Hello! I hope today finds you doing well! After a very soggy weekend, we’ve had a couple of beautiful February days here. I’ve also been enjoying the sunrise coming a bit earlier and those few more minutes of daylight in the evening.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer. During my morning Bible time, I’m re-reading Jodie Berndt’s book Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children. (Amazon affiliate link) I’ve also been working on my own project related to prayer and I’ll be sharing more about that soon.
When we think of memorable prayers in the Bible, one of the top ones is surely The Lord’s Prayer. While we call it The Lord’s Prayer, I realize that it’s actually a model prayer for Jesus’ disciples to pray. The verses below are part of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount.
After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. ~Matthew 6:9-13
Let’s look at five simple truths about prayer found in this well-known passage.
1. Because we pray to an almighty God, anything can happen in response to our prayers.
God is not limited in how he answers our prayers. He is our Heavenly Father who loves us.
Jeremiah 32:17 says, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”
As you bring your requests to a holy God, consider how great and all-powerful He is.
2. Praying for God’s will to be done is more important than praying for my will.
He sees and understands what I cannot. I think I know what’s best for me or for someone I love, but I may not. Just as God’s will is unfailingly accomplished in Heaven, so we want His will to be accomplished here on earth.
3. God wants to meet our needs.
This instructional prayer from Jesus includes one of our most basic needs – bread. Our physical needs are important to God, and He wants us to bring them to him.
Just a few verses later, Jesus talks about God’s care for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. As surely as He feeds and clothes them, so He will take care of us.
4. Forgiveness matters.
Isn’t it interesting that our being forgiven is tied to our forgiving others? That tells me that forgiveness matters to God.
How can we expect Him to forgive us if we’re harboring bitterness or holding a grudge against another person? Let’s ask God to reveal any unforgiveness in our hearts so that we can come to him fully expecting to be forgiven of our trespasses.
5. We should pray about our own spiritual condition.
This model prayer includes the request to be kept from temptation and delivered from evil. Don’t we all need that prayer daily? Whether it’s our own sinful nature that’s tempting us or the devil himself, we want to be aware of what’s going on so we can run from it.
There’s so much about prayer in the Bible. We have the Psalms, where David pours out his heart to God. There’s Hannah’s prayer for a son, Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance from the Assyrians, and of course, Jesus’ prayer in John 17. In the coming weeks, we’ll look at more of these prayers as we seek to learn and grow in our personal prayer lives.
Related posts:
- What Hannah Teaches Me About Prayer
- 5 Bible Verses to Encourage You in Your Prayer Life
- 10 Prayers to Pray for Your Daughter
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