The
disciples asked "Lord teach us to pray", and Jesus gave them the Lord's
Prayer as an example. We can invite people to church and study the
bible together, but we need to learn to pray together. Changes take place
not when we study about prayer, not when we talk about it, but when we
actually pray. We need to talk to God. Relationships can't
be built and strengthened without conversation!
The
Lord's Prayer -
Relevant for Today?
YES!!
Prayer is not a ritual,
nor is it a formula. The Lord gave this prayer to the disciples as an example
- not to be mindlessly repeated at God. It is the basis on which we can
build our own prayers, particularly until we feel comfortable praying.
The attributes of this prayer are
important.
We need to remember that we have
been welcomed into the family - He is our
father too; but He is holy and to be
revered.
This is not His kingdom, sometimes
we can forget this, but I am really looking forward to the time when we
are in His kingdom and when His will is done on this earth as well as in
Heaven. Living our lives as He wants us to sometimes is a "big ask"
- we need to remember that we should be doing things in His strength.
His power is far reaching and all encompassing, ours is not. If
God is for us, who can be against us.......
Can we really forgive others as
God forgives us, in our
own strength? Sometimes I
need help in this area (as in a
lot of others) but our Father is
happy to oblige in helping us
because unforgiveness affects our
prayer life, and the devil
feeds us some pretty convincing
lies. We need protecting from him!
In today's world, acknowledging
the sovereignty and lordship
of Christ is not high on the list
of things people, on the whole, do - BUT
He is our King and His kingdom is coming. Because
of what He did for us on the cross, He is the Lamb of God, and to Him alone
belongs all glory and honour and power throughout all time. Hallelujah!
Attitudes
and Prayer
Sometimes we need to ask
God to give us the right attitude to for a situation or about a person.
If someone upsets us and we bite back, is this going to solve anything?
In this uncomfortable setting are we going to be able to join together
for prayer - NO. If I regard sin in
my heart the Lord will not hear me...Ps66.18
When someone hurts us the immediate
reaction is to hurt back. "Here let me help you" while you are drowning
and we push them under! God doesn't want this. He expects us to reaffirm
our love for them 2Cor 2:8
[Get real Lord]
but, you know, we do this so that
God can see if we are obedient in all things 2Cor
2:9 There is another reason for this.
Satan loves to get his foot in
the door. He enjoys seeing church groups broken up by our failure to forgive
and confirm our love for each other. Would you rather have a vibrant, strong,
united prayer group that is open with each other, or would you rather nurse
a hurt or slight until it festers and boils over bringing disharmony?
It takes courage and strength from
God to do this. We have to learn to lean on Him because if we try to do
this in our own strength we may fail and give Satan the opening he was
waiting for, to bring disunity.
James 4:3-10
Have pure motives, pure hearts,
submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves
in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you.
Why
Doesn't God Answer?
In today's age
we work, pull, struggle and plan until we're exhausted but you know what
- we've forgotten to plug into the power source! What is the power source
- PRAYER! The effectual fervent prayer of
a righteous man avails much.....James 5:16
What is the key word in this scripture -
righteousness. It is the prayer of the righteous man
that God hears. In Psalm
66:18 it says
If I regard iniquity in my own heart, the Lord will not hear me.
Do you think sometimes God
missed the boat when you pray? Listen to what the prophet Isaiah
has to say in
Chpt 59:1-2.......Listen now!
The Lord isn't too weak to save you. And He isn't getting deaf! He can
hear you when you call! But the trouble is that your sins have cut you
off from God. Because of sin He has turned His face away from you and will
not listen anymore..........Living Bible.
If we are living with sin in our lives, and keeping it there, God doesn't
hear us. Perhaps we are harbouring a "big" sin - one that we feel is too
big/awful for God to forgive.
GOD'S SEEN IT ALL BEFORE!
He's pretty shockproof. Sin is sin whether
it's big or little, just one or many, but God honours true repentance.
He looks passed the words and into our hearts.
Maybe we've never prayed the prayer of repentance and in faith asked Christ
to be Lord of our lives. In John
16:7-9 Jesus told the disciples that when
He went He would send them a Helper, and this helper when he came, would
convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. Sin
whether it is the sin of not believing in Christ as your personal saviour
or something else, these sins will keep God from hearing our intercessory
prayer. If our prayer life seems to be unfruitful perhaps we should get
on our knees and ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of any unconfessed sin
in our lives. In 1John 1:9
it's written that if
we confess our sins {the bible doesn't differentiate between sizes here}
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Even
"little" sins muddy the water. Sin is sin!
