Jesus Show's Us How To Pray

Introduction

Prayer is one of the most important, yet interesting parts of a person’s life. A 5 year old such as my son Vinnie may have a prayer that goes like this, “Thank you God for this food, thank you God for YouTube and Power Rangers, thank you God for the ninja turtles, thank you for my mommy and my daddy and thank you for this house. The teenager may pray a more specific prayer, and the adult may set a specific time to pray about the specific needs of themselves as well as the needs of others. Regardless of where you are on the prayer degree of difficulty, prayer is something that is needed in every person’s life. My Grandfather would pray and say “Lord build us up where we are weak, and strengthen us where we are torn down”. A prayer of thanksgiving and praise may look different than the prayer while laying on a sick bed.

As it pertains to prayer, we know there are words and thoughts that go into the prayer. We also must know that there are documented postures of prayer as well. One may pray sitting as we are accustomed to do in our worship service, one may pray with hands lifted high, people may pray lying down, we pray standing, and we also kneel before the throne of God and offer a prayer unto him.

We must know that Jesus being our advocate, intercedes in our prayers and presents our request unto God. Him dying for us granted Him that power and praise be to God that he goes before God on my behalf. We know that the life of Jesus begins and ends with prayer, such as many of our lives. Nonetheless prayer is a cornerstone of Christianity and should be taken seriously and implemented as much as we possibly can.

Before we take a good look as Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray, I believe we need to understand how God desires we prayer before we begin to learn what we should pray about and for.

Prayer is Not A Performance

When we pray, let us not forget we are talking to our creator, even the sins we have a hard time uttering in prayer God is aware of them.

“But the very hairs on your head are all numbered”

There is no need to approach the throne of God in a manner that’s arrogant and boastful, God sees past all of that.

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrite.

Hypocrite defined as a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives.

actor, pretender, dissembler

Hypocrisy is not in the visibility, the hypocrisy is in the desire to be noticed. The desire to be noticed outside of the confines of what God has already noticed about you. This isn’t a pre-screening at the doctor’s office. This is a petition to God that he is going to do something.

In the 18th chapter of Luke beginning at verse 10, we see an example of a prayer of performance rather than a petition to the creator.

The Pharisee begins with God, but then makes it about himself. That is hypocrisy, because if it was not for God we would not even have the access to God in the first place.

In verse 5 of chapter 6, Jesus paints the picture of what we read in . “Love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men.

People might witness me praying but I want my prayers acknowledged by God, I want to be heard by my creator, that is the goal.

Who do you want to be acknowledged by, if you do it for people , and the people praise you, that is the reward you were looking for. Your actions depict that you do not really desire acknowledgement from God in the first place.

Relationships Are Built off Communication

You cannot have a relationship with God if you do not talk to him. So Jesus specifies his instructions:

But you, this is what you’ve witness but this is what you need to do. Understand this, but YOU are a follower of Jesus, so YOU ought to be different.

Let’s remove this element of being noticed out of the way. Prayer is about a conversation between me and God, there is no prayer contest. There is no rubric that judges your prayer based on timeliness and the ability to ask God for a number of things, while using alliteration, 4 and 5 syllable words, metaphors meanwhile comparing yourselves to others.

This is a moment in which, I get to talk to God about all the things I am thankful for, all the things I can rejoice about, all the things I have not mustered up enough strength to talk to my spouse, parents, teachers, and family about. This is about me and God. My private time with my Father, and laying everything out in front of him.

My hands might be raised, I might be standing, I might be lying down with tears in my eyes, I might be on my knees, regardless of my position or posture is the position of my heart that can come to God, boldly yet humbly understanding that this is who fixes my problems.

“when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”

I go to a secluded place to talk to my Father in a secret place. Even though I’ve petitioned him in secret, He rewards me openly.

I prayed for this job, I prayed for this family, I prayed to be healed, I prayed for this house, I prayed for this patience, I prayed for this disciple, I prayed for this wisdom and here’s God showcasing His ability in the open.

Prayer is an intentional dedicated practice, I go to a room dedicated to prayer. I shut the door, I remove distractions, This is not to say that we should not pray in public, but public prayer is a reflection of how we approach God privately.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think they will be heard for their many words”

The heathen only believes that the prayer was effective if it was long.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask him”