How to Pray
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Where have you guys learned how to pray?
Have you ever considered or asked yourself if you are praying correctly?
How should we pray?
Lets take a look.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Does this mean that we should not pray in public? Should we only pray in private?
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
I love this verse because many times when someone prays all these fancy ways I feel like I have no idea what Im doing.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Q: What do you understand from this verse?
This is telling us that even when we do not know how to pray or what to pray for, the Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit that lives in each of us. He interceeds for us.
What that means is that the Holy Spirit translates things that we cannot entirely put into words.
This means that often we do not know exactly what to pray for and how to pray and that's completely ok.
But that is not to say that there arent more appropriate ways to pray. This happened in one scene where one of the disciples asked Jesus “Lord teach us how to pray”. Lets look at that
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Father hallowed be your name.
Father hallowed be your name.
To dedicate to holiness, to consecrate, to honor, revere etc
Jesus specifies that prayer should start with us recognizing who God is first and foremost. This sets the scene for the prayer. You are God and I am not.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
This is the reverence that we should approach God with when in prayer. Do not approach the throne in an unworthy manner.
Back to the passage
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Your Kingdom Come
Your Kingdom Come
The first priority is to recognize God for who He is.
Second priority is to fulfill God’s purpose. The disciples had a very clear understanding of the Old Testament
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
So the apostles were waiting for the messiah to establish God’s kingdom, they believed this because the Old Testament was clear in this, the Pharisees believed the same.
God’s promise to David
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
Additionally in Isaiah
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
We are here to advance God’s kingdom. That priority is above your own personal needs or wants, above the local churches needs to wants.
They qualifier is that when God’s kingdom is closer, all those who worship Him benefit greatly and those who do not suffer for it so in a roundabout way our needs and wants get met through it.
Q: What does implications does God’s Kingdom approaching mean for us?
We are closer to being with God,
He is closer to judging evil
Back to the passage
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Give us our daily bread
Give us our daily bread
Now that we have the first priority of acknowledging God and prioritizing His will and His kingdom. This is where the petition comes in.
“Give us today our daily bread.”
No request is too big or too small for God, but examine the motives behind whatever you ask Him for. Jesus knows that when you pray, you often focus on the things you want from God. He started out by focusing on God's will, and now he encourages you to think about what you really need from God today.
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Forgiveness was at the heart of Jesus’ teaching during His time on earth, and so we find it here at the heart of His guide to prayer.
Jesus first stresses your need to focus on asking forgiveness for anything you have done that displeases God. Second, He reminds you to search your heart for any unforgiveness you might feel toward another person and ask Him to help you release them from that debt. The debt could be something someone literally took from you; more often it will be some way in which you feel someone has hurt you.
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Finally, Jesus closes His prayer by encouraging us to keep in mind that the Christian life is a spiritual battle and we have a very real enemy. The fact that Jesus closes His prayer this way feels like a reminder about how natural and tempting humans find it to stray from God’s protection.