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Learning to pray for
the right things, and then praying with persistence
Most religions
teach their people to engage in prayer to their
god or gods. There are many religions and many
kinds of prayers. The problem is that although
they are engaging in a form of prayer, God is
not necessarily responding to their prayers. They
are not praying properly. They are praying to
the wrong God. They are not praying for the right
things. They are praying with the wrong motives.
God will not pay attention to the prayers of the
wicked who are praying for the wrong things. The
prayer of the wicked are an abomination to God.
True prayer
is valuable. Prayer that God responds to is important.
Real prayer works. We need to learn how to pray
properly!
What is
prayer? Prayer is words (but can include thoughts
or even emotions) that comes from a person who
knows God, who is simply talking to God. But to
pray properly, a human being must know God in
the way he needs to know God. He must be in a
right relationship with God, or moving in the
direction of a right relationship with God.
Israel’s
Messiah, who is the Son of God and the one and
only Mediator between God and Man, and our great
High Priest, who brings human beings closer to
God, and brings God closer to human beings, was
a man of prayer. He talked to His Father all the
time.
Not only
was He constantly talking to God, but He was also
listening and hearing from His Father. Rabbi Yeshua
had a two way conversation going on with God all
the time, throughout His daily life. He also had
special times when He set apart time for concentrated
prayer.
Luke tells
us about one of those special times of prayer,
and the teaching on prayer that it occasioned.
It happened that while Yeshua was praying in
a certain place, after He had finished, one of
His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us
to pray just as John also taught his disciples."
Great
men of God are expected to know how to pray. Rabbi
John the Baptist certainly did, and he taught
his followers how to pray. I am sure it would
have been a great privilege to sit at the feet
of that great prophet, and be taught by him how
to pray.
But, if
anyone could be a greater expert on prayer than
Messiah’s forerunner, it is Messiah Himself! If
anyone can teach us how to talk to God, and pray
for the right things, and have our prayers heard
and answered, it is Israel’s Supreme Rabbi, our
God-ordained and God-anointed Prophet, Priest
and King!
And
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father:
Yeshua
directed His followers to primarily pray not to
Himself, but to God the Father. The vast majority
of prayers that are recorded in the New Testament,
both before and after Messiah’s resurrection,
are directed to God the Father. There are reasons
for that.
We pray
directly to the Father, because He is the High
King. He is the One seated on the main throne
in Heaven, ruling over the universe. The Son is
also seated on a throne in Heaven, at the right
hand of the Father.
We need
the Son to get to the Father, but we need to get
to the Father. The Son of God is our High Priest
and mediator who brings us closer to God, and
brings God closer to us, but it to the Father
that the Son brings us.
Father
implies a close, personal, intimate relationship
with the Creator of the universe. God is not just
a concept to you, an idea, an ideal, an impersonal
force. He is not distant. He is close. He is not
removed. You sense that He is close to you and
involved in your life. You don’t just know about
Him, you know Him as your Father.
A father
may not respond to the voice of strangers, but
he will respond to the cries of his children.
That is his duty. But a good father is not motivated
only by duty. His love for his children inclines
his heart toward them, to help them when they
talk to him about their problems.
To pray
the right way, we must be in a right relationship
with God. He must be our Father. We must be His
son or daughter. We must be born again, and have
His nature recreated in us.
How do
we know if God is our Father?
If God
is our Father, we will be in a right relationship
to the Son.
If God
is our Father, we will love His special Son, Yeshua,
like the Father does.
If God
is our Father, we will have His Spirit living
in us. The Spirit of God gives us new life, God’s
life, making us truly become the sons and daughters
of God!
If God
is our Father, we will share His nature, and want
to do the things that He approves of. We will
want to do what is right. We will dislike what
is wrong - because it goes against His nature,
and our nature.
If God
is our Father, and we know Him and love Him and
honor Him, we will want our Father to be treated
with the utmost respect.
Father,
hallowed be Your name:
We start
off praying not for ourselves, or about ourselves.
We are to be concerned about God Himself, about
God’s name, about God’s reputation. We are to
pray that God would be honored, respected, spoken
well of, by everyone everywhere.
His name
is holy, which means that He is holy. He is not
just a little holy, He is infinitely holy! He
is different, separate from all creatures. He
is in a class all by Himself. He is unique. He
is so much greater than the greatest human beings.
He is infinitely greater than highest angels and
archangels! We are to pray that He is treated
as the infinitely holy God who He is. We are to
pray that He is given the reverence and respect
He so richly deserves.
Your
kingdom come:
God the
Father is the Father of His beloved sons and daughters.
He is close, loving, personal and intimate with
His children. We must relate to God as our Father.
But He is also the King of the greatest kingdom
of which His son and daughters are a part. He
is the Supreme Sovereign. He is the Ultimate Leader.
He is the Most Righteous Ruler, who has the right
to rule us, to command us.
He must
be our Father, and He must also be our King. And
we are to be concerned and pray that His kingdom
comes. God is real and He has a kingdom that is
real! God is a good and wise and holy and eternal
King. He created human beings in His image, and
is grieved over our rebellion and alienation from
Him. We are estranged from the King and need to
be reconciled to Him. This Greatest Of Kings loves
us and wants us to become part of His good and
beneficial kingdom, and rule over us forever and
ever, but for that to happen, we must end our
rebellion! We must put an end to our rebellious
ways.
We must
acknowledge that the Lord is the King, and start
doing things the King’s way. We must turn away
from our rebellion, our sins, our self-will, and
commit ourselves to do the will of the King.
We must
become faithful, obedient loyal subjects of the
King, and be concerned about the advancement of
God’s Kingdom, not just in the future, but here
and now.
We are
to pray that any rebellion coming from us would
come to an end, and that God would rule over every
aspect of our life; and the life of the Community
of the Messiah; and the life of the nation and
people of Israel; and the life of this nation;
and the life of the world.
The Lord
Yeshua has taught us that when we start praying,
our first prayers are not about us, and our needs,
but about God, and about His reputation, and about
His Kingdom, and being in a right relationship
with Him, and honoring and serving Him. We are
not to be self-centered creatures, but God-centered
creatures.
Then,
after we have prayed for God’s concerns, then
we pray for our concerns. We pray for our physical
needs and our spiritual needs.
Give
us each day our daily bread. To continue living,
we need to eat. We pray that God would supply
our food each day. We pray for our daily bread,
and if He does supply the food we need to sustain
our life, we don’t murmur, grumble or complain
that we don’t have luxuries. If we have manna,
we don’t demand meat, fish, cucumbers, melons,
leeks, onions and garlic. If we have our basic
physical needs met - food, clothing and shelter,
we try to be content and thankful.
We pray
for bread, not cake. We pray for needs, not luxuries,
because our life is not about luxurious living,
but simple living with the goal to extend the
kingdom of God; simple living that is focused
on helping others know the Father.
We pray
for our physical needs, and we pray for our spiritual
needs, especially for one of our most important
and frequent needs - for our sins to be forgiven.
And
forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive
everyone who is indebted to us.
The world
is not very concerned about sin, but sin is a
very important concept. It is something that we
need to be aware of, informed about, praying about.
Sin is
real. It is an objective reality. The standard
to measure sin is the nature of God. Sin is any
violation of the nature of the holy and good God.
I heard
that because snow is so important to the life
of Eskimos, they have something like 80 words
for various kinds of snow and ice, covering all
kinds of snowy and icy conditions.
In the
Bible there are quite a few words used to described
various aspects of sin. Each one tells us something
about this very important thing. As we consider
what sin is, I hope that you will better understand
that we all sin in many ways.
Sin means
missing the mark, not reaching the goal; falling
short of what is right, failure to do what is
expected of us. Do you think you do that?
Sin means
is doing what is evil, not good, what is harmful,
not beneficial. Do you ever cause others harm?
Sin is
wickedness, disturbing the peace of the universe.
Have you done that, or are you now doing that?
Sin is
twisted, bent, crooked actions and behaviors.
Sin is
a lack of integrity. It is a breaking up of what
is right, a ruining of what is good. Have you
ever, or do you now, act with less than 100% integrity?
Sin means
acting unfairly, not treating others the way they
should be treated. Have you ever done that? Are
you now doing that?
Sin is
transgression. It is crossing a moral or spiritual
boundary which must not be crossed, entering the
forbidden land of wrong. Have you ever, or are
you now, crossing those boundaries?
Sin is
rebellion - any violation of the commands or will
of the King. Have you ever, or are you know, violating
any of God’s commands?
