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​Do You Know How to Pray?

The disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.”
They heard Him talking with His Father. 
His prayers got through.
So Jesus gave this model prayer.

“Our Father” 
God is not some far-away god who can’t be approached but Someone close, our Father.

”Hallowed by Your name.”
Recognize Who He is and what He can do.

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
His will, not our own. 
We must be searching the Scriptures and listening to His voice to know His will.

I John 5:14-15 says, This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have  the requests which we have asked from Him.

Mark 11:23-26 says, And Jesus answered saying to them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ’Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that Your father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father Who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

“Give us this day our daily bread.”
He knows what we need, daily. He is our provider. 
It’s recognition of our need and His supply. 
We accept His gift with thanksgiving.
Like we talked about in this article: Are We Receptive to God's Blessings?

Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.”
Our relationships here reflect how close we are to God. 
Feel that God is far away, make sure you are right with your spouse.

“Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
He does not ask to remove the evil, but allows us to conquer it.

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
Remember Who He Is. 
He is the King. He is in charge.
It is for His glory that we live and move and have our being. 

AMEN
Matthew 6:9-15.

Preachers have expounded on the prayer’s format.
But Jesus didn’t give us a format to pray, just like He didn’t give us a list of rules to follow.
He answered the thief on the cross’s prayer when he said, “Remember me.”
He heard Peter, when he was sinking say, “Help me, Lord.”
He’s our Father. He wants to hear from us.
He wants to know about our day, our thoughts, our struggles.
But He also wants us to give them to Him.

Read out loud a psalm about how great God is.
Think about what that means.
My insignificant needs for the day seem, well—insignificant.
My worries seem so little.
I give them to God anyway. Because I don’t know what to do with them.
He calms my fears.
He settles my worries.
He refocuses my “needs.”
And God is praised!

Still don’t know how to pray?
You’re in good company.
I love what Paul tells us in Romans.

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.   Romans 8:26-27.

When we can’t pray—it hurts too much, we’re too confused, we don’t know what to say—God knows.
He takes my jumbled words and thoughts, the distracted, unsolvable problems that I give Him—and intercedes for my good. 

He wants us to come. 
Like the Father Who yearns for communion with His sons and daughters.
Give it all to Him. 
Confess our weaknesses. 
Look to His face. 
Thank Him. 
And give Him praise.
That’s what prayer is all about.


Displaying 1 comment

I've been thinking about prayer a lot lately and wanting to spend more time in prayer. Seems like I've been really off-schedule lately, can't imagine why? This was a good reminder for me, thanks for sharing.

Meant to call you today, will try to tomorrow if I can before we leave about 10:45. Our days are way too busy. Praying for you, Anne

I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
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Or here:
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Author of Biblical fiction, married to my best friend, and challenged by eight sons’ growing pains as I write about what matters.

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