Welcome to part one of my series: The Five Questions of Prayer. Based on a recent talk I gave at a Women's Ministry meeting, I am examining five components of prayer.
A writer is often advised to always tell who, what, where, when and how when communicating. Prayer is the ultimate communication between our Father and us, so why not examine the 5 questions as it relates to prayer?
Aren't you curious about the practice of prayer?
Of
course, the who question is easy! We are praying to the Creator of the
Universe, the One who sits on the throne of God, high above the heavens. The
One who loved us enough to give His only Son to take all our sins upon Him and
die a cruel death in our place. Remember the One we are
praying to has all the power. He is the only one powerful enough to just speak a word and worlds
are created, the dead raised, and the seas parted.Jesus knew our nature of wanting to have a checklist of just how to do a thing, and so He gave us the Lord’s Prayer as a model prayer, a template of prayer, so to speak.
Matthew
6:9-13 New King James Version
(NKJV)
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 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.
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 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.
It begins
with acknowledging our Father, who is in heaven, meaning He sees everything
from a heavenly perspective, He is above us, seeing what we cannot see. Sometimes, the answer to our prayer is no for just that reason: He knows things we do not know.
The
next part of the prayer tells us to “hallow” his name. Respect Him. Revere Him.
In other words, worship Him. Give Him praise.
I love the scripture that tells us the Father inhabits the praise of the people. He is always with a believer - that is His promise to us - but I believe His presence is manifested in a special way when we praise.
Who does a believer pray to? His good, good Father!
Stay tuned for part two!
Interested in prayer? Leave a comment telling of your experiences, or suggest a question we could examine together.
I'm sharing at:
Inspire Me Monday
#TellHisStory
Stay tuned for part two!
~~~
Interested in prayer? Leave a comment telling of your experiences, or suggest a question we could examine together.
~~~
I'm sharing at:
Inspire Me Monday
#TellHisStory
It's always good to know more and more about who we pray to.
ReplyDeleteGood series you are doing! All I can say is, I know prayer works!
ReplyDeletebetty
This will be a great series. I'm glad you are doing it. Praise God we pray to a living, powerful, omniscient Father!
ReplyDeleteJerri, this is wonderful. What a wonderful series.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing with Sweet Tea & Friend's this month dear friend. I'm so happy you're here.