It could just be a wrong word spoken
or a bad attitude. What about pride - wow look what I've done! Maybe
your motives are divided - look at everything I do and it's all for the
Lord, but underneath our egos are being fulfilled; there's just that wee
desire to build up our worth in the eyes of our contemporaries.
Do you have one life at home and
one at church? God is omnipresent - He sees everything and He doesn't
like pretense. We don't need spiritual pedestals to get closer to
God. He wants us to be open and honest with Him. For
the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto
their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil....1Peter
3:12
Before we can effectively intercede for others our lives must be right
with Christ. If there's nothing else I've learnt it's that it's God's job
to worry over Joe Bloggs but it's MY
job to get my life right with Christ.
If God doesn't seem to be listening, perhaps it's time you should try listening
and let God change
your life!
God's
plans or ours?
When
we come to pray do we plan what we are going to say first and then pray
it? What about our lives, do we plan what we want to
do and then pray?
Do any of us consider praying first
and planning later God, expects us to be orderly. He expects us to manage
our time, to discipline ourselves, to prepare well-prepared programmes
but if we learn to pray first and plan afterwards what effect would this
have on our homes, our churches, our bible studies or whatever we are doing
for Christ?
Maybe we are planning in one direction
and God's will is in another direction -He might tell us to "turn around,
My will for you is this way and NOT that way." We might be going in the
right direction but because of our limited vision we may only be going
at a snail's pace, where God can see the whole picture and we must learn
to trust His vision instead of relying on our own ability.
If, before we start anything we
ask the Lord "what do you want me to do, where do you want me to go and
how do you want me to do it," then our omnipotent God can pour our His
power upon us. Instead of fulfilling tiny plans through our human
strength, we could accomplish mighty things in God's name, with the outpouring
of His grace.
Group
Prayer
Let's go the the Book
of Acts 1:9,12-14 "And
after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking
on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight...Then they returned to
Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath
day's journey away. And when they had entered they went up to the upper
room, where they were staying; that is Peter, and John and James and Andrew
and Phillip and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind
were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and
Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers."
I think that it is exciting
to see that women had been included in the Early church. This is
the final reference to Mary, Jesus' mother, and here she is on her face
before God, praying with the others in this room. In the synagogues
the sexes were separated, but here they were, together praying in one accord.
Group prayer is different from
personal prayer. We need to come before Father God in one mind - praying
about one subject at a time with one person praying out loud while the
others in the group are praying silently on the SAME
subject.
This is praying in one accord although
we don't need to pray just one prayer per topic!
Do your thoughts wander while someone
is praying a long prayer? [Be Honest]
Are you thinking up ideas, or planning what you will pray? If you are you
are detracting from the strength of the prayer. [scary thought huh] The
number of prayers ascending Heaven are multiplied by the number of those
who are silently praying. How much more power there is in prayer when the
participants are praying in one accord.
How many of us feel uncomfortable
talking to God in the presence of others........more than a few of us I'm
sure.
But that's ok, prayer should be
spontaneous not an obligation. A heartfelt prayer a sentence long
is far more acceptable to God than vain repetitions. Matt
6:7-8
In Luke 9:47 it says that Jesus...
perceived the thoughts of their hearts." Do you think God is happy with
lip service?
He knows our needs before we ask,
we only have to lay our needs before Him. If the fervent prayer of a righteous
man avails much James 5:16,
then what about when a group of you get together....there is so much that
could be accomplished.
Silent periods in prayer are a
blessing so don't panic and rush in with something. God needs us to listen.
Prayer is a two-way conversation with God. Don't you get frustrated when
you can't get a word in in a conversation? We need to be still before God
now and then so He can communicate with us.
Armour
of God
Every day we should put on the armour
of God,
Eph 6:10-18,
so that we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil. We need
to gird our loins with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness,
wear shoes of the preparation of the gospel. We need to take up the shield
of faith, put on the helmet of salvation and strap on the Sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God. With these weapons and prayer mighty
things can be accomplished for the glory of God.
I hope this has inspired some thought and action.
I would love to hear your comments on these pages,
please leave me a message. Thank you and God Bless