Sin is
a breach of trust. It is treachery, unfaithfulness,
between man and man or man and God. Have you every
been unfaithful to anyone? Lied? Broken a promise?
No kept your word?
Sin is
a kind of vanity. It is a kind of emptiness. It
is stupid, senseless, meaningless behavior. Have
you every done anything stupid or senseless? Are
you doing anything like that now?
Sin is
doing what we should not do - sins of commission.
Sin is also not doing what we should do - sins
of omission. It is error, negligence or ignorance.
Do you always do the things you should do? Do
you never not do the things you should do?
If we
understand what sin is, and if we are honest with
ourselves, we will understand that we all sin
in many ways. If we claim to be sinless, we are
deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Sin is
action or inaction that makes us guilty and subject
to punishment. Sin has terrible, awful destructive
consequences, both to ourselves and others. One
of the very worst consequences is that it disturbs
our relationship with our holy Father and King.
Sin hurts Him. It displeases Him.
Sin is
not to be denied. Sin is not to be ignored. It
is not to be tolerated, toyed with or played with.
It is to be dealt with. It is to be talked to
God about, confessed, admitted to, forsaken.
And, as
we are talking to God about our sins and our desire
to have them forgiven, we must be aware of our
need to forgive others.
And
forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive
everyone who is indebted to us.
God is
willing to forgive us our many sins which have
offended Him. He expect us to be consistent and
forgive those who have offended us. We must be
quick to forgive, generous with our forgiveness,
not holders of grudges, keepers of bitterness.
If we are having problems with anger and bitterness
toward those who have genuinely harmed us, and
offended us, we admit it and ask God to give us
the grace we need to forgive. Instead of anger,
resentment and bitterness, we pray that God would
bless them.
Sin has
terrible, awful destructive consequences. We want
to avoid sin, and so the Lord teaches us to pray:
And
lead us not into temptation.
Each one
of us has areas in which we are weak. Under certain
circumstances, it is easy for us to sin. We are
to pray that the Lord would give us the grace
and the wisdom to avoid situations and circumstances
and people and places and things that will tempt
us so that we fail. We pray for our Father’s providential
activity to avoid those tempting circumstances
and situations, so that we will remain faithful
to the King, and continue to bring honor to our
Heavenly Father.
These
are the simple things, God-honoring things that
the Son of God wants us to pray for. Then, when
we know the right things to pray for, we don’t
give up. We pray with persistence. Then Yeshua
said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend,
and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend,
lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has
come to me from a journey, and I have nothing
to set before him'; and from inside he answers
and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already
been shut and my children and I are in bed; I
cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you,
even though he will not get up and give him anything
because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence
he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
Persistence
works, even where friendship fails! This is meant
to encourage us to pray! God wants us to endure
in praying, asking Him for the right things. He
wants us to keep praying until those good prayers
are answered.
Don’t
pray once in your lifetime - Your kingdom God.
Meet my daily needs. Forgive my sins. Keep me
out of situations where I will be tempted and
fail! When you know that you are praying according
to the will of God for something, pray and keep
on praying until your prayer is heard and answered.
So
I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be
opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives;
and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks,
it will be opened.
The gods
of the Greeks and Romans were understood to be
sometimes capricious and cruel. Don’t worry about
the God of Israel being like that! Don’t worry
that if you try to get close to God, and talk
to Him about something, that He will do something
that will harm you. He is not like that. He will
only do what is ultimately good for you!
Now
suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son
for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead
of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg,
he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you
then, being evil (human beings, including
the chosen people, are evil, sinners. Our very
nature has been corrupted), know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask Him?"
Our Heavenly
is not like us - evil. He is good; perfectly good,
infinitely good. He will only do good for His
children. He will only give good things. Those
good things will include necessary disciplines,
but those disciplines are designed to do us good.
He will
especially, and in particular, give us the most
amazing gift of more closeness to and fellowship
with, and fulness of the precious Holy Spirit
- the Spirit and Indwelling Presence of God Himself,
and the Son Himself - if we want that and ask
Him for that; the Spirit, who gives us new life,
who unites us to God and to one another, who transforms
us from within, who empowers us to live the right
way, who teaches us and helps us to pray and fill
us and guides us and leads us and seals us and
who will be with us forever!
Lord,
teach us to pray!
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