-13, I know how to be abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. After all, it is Christ Who is our spiritual daily Bread. It is Christ Who provides the strength we need for a full, abundant life. We need God to give us this Bread daily.
And Forgive Us Our Debts, As We Forgive Our Debtors
Scripture says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And Romans 6:23 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
None of us wants to receive the wages of sin, do we? Surely most of us want to receive that most precious gift of God – eternal life, right? So each one of us needs to have our sins forgiven. That forgiveness is available to us according to promises in Acts 2:38, Luke 24:47, and Ephesians 1:7.
The forgiveness we receive from God is tied to our desire and ability to forgive the wrongs that other human beings have done to us. Can we see why this is so? It just makes sense that when God transforms human beings into the very image of His Son (Romans 8:29, Philippians 3:21, Ephesians 4:13) by creating His holy, righteous nature in them that they must learn to forgive and extend the same mercy to others as He extends to them.
Notice in the verses immediately following “The Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus gives us this instruction (Matthew 6:14-15), For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. This same teaching is echoed in Mark 11:25-26. Sounds serious, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, it is just not natural for humans to forgive each other, is it? It requires desire and dedication. It requires God’s help and His Holy Spirit. We can have confidence that those things we lack, we can receive as spiritual gifts from God (James 1:5-6). So we must pray fervently that God will give us a spirit of forgiveness and humility. And we must follow the instruction Paul gives us in Ephesians 4:32, And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
And Do Not Lead Us into Temptation, But Deliver Us from the Evil One
The night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, He prayed for His disciples, including all of His true disciples down through history. John 17:15, I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. The “evil one,” of course, is Satan (Adversary) the Devil (Accuser), and by extension, Satan’s demons. Christ’s prayer applies to us today.
Following Jesus’ example, we are to pray that God delivers us from Satan’s spiritual attacks. The “us” in “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (emphasis ours)” refers not just to each of us individually, but also to our brethren, our families, and other people. We pray so they are also delivered from the powers of darkness.
Scripture reveals to us that Satan has deceived “the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), and that includes us. Yes, God can keep us from the evil one, but there are things the Christian must also be doing to win this spiritual battle. We are told in Ephesians 6:11, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The spiritual armor is described in Ephesians 6:12-18.
The Apostle James instructs us in James 4:7-8, Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.
Notice how the topic of forgiveness is taught again in Ephesians 4:26-27, Be angry, and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. The teaching is plain. We are to maintain control over our emotions and be quick to forgive, otherwise we provide a place in our minds which Satan can occupy. Sadly, this is the typical state of the world around us. Until Christ returns and Satan is placed in a place of restraint for 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3), we must be ever vigilant to resist temptation and avoid deception.
For Yours Is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever
The model prayer ends as it began with our praising and thanking God for our calling and for His blessings, while recognizing His sovereignty over our lives. We again speak of heavenly things. We firmly fix the vision of the soon-coming Kingdom of God in our minds. And we can remember our Savior’s comforting words that He inspired to be written by the Apostle John. These words voice our greatest desire – the return of Christ, Revelation 22:20, He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Our Spiritual Growth
Over time God develops something very special inside us. He develops it using our involvement in seeking what is best for others, by our spending countless hours communicating with our Heavenly Father in prayer about the problems facing our loved ones, our brethren and the world, and by our sharing with Him our understanding of the ultimate solution, that is, His truth, His laws, His government, His perfect judgment and justice. These are the behaviors that allow Him to develop in us His “agape” love, the greatest love, the selfless, sacrificial, intelligent, spiritual form of love expressed as an outgoing concern for others. That is the essence of Who and What the Family of God is.
During our Christian journey, especially in moments of great stress, there are times when we may feel frustrated that our prayers are not being heard or that we somehow have nothing to pray about because God has heard our words before. Let us not be discouraged! One of the reasons Jesus gave us this model prayer, this outline of prayer, is to remind us that there is always something or someone to pray about.
If we occasionally experience a prayer block, we can also remind ourselves of all the many reasons we have to be thankful. In fact, it is certainly very spiritually healthy to have some of our prayers consist only of words of thankfulness to God the Father and Jesus Christ for all that they have done, are doing, and will do for us.
To assist us as we develop an active prayer life, it is most certainly helpful to read through the book of Psalms several times a year and meditate deeply on the words of love, praise, thankfulness, belief, and repentance as recorded by King David and the other Psalmists. David has been described as a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14; 16:7,12). It would be wonderful for us all to have the same close, intimate relationship with God that David had. Reading and meditating on the Psalms and coming before God in humility, love and worship in our prayers can help us to take on many of David’s positive attributes.
The Apostle Paul also addressed these positive aspects of prayer with encouraging words in Philippians 4:4-7, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be made known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Let us meditate deeply on those words.
In Summary
Let us all pray fervently, as we lift up our voices, hands and hearts in an attitude of praise, trust, humility, and thankfulness (Psalm 134:1-2, 1Timothy 2:8) to God. Let us pray fervently that His Kingdom will come to earth to bring peace and happiness as soon as possible. Let us cry out for understanding and wisdom (Proverbs 2:1-9, James 1:5-6). Let us request that He will provide for both our physical and our spiritual needs (Matthew 6:25, 31-33). Let us ask for His correction, and that it would be done mercifully (Jeremiah 10:24, Psalm 6:1). Let us come boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), confessing our sins, asking for His forgiveness and asking that God will create in us a spirit of forgiveness toward others. Let us request God’s protection and deliverance from temptation for our family, our brethren, and ourselves. Let us grow in “the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18) and claim all of God’s promises revealed to us in the Scriptures.
Christ’s model prayer is a wonderful guide, providing some specific instructions we can use to structure and organize our prayers. As we use it daily to praise God, pray for the Kingdom, pray for the work of preaching the Gospel as a witness and a warning to the world, pray for our brethren, our families, our peoples, or leaders, our nation, and finally pray for ourselves, our outlook can become more focused on what is truly important and less on our selfish passions and desires.
Let us come to understand that without God we can do nothing (John 15:5), and that every good and perfect gift comes from our heavenly Father (James 1:17). He is constant, never changing, always trustworthy, always faithful, always merciful (Malachi 3:6, Joel 2:12-13, Psalm 136).
It was Daniel’s custom to pray three times a day (Daniel 6:10). King David did this also (Psalm 55:17). What examples! And King David also set us another example, that of renewing our relationship with God at the start of each day. In Psalm 5:1-2 David says, Give ear unto my words, O LORD, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
Paul instructs us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In other words, we are to talk to our heavenly Father continually – at any time of day or night. And when we do, our hearts should be thankful and joyful.
Yes, personal prayer is our lifeline to God, and God offers a direct communication link with Him to everyone He is now calling (John 6:44). And God wants to hear from us!
As we study the Scriptures, we can learn more how to pattern our prayers after the great servants of God like Abraham, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and of course, after the example of Jesus Christ. Let us grab onto the lifeline God has offered to us and hold on for dear life. Then we shall enjoy that special intimate relationship with our loving Creator that He desires to have with each of us.
Please contact us for additional information or for assistance in effectively accessing your lifeline to God.