Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Lord, Teach Me to Pray

Luke 11:1-4, Matthew 6:9-13

When I think on the countless graces that our Lord has poured upon us I cannot help but to think and rejoice in His glorious grace of prayer.  Prayer is simply communion with the God of Creation, the God of Redemption.  To understand the beauty of this grace one must understand the significance and the realization that the God of Creation desires communion with man.  He wants relationship and fellowship with His people on an individual level.  He is concerned about our every need and has made provision through the grace and the privilege of prayer that we may communicate with Him at a very personal and intimate level.  He knows us and wants to know Him.  

Yet, many never tap into and experience this sweet and powerful grace.  Even his disciples did not fully comprehend the grace and the practice of prayer as they asked, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples (Luke 11:1).   What sweeter words could have been asked to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, than “teach me to pray.”   Jesus responded immediately by giving them an incredible outline to pray.  Therefore, for anyone who desires to learn to pray or to strengthen his/her prayer life then there is no better place to start than with the instructions of Jesus Himself.   Let’s us break down this model prayer that we may grow in the grace of prayer and develop deeper communion with our Lord and Redeemer.

“PRAY LIKE THIS”             ----Jesus (Matthew 6:9-13)

PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME                         -Pray the names of God
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Jesus teaches us to begin our prayer by focusing first on God Himself and not on ourselves.  We do this through spending time on praising His holy name.  Notice that we are to present our prayer to “our Father” who dwells in heaven.   We must understand and accept that as a child of God He wants to be addressed as “Father”.  This reminds us of the role He works in our lives.  Only those who have been born unto Him can make this claim, and for those who do we can be assured that He is the perfect Father who only desires that which is best for His children.  Jesus explained this, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Mat 7:11).  Again, begin your prayer meditating on the fact that you have a Father in heaven that wants the best for you.

Then we are to praise Him for the holiness and the glory of His Name.  Take time to meditate and then rejoice in the wonderful names that are attributed to God in the Scriptures.  Each of these reveal attributes of our Father in Heaven that deserve praise and can bring great encouragement to our souls.  I have included many of the names of our Lord below. Study them, meditate on them and praise Him for the great God that He is.  If the list seems too overwhelming then just focus on one or a few of His names each prayer time and  rejoice in Him

NAMES OF GOD                                “Hallowed be Thy Name

Elohim:                      the Creator, Preserver, Transcendent,  Gen. 1
El Shaddai:                the All Sufficient God,  Gen 17:1-2
Adonai:                       Lord,Master,  Gen.15:2                                                               
Jehovah:                    the Self-Existent One    I AM WHO I AM,  Ex. 3
Jehovah Jireh:          The Lord Will Provide,  Gen. 22:14
Jehovah Rapha:         The Lord that Heals,  Ex. 15:22-26
Jehovah Tsidkenu:    the Lord our Righteousness,  Jer. 23:5,6; 33:16
Jehovah Mekoddishk:        the Lord Sanctifies You,  Lev. 20:7-8
Jehovah Nissi:             the Lord is My Banner,  Ex. 17:15
Jehovah Shalom:         the Lord is Peace,  Judges 6:24
Jehovah Saboath:        the Lord of Hosts,  Isa. 1:24, Ps. 46:7,11; 2Kings 3:9-12
Jehovah Shammah:    the Lord is There,   Ex. 48:35
Jehovah Ra’ah:            the Lord is My Shepherd,  Ps 23
Jehoshua “Jesus”:       the Lord is My Salvation

If you spend time focusing on the person of our Father through meditating and praising His names, then your heart will be prepared to experience true communion with your Lord as you continue to pray.
 
PRAY FOR HIS PERFECT WILL
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

We are then to focus on God’s will for our lives and not our own.  Remember, He is our Father in heaven who desires that which is best for us.  We are to seek for His kingdom to be accomplished in our lives and not our own.  Again, remember the words of Jesus when He was warning us about worrying about the cares of this world, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Mat 6:33).  This requires humility and a daily dying to self and by praying for His will to be done will turn our eyes off of ourselves and onto Him.

 PETITION FOR YOUR NEEDS:

After we have given our Father the recognition that He deserves and submit ourselves to His will, then our hearts are ready to bring to Him our personal needs which He desires to meet

Needs of  Daily Provision
Give us this day our daily bread

Our Father knows of our needs even before we ask but petitioning Him for our needs is a practice in humility whereby we are saying, “God, I need you.”  When we pray we need to ask specifically for those things pressing upon our hearts and never be afraid to ask for something that you may think is “too small” or “too big.”  Your Father is concerned for the smallest of your needs as well as the greatest.  These requests can be for your daily substance, physical or relational healing.  God wants to know your heart and has an open ear.  Remember, He is your heavenly Father.

Needs of Forgiveness
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

An extremely important part of our time with the Lord is the seeking of forgiveness.  Christ paid our sin debt on the cross of Calvary, but our unconfessed sins affect our relationship with God.  Unconfessed sin keeps our prayers from being answered (Isaiah 59:2).

We must spend time searching our heart for anything not pleasing to our Lord and confess the sin by name.  John writes, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  There is nothing sweeter and more refreshing than to experiencing the cleansing of our sins and being restored to full relationship with the Father.

A key point to asking God for our own forgiveness is how well do we forgive those who have sinned against us.  Jesus clearly addresses this issue at the close of Matthew’s recording of the Lord’s prayer by stating, “"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” (Mat 6:14-15).  Unforgiveness of others clearly affects our relationship with God, but also our relationship with the person who offended us and is a cancer that eats away at our own lives.   Therefore, Jesus teaches us to address this very important matter in our time with Him.

 Needs of Protection
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

We are taught also the need to pray for our protection.  We must understand our weakness in standing against the temptations of this world and our spiritual adversary, the devil, alone.  We need to identify those areas in ours lives in which we struggle and ask the Father to protect us even from temptation in those areas.  Do you struggle with anger, or lust, or covetousness, or ……?  Then, call upon God in your prayer to protect you from temptation, from the evil one and from yourself.

CLOSE IN PRAISE AND REMEMBRANCE:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

We are to close our time of prayer by reminding ourselves that all things are His and that He is to receive all glory.  Think about it: we are to begin our prayer focusing on God and we are to end our prayer in the same manner. 

Again, prayer is one of the great privileges offered to us as the children of God.  This grace is available to the each Christ whether new in the faith or a seasoned believer in Christ.  Jesus has given each of us a powerful and effective model to pray and the more we exercise this privilege of prayer the more comfortable and natural we become in our time with God.

Prayer is a discipline and is expected by God.  Therefore, you must set aside time each day and guard it diligently.  I can promise you that this will be the most important, refreshing and fulfilling time of your day.

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