The Priority of Prayer

May 23, 2013

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)

When the disciple’s asked Jesus this request they were not just asking Him the ‘how to’ of prayer.  They were amazed at the large amounts of time Jesus prioritized for prayer.  They were asking something like ‘teach us what you know about prayer that we obviously do not know that causes You to spend so very much time in prayer.’

STEP NUMBER THREE:     Spend much time in prayer.

When you must know the will of another human being, what is the first step you take?  Our first thought is usually that we must meet with that person and have a conversation with them.  When a man is in love and decides he wants to marry a woman, his first thought is that he must meet with her and have a conversation with her.

When we seek to know the will of God, our first thought should be that we must meet with God and have a conversation with Him.  Prayer is a conversation with God.  If you do not know how to pray, think of prayer as simply meeting with and having a personal conversation with God.

Jesus responded to the apostles with a prayer that was not as much a prayer as it was an instruction about how to pray.  When you are alone, use that prayer as an outline for your conversation with God.  You will find yourself applying the second and third steps I have shared with you for knowing the will of God when Jesus instructs you to pray:

“Your kingdom come; Your will be done.”

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Posted by Dick Woodward

A Kingdom Benediction

January 15, 2013

“Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the glory forever, Amen.”   (Matthew 6: 13)

Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with a providential or God-first perspective.  He also taught us to end our prayers with the same kind of Kingdom benediction.  In this prayer/prescription after we get our priorities straight we are to close our prayers in a way that is consistent with the way we begin our prayers.

In essence, we are to end our prayers by telling God that since the power to answer our prayers will always come from Him the glory will always go to Him and the result will always belong to Him.  That is what “Your’s is the Kingdom” is really all about.

When you pray are you taking God into your plans or are you asking Him to take you into His plans?  I have had the privilege of being involved in the founding of two churches.  After many years serving those churches I then had to drop out and let others pastor them.  That was when I learned what it means to pray: “Your’s is the Kingdom.”

Jesus taught me to pray that since the power to answer my prayers over many years as the pastor of those churches had come from Him the glory should now go to Him and the result (the churches) should belong to Him.

James tells us we ask and do not receive because we ask amiss (James 4:3).  A teenager asked me if James was telling us we can pray a hit as well as a miss.  If you want to pray a hit every time allow Jesus to show you how to begin and end your prayers.

 

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Posted by Dick Woodward

A Perspective on Prayer

January 5, 2013

“In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power
And the glory forever.  Amen.”      (Matthew 6: 8-13)

Make the observation with the help of the bold type that this disciple’s prayer/instruction teaches that we should begin our prayers with what we might call a ‘providential perspective.’

This is expressed in three petitions: Your name, Your kingdom and Your will.  Before we get to “Give us” we are to bring into our perspective Who God is, as He is revealed in all His names.  Then we are to focus on the fact that He is our King and we are His subjects.

When we understand that He is our King, we know His will must be done on earth through us even as it is done perfectly in heaven, all day long every day.

Many think prayer is coming into the presence of God with a shopping list and sending God on errands for us.  But here Jesus is teaching that prayer is reporting for duty to our King that He might give us our orders for the day.

We are to end our prayers with a providential benediction. The essence of the providential benediction is that since the power to answer our prayers will always come from God, the glory and the result (the Kingdom) will always belong to God.  James tells us we sometimes “pray amiss.” The difference between praying amiss and praying a hit can be this perspective on prayer.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

A Prescription for Forgiveness

September 25, 2012

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”   (Matthew 6:12 NIV)

In all the communication that flows between a husband and wife there are ten critical words that often must be spoken.  These ten words have saved marriages and the lack of them has dissolved marriages into divorce.  Those ten words are: “I was wrong.  I am sorry.  Will you forgive me?” And they critically need this ten-word response: “You were wrong.  I was hurt.  But I forgive you.”

Some people will never say the words: “I was wrong.” They never say: “I am sorry.” And they certainly would never ask for forgiveness.  They would rather live alone for the rest of their lives than to say these ten critical words.  It may be their pride prevents them or perhaps they are driven by the myth of their own perfection.  But these words can make the difference between marriage and living alone.

It is hard to imagine an unforgiving authentic disciple of Jesus Christ when the Disciple’s Prayer instructs us to forgive as we have been forgiven or we invalidate our own forgiveness (Matthew 6: 8-15).  According to the translation from which I have quoted, the teaching actually asks our Lord to forgive us as we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

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