Sweet Lifers,
I have been thinking a lot about what my thesis will be as I go into the doctoral program this fall and during this Lenten season I am more aware of the importance of prayer. For so many praying is a difficult “task” seen as obligatory and many only do it over food and at bed time and at church. Many probably do not do it much at all, actually. It is admittedly something that must be understood in order to be effective and at the heart of prayer is, well quite frankly our hearts.
How to pray, what to pray and when to pray is something that I have been throiughout my life a bit confused about and I know that I am not alone. I know it’s not talking to God only when I need something and it certainly is not pleading for forgiveness over and over again for something I knowingly do with disregard of His Will. It’s way more complex than that and I have been studying it for some time.
In this season of Lent I wanted to share some principles that I came across in one of my books that has helped me….and prayerfully I hope that it helps you as well. This excerpt is taken from Myles Munroe’s “Understanding the Purpose and Power of Prayer, How to call Heaven to Earth.” (pp.141-142)
Prayer is more important than all the other activities of the day. Through. prayer, God gives guidance, wisdom, and discernment for fulfilling His will and purposes.
Through His intimacy with the Father, Jesus knew the thoughts and heart of God and manifested in His ministry what God was doing in the world.
God wants the same communion with us that He had with Jesus, so that we will naturally manifest His works.
Prayer does not come automatically. It must be learned.
Prayer is asking God to accomplish His will in the earth. Christ taught His disciples how to fulfill this purpose by giving them a prayer to use as a pattern or model.
The elements of Jesus’ model prayer are the following:
“Our Father”: We bring God the concerns of others as well as ourselves, acknowledging God as our Source.
“In heaven”: We admit we need help from outside our earthly realm–that we need God’s help. We depend on Jesus and the Spirit as our intermediaries with God.
“Hallowed be Your Name”:We worship the Father as the Holy One, glorifying all His attributes. We honor Him in our lives and dealings with others.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”: We express interest in God’s kingdom and what He wants accomplished before our own interests.
“Give us day by day our daily bread”: We ask God to supply the daily needs of others as well as our own and to provide for the process that makes that sustenance possible.
“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us”: We forgive others so that God will also forgive us and will hear and answer our prayers.
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”: We are alert to the temptations and weaknesses that satan will exploit to harm our relationship with God. We pray that God will protect us from succumbing to them.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”: We worship the Father again, giving Him all the glory in advance for answered prayer.
