Prayer is basic to healthy relationship with the Lord. It's our way of communicating with God. It's our way of sharing with the Lover of our soul our concerns and desires. The depth of intimacy with the Lord is directly associated with spiritual communion with Him. We communicate with God through prayer and He communicates with us through His Word.
How to pray? Jesus first disciples asked Him this all important question and He gave them this answer.
Mat 6:5-13 "When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 7 "When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don't be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! 9 Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. 10 My Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]
In most Christian circles this portion of Scripture is known as the Lord's prayer and often has been used as a prayer. This however is the intended purpose of this. Jesus was teaching "How to pray" not "what to pray". Prayers of repletion quickly become impersonal and ritualistic, loosing the whole purpose in prayer. Prayer is your heart being expressed to God in loving sincerity, not legalistic religious duty.
I want to encourage you to study Mt.6:5-13,asking the Lord speak powerfully into your heart through it. What is Jesus' heart saying to your heart through this portion of Scripture? Now let's look at it.
1) verses 5 & 6 Prayer is communications from your heart to God's heart, not communications with other people. While praying in a public (in a church service) you need to keep this in mind it's all too easy to use public prayer as a platform for preaching or drawing attention to ones self or some issue. Pray MUST be kept a personal communications with God.
2) verses 7 & 8 Pray conscious of the fact that God is hearing you from the very moment you start sharing your heart with Him. There's no need for chanting or continuous repetitions, this type of thing