Prayer
When a believer first becomes conscious of his call into the preaching or pastoring ministry, no matter what his prayer life has been like in the past, suddenly it becomes intensified on a very personal level.
There are things we want to know, we need to know, we have to know that only God can give us the answers we seek.
Prayer has always been important in our lives. However, now we want to know and understand everything that the Lord is leading us to say and do. Learn more about why we should pray.
Fundamentally, prayer is talking with God. We can pray aloud, pray in a crowd, pray silently or pray spontaneously.
But to be in prayer is more than just speaking words. Scripture portrays a life of continual prayer, in all that we do (1 Thess. 5:17).
Now it's fairly clear that people the world over pray in some form are fashion. So it's easy to misunderstand what God has revealed concerning the process of how to come before the Almighty Impeccable God.
Knowing what has happened in the lives of righteous men who reverenced God through prayer and a revelation of the Father Himself…this is where we start in understanding the meaning of prayer. Understand the biblical secrets of prayer.
Perhaps our simplest understanding of prayer is communicating (not just talking) with God. In order for our prayer to be of any value we must first understand the Lord God and respond to Him.
When one of the parties is silent we may have a serious problem. Communicating with God our Father assumes we have familiarity... as did Adam in the Garden life.
The Bible says that they walked and talked in the cool of the evening, but since the fall there has been a broken connection between the Creator and his creation.
So this is where we began our quest to understand to what extent the communication breach has been repaired.
I believe that prayer is implicated in mans earliest worship experience.
In Genesis 4:26 these words are recorded, “To Seth, also a son was born, and he named him Enosh (Adam’s grandson). At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord (KJV).”
When we realize what happens in worship---adoration, petitioning, praising, giving thanks and confessing to God…as well as God speaking to us through His preacher or priest.
Any one of these forms would qualify as prayer. By this time the problems of sin, weakness and death had become apart of their experience.
How does prayer function in our lives except it seeks to abridge a broken relationship with our Creator God?
It’s not until the New Testament that we began to understand the priorities of prayer when Jesus the Christ responds to a request of His disciple, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
There many things that we must learn from the Lord’s teaching:
THE SEVEN FOLD PETITION (The Disciple’s Prayer)
Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
1.Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name,
God’s Holiness comes first; God is the object of our prayer;
The prayer principle of adoration (praise for who God is) and Thanksgiving (praise for what He has done)
2. Thy kingdom come,
God is sovereign; God is in control of everything; seek God’s rule
The principal of affirmation, we are agreeing with God's will and submitting to it
3. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
God’s authority extends over everything; we seek His authority over the earth
Since
The principal of affirmation, we are agreeing with God's will and submitting to it
4. Give us this day our daily bread.
God’s providence; He will provide our needs; He will provide the means
The principal of providence, we make request both for ourselves (petition) and for others (intercession)
5. And forgive us our debts, as we also we forgive our debtors.
God forgives our sins through Jesus Christ when we accept Him
God has mercy on us according to how merciful we are to others
The principal of forgiveness of sins
6. And lead us not into temptation
God protects us from dangers unseen & seen
The principal of renewal as we face the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil
7. but deliver us for the evil one
God’s deliverance from enemies, death, the devil…through Christ
The principle of deliverance from enemies (Rom. 8:37)
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