Prayer

2017-01-21

Prayer is basically talking to God. We thank Him for all that He has done for us, ask Him for the things that we need, and confess our need for Him in our daily lives. Jesus Himself gave a sample prayer in the Bible:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:5-15)

Let us look at this in detail:

Prayer is not something with which we impress people. Prayer is a tool for us to confess our need for God and thank Him for what He has done for us. It is not a chance to show off theological vocabulary or knowledge, or to show how generous you have been with giving, or anything that draws attention to yourself. Prayer is God-centered.
Prayer is not repetitious. We do not keep repeating the same thing over and over again. That would also include the prayer that Jesus Himself gave; He did not intend for us to repeat this day in and day out.
God already knows your needs. This is why we do not need to be repetitious in prayer. He knows our needs! He waits for us to bring our needs to Him because we are entrusting our needs into His hands. Prayer is a place for us to trust God with whatever is going on in our lives.
Prayer is for us to praise Him. Jesus’ prayer includes “Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Only God is completely holy, and we should give credit to God and ascribe to Him glory in our prayers.
Prayer is a time to look forward to the return of Christ. We are looking forward to this right now. All sin, shame, physical death, and sadness will go away, and we will be with the Lord upon His return.
Prayer is about desiring God’s perfect will to be done. It is not about what we would like to see happen in our lives, but what God wants for us. What He wants is always superior to what we want. Being the perfect holy creator, who always was and always will be, He knows better than we do.
Prayer is about asking for our necessities. Later on, in Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus promises us that our basic necessities will always be provided for if we seek doing His will in our lives. At the same time, we should trust His provision for our daily necessities.
Prayer is about asking to be delivered from evil. God has delivered us from sin, Satan, death, and hell, but at the same time, we can fall into sin when we are not walking with God. Confession of sin and seeking God to live a righteous life is of most importance. There is a much longer discussion required on this. Begin reading here for more information.
Prayer is about confessing God’s ability to do all things. In Matthew 6:13, we read, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” We need to remember that God is the Lord, or “the boss.” He is the one that can do everything as the all-powerful creator. We pray to Him because He is the one who is worthy, and the only one who can do everything that we ultimately need.
Prayer while we are not forgiving others is ineffective. If we do not forgive others, we have sinned and our prayers are left unheard. We need to confess the sin of being unforgiving and forgive those who have sinned against us. Here is a story of a man who did not forgive someone, and this should cause serious introspection on our part.