I can remember spending hours “praying.” Looking back, though, I realized that I was not praying at all. I was only rehearsing all the things that were wrong in my life. It was no encounter with God. I blamed God for not answering my prayers.
I recently asked myself some questions about prayer.
- What does faith have to do with prayer?
- Why pray for healing when it doesn’t always happen?
- If someone chooses to walk away from God or doesn’t choose Him at all, how do my prayers help?
- God already knows what I need. Why pray (Ask)?
I decided to do a study on the Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:10-13
This begins a journey of lessons in prayer. I don’t make any claims to be able to answer all of these questions for you (or even for me), but what better way to learn about prayer than from the passage where Jesus Himself taught His disciples how to pray?
Jesus spent a LOT of time in prayer. HE. IS. GOD! If He took that much time praying, we really should! Anything worth doing is worth learning how to do better. The better we pray, the more we get out of praying. No, I am not talking about getting more of what we ask… although that might be a part. I am talking more about really encountering God.
It makes me think of the woman with the issue of blood. Nothing stopped her from getting to Jesus. She pressed through the crowd, and probably even crawled on the ground. What about the woman and the unjust judge? She kept returning to him until he took action to meet her need.
Posture. Persistence. Position. Understanding of who you are approaching. These are some of the things we can learn from the Lord’s Prayer.
This first installment of The Lord’s Prayer series is a chart of things we can learn about the process of prayer. The first few verses are about how we should enter His presence. The next part is about asking Him for whatever we need. Read these verses. Soak it in. Then practice what you have learned as you pray.
The following installments in the Lord’s Prayer series will go more in-depth about each topic.
Pray, then, in this way:
Align with God
Matthew 6:9-10
Awareness of:
Acknowledge
(Worship)
Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
His Character
Allegiance
(Renew Mind)
Your kingdom come.
His Kingdom
Agree
(Submit)
Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
His Plan
Ask God
Matthew 6:11-13
Awareness of:
Ask
(Depend)
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
His Provision
Amend
(Repent/Forgive)
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
His Grace
Admit Weakness
(Beware of Flesh)
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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