Prayer, part 1

1st of March

Part 1

My next subject will be prayer and I will teach on that a few times. I love to pray and I hope to transfer that love for praying to you. I would like to teach you about prayer, the different ways, how we pray and what we can achieve with prayers.

The first thing I want to convey is that: To pray is not complicated. It is all about being together with God. Some say that prayer is: To walk with God. Others say that it is to talk with Him. I read in a dictionary that it is a way to seek and communicate with God. Asking and praying are connected. So do praying and thanking.

I will write about the personal prayer and the prayer we perform together with others. I will not be able to cover all that can be said about this inexaustible subject.

Sometimes a person can talk to me from another room. I very rarely can hear what he or she says then. When I talk, I want to be in the same room and I prefer to be very close and I do not want to be occupied with another activity. I want to give the person I talk to my absolute attention. Otherwise I might be physical present, but my thoughts would wonder somewhere else. I believe that this comparison also goes for God. I think that we should be alone with Him and give Him our full attention every day, a time where we talk and listen to Him. Some of you wonder how I can say that I listen to God. “Does God talk? Do you hear voices?” No, I do not hear God speak from the outside. He speaks through His Word and to my spirit, the spirit that is born by God. Spirit talks to spirit. Jesus was sometimes called The Good Sheperd. You can look up John 10. We read there that the sheep followed the sheperd and they knew his voice. This is the clue. The longer we live with the Triune God, the better you will get to know Him and distinguish the voice of the Sheperd. I do believe we recognize the voice of our own children even when many children cry out: Mammy. It is something about the voice and the way they say it.

There is no question about the fact that God wants to spend time with us alone. You can go to Matt.6:6. We read: “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees you in secret will reward you openly.” Jesus teaches us how to pray in the same chapter. This is the prayer which is called: Our Father. I believe that this is an example of how to pray and what a prayer should consist of. It starts by exalting the Father. Our first attention is directed to God. Then we are supposed to pray: “Thy will be done” I have prayed this particular prayer a lot lately. The Will of God is the best solution for all problems and in all situations. I mention the particular problem and then I pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” After that we are supposed to pray for our daily bread. God is interested in all our needs. He will give us plenty of food and fill all our needs in glory.(Phil.4:19) Then we are supposed to confess our sins and to forgive those who have sinned against us. We can pray that God does not lead us into temptation and deliver us from all evil. We stared by exalting God and now we again turn away from ourselves and confirm the fact that His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. The prayer is closing by saying: Amen! That is a Hebrew word and it means solid, true and trustworthy. We are used to close our prayers by saying Amen. We are then saying that what we have prayed for, will come to pass. We can be sure of that. Some people are saying that this particular prayer is old-fashioned, but it was Jesus Who taught His disciples to pray this prayer and He is the same to-day, yesterday and for ever more. You should not pray it because you think you have to. Jesus says in Matt. 6:7 that we should not pray meaningless repetitions. The heathen do so. If you pray “Our Father” and at the same time think of whom to invite for dinner on Saturday, it is not a prayer coming from your heart.

When we pray, we are together with a Holy God. It is not just anybody, but He Who has created heaven and earth and You for a devine purpose. When we come to Him, we should thank Him for all He is and all He has done for you. I can hear that some of you say: “God hasn’t done anything for me.” I will not deny that you might have problems in one or more areas of your life, but think. Will you die because you have sinned? No, Jesus did that for you. Thank Him for that. Are you alone? No, God has promised you the Holy Spirit to be with you always. He has also sent angles to protect you. Thank Him for that fact. Do you remember yesterday? You almost had an accident, but God saved you. Thank Him for that. Do you remember the other day when you were exausted and your sister came to help you? Thank Him for sending her. Once we start to focus on the positive things, the “thank you list” can become very long. ALWAYS START BY FOCUSING ON HIM AND ON THANKING HIM.

Once we have finished thanking Him, we can come to Him with all our needs. Look up Phil. 4:6 and we read: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” It is clear that there is nothing you can’t pray for. Nothing is too big nor too little.

In James 5:13 we read that if anyone is suffering, he should pray and if anyone is cheerful, he should sing psalms. We can do both when we are praying. True praying is connected with a revelation of God and we are turning towards Him.

IN ORDER TO PRAY, WE HAVE TO HAVE FAITH. We have to believe that God exists and that He answers our prayers. We can go to Matt. 7:8. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” It continues to say that no carnal father will give his son a stone if he asks for bread. Can you then imagine how much better our Father in heaven is. HE GIVES ONLY GOOD GIFTS.

Turn to Mark 11:24. “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” We are not supposed to believe in the things we pray for, but in Him Who gives us the gifts. He is first of all FULL OF LOVE. He loves us and wants only good things for us in all areas of our lives. He does not keep anything away from us. He is not stingy. His name is El Shaddai – A God Who has more than enough. He does not lack anything. HE HAS EVERYTHING WE NEED.

HE IS A GOD WHO BLESSES and NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM. He CAN answer our prayers and He WILL answer our prayers. Read John 14:13. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

THANK YOU FATHER FOR ANSWERING ALL MY PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mother Else