Part Three: Jesus Prays
Jesus prayed many times, but in this first half of this part, I want to focus on the way he teaches us to pray in Matthew 6:5-15:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. but if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
The first thing that I want to point out here is that Jesus is telling us not to pray in order to receive any earthly attention. When we pray, we shouldn't do it to be applauded by man or to make ourselves feel like "good" Christians. If we pray for the sake of praying or to make
ourselves look good. It is likely we will succeed in those things immediately, but it will not bring you closer to God. As I noted in the two previous parts of this series, the purpose of prayer is to communicate with God. If we do not communicate with God, we can not grow closer to Him and learn from Him, let alone have a relationship with Him. Friendships start to fall apart if they are not maintained. Some form of communication is necessary. How can you know God, if you never speak with Him?
The second thing I want to point out is that he says not to "keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." In other words, be straightforward and do not say more than necessary. We must remember that prayer is a conversation and not a checklist of things we want God to do. God has important things to tell us. If we constantly babble on in our prayer, we become like the Babylonians trying to build their great tower while speaking different languages. No one understood anyone else and so they put down their tools and walked away. If you babble at God constantly, you will never hear what He has to say. You may inevitably become convinced that God does not care or exist and then put down your Faith and walk away.
Thirdly, Jesus tells us that God knows what we need before we ask. Do not be worried that a prayer is too silly or unimportant. Do not fear that God won't hear you. He already knows what is important to you and what you need. He just desires that you ask. You do not have to jump up and down or do some ritualistic jig around a fire. You simply need to ask and he we reply. His reply may be drown out by your internal or outside noise that tries to distract you from Him, but be encouraged that He does hear and He does reply.
Now, getting into the actual prayer that Jesus gives us, we find different aspects of it that can be turned into a general structure for prayer which is as follows:
Dear Father: Jesus tells us to address God as our Father. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He made it so we were able to be adopted into God's family. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you become a daughter or son of God. God is your Father in heaven. By addressing Him as our Father, we make our prayer to Him far more personal. Jesus also says for us to praise Him when addressing Him. Acknowledge to God that you recognize His power and authority. By addressing God as Father, you do this. Earthly Fathers are supposed to have authority. We should give God all authority and declare it in our prayers. By doing so, we release any of our authority and control over to God, who knows all and sees all. He knows what is better for us than we know ourselves. God is perfect and does not make mistakes, but we do. By handing authority over to Him, we can have peace in knowing that God will manage our lives far better than we ever could since He is perfect and we are not.
Your Will: This single verse has such weight to it that we often forget. We must pray for God's will to be done and not ours. By doing this, we surrender our will so that God can do His will. If we are not in God's will, we will make mistakes and go astray. If we stay in God's will, he has complete control over everything. He therefore can protect us from going astray. If we do not give Him complete control, He cannot fully protect us from going astray. Then, we will go astray and leave His safe path. Be encouraged that if you do go astray, like the good shepherd that He
is, He will come searching for you in order to bring you back to the safety of the flock.
Give Us Our Daily Needs: At this point, we can ask for whatever it is that we need. Be warned, what you think you need might not be what you need. Be comforted that earlier, Jesus said that God knows what we need before we ask and that all we have to do is ask. If we need a bee to go away, we can pray for it to go away, but if it is God's will and your need for that bee to be there, it likely won't go away. If you pray for something and there appears to be no result, pray for understanding and clear sight. God will reply, just be listening very closely.
Forgive Us: This one is a difficult one because Jesus tells us to ask for forgiveness that is equal to our forgiving of others. I know I often struggle to forgive others when they hurt me, but Jesus wants us to pray that God would forgive us in the same way we have forgiven others. So, if we don't forgive others and we pray this prayer, we are then asking God to not forgive us. This may not seem fair. After all, we were the victims. Weren't we? God still gives us that choice and if you
cannot forgive others, how can you expect anyone else to forgive you. We are all victims at some point in time, but we are also all offenders at some point in time. No one is perfect. It is important that if we are struggling to forgive someone, that we ask for help forgiving them. By doing so, we help ourselves be spiritually healthy. By being unforgiving, we are harder to be forgiven by others. As the golden rule goes, "Treat others how you want to be treated." If you want to be easily forgiven, then easily forgive others.
Protect And Deliver Us: The last part of this prayer is that we ask God for protection and deliverance from the evil one, whom is the devil. This may seem obvious and unnecessary. Of course we want God to protect us from evil. However, I have found that I can forget to request it quite easily. However, God does ask that we ask Him our requests. By having the faith to ask, we can receive anything we ask for so long as it is what we truly need. If I ask for super powers, I likely will not get any because I do not need them. Want is different from need. This is something we often forget in a time where the common phrase used to express desire for something is "I need". We often use it for things we don't actually need. If a kid tells their parent that they need candy, do you think the parent would agree that the kid needs it? Or would the parent recognize that the kid does not need candy, but instead wants it. It would be nice to have, but it is not necessary. It is okay if you pray for things you want, but might not need because you might actually need it and just not know it. For example, you might think you don't need a camera, but you want one and so you pray. Then, you get one and two weeks later you need it to film something for church. You did not know you would need it, but you knew you wanted it. God knew you needed it and so when you prayed about it, you were suddenly equipped with something that you did not know you needed until the moment you needed it and it was there. Protection and deliverance are things that we know we will need. Bad things happen to good and bad people. By praying for protection and deliverance, we show God our concern for our future and are not just aimlessly going in any direction we are led by temptations from the enemy. Instead, we want to be led by God.
In this second part, I want to focus more on a few different times Jesus prayed and something important about each one. The first one is Luke 5:16, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Jesus often prayed in private. By doing so, he was not tempted by distractions of other people and things. It not only helped Him stay focused, it would have made His prayer
time far more personal and important. He went out of His way to be alone with God. This shows us His deep desire be focused on the Father. He sets an excellent example for us to make sure we find time to go out of our way to be alone praying with God. (related: Mark 1:35)
Secondly, in John 17:1 we read, "After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." All throughout the Bible we are told to Glorify God (ex: 1 Corinthians 10:31). Jesus prayed that He would glorify the Father. It is important that in all that we do, we do it for God's glory so that we do not succumb to selfish ambitions and desires, but instead, do the Father's will and therefore do what is good.
In Luke 9:28 we read, "About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James
with him and went up onto a mountain to pray." This time, Jesus did not pray by himself, but prayed in fellowship with Peter, John, and James. Praying with others is a great way to have fellowship with others and grow closer to God and others. When praying in fellowship, you and the other people involved will grow closer through God and God will bless those relationships because they encourage prayer with Him. God loves when we encourage one another in our walks with Him, because it helps us know Him more. At the same time, it will not be good if it is forced. It has to be a willing thing for all involved other wise, it is forced and not meaningful.
This concludes my three part series on prayer. I pray that it was helpful to you and encouraging. I also pray that it might have challenged you a bit in your prayer life and that by being challenged you would have changed for the better. I pray for you and that you are encouraged. If you ever have a prayer request, go to the prayer request form and fill it out. I will put an anonymous prayer request card up on the prayer request board and anyone who goes there will be able to pray for you. I will also keep that prayer request in my prayers. Pray often, my friends and be blessed. Have a great day! God bless!
Related Scripture:
Matthew 6:5-15 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. but if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Luke 5:16 "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
Mark 1:35 "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."
1 Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
2 Thessalonians 1:12 "We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Luke 9:28 "About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray."