Prayers

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Pray--Don’t Beg

Oh, how I love my God. The more I learn about Him the easier it seems to understand where He is coming from. Let’s talk about simply talking or praying to Him.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He didn’t refuse them. He didn’t say “No way, you're not educated enough.” or “You’re not righteous enough.” Nor did He say, “That’s what I’m here for. You’re supposed to ask me and then I will ask God.” No, He didn’t say any of that. He simply started out, “Our Father Who art in heaven …”. Jesus called God “Father”. He didn’t chant “All Supreme Being, Creator of heaven and earth.” No, Jesus was less formal and gave Him a familiar term, one that describes God in a way the disciples were unaccustomed to. (Luke 11:2)

I must make a side note here. Remember when Jesus said in John 14:9, “...Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." He further explains, "The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, Who is doing His work." So when Jesus was explaining to his disciples how to pray, it wasn’t Jesus, but God, who was referring to Himself as “Father”. WOW! Having said that, let's return to the simplicity of prayer.

Prayer isn’t difficult. And having your prayers answered is as simple as one-two-three. At times it seems so simple that many short-circuit the process and wind up with nothing. How so? I assume that we have all read the Lord's Prayer, right? If not, then you can read it in (Matthew 6:9-13 or Luke 11:2-4) First us all, we must understand that Jesus is giving us a “blueprint” for prayer and not THE prayer. Just break it down line by line. It’s really self-explanatory.
           
Our Father Who is in heaven        (Our heavenly Father)
Hallowed be thy name               (We honor & acknowledge Who You are)
Your kingdom come,                 (May your heavenly kingdom)            
Your will be done                  (And your will be accomplished)
on earth as it is in heaven        (here so that the earth reflects Your will and kingdom)
Give us this day our daily bread   (Supply all our needs)
Forgive us our debts               (Forgive us)
as we forgive our debtors          (as we forgive others)
And lead us not into temptation    (Keep us from temptation)
But deliver us from evil           (Deliver us)
For Yours is the glory and         (You are worthy of honor and praise)
the power forever.                 (Because you are willing and able)

Now there is where many of us have stopped and some have added their two bits. When an answer takes some time to manifest we start to wonder, and make excuses for God. We will rationalize that we weren’t holy enough or we need to ask harder and more fervently. There is a long list of excuses that we have for “unanswered prayers. ” We needn’t find any excuses for God. If we follow the blueprint, we will see results. He is the same yesterday today and forever. He is the “I AM”.

For further explanation and guidance, turn to 1 John 5:14-15, where the author explains “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him." John is explaining that we can have confidence that as long as we ask according to God's will then He hears us, and if He hears us then we have it…right? Well, that seems easy enough. Except that there seems to be a growing number of Christians that don’t know the will of God. Well, no wonder they don’t get their prayers answered! When you pray without knowing the will of God, it isn’t prayer at all, but a form of begging. “Please do this, God…or please do that or help me, God, out of this or that situation.” Not only is that not biblical, it isn’t very Child-of-God-like.

Paul wrote in Hebrews 4:16, " Let us then boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." But don’t worry; knowing the will of God isn’t that difficult. You see, He gave it to us. It’s in your hands right now. You can find His will--His perfect will--within the book commonly referred to as the Bible. All His desires and promises to His children are written down and published. We don’t have to sit in a dark closet, without food or water for 40 days and nights in order to discover it. He has made it plain and clear. He doesn’t benefit or get any joy out of His children not knowing His desires or commands.

So, in order, to get your prayers answered, you only have to start praying what the Word of God says. In doing that, you won’t be begging, but instead you will have confidence that your prayers have been heard and answered.

Have fun praying and receiving!
Your friend and brother,
Gabriel

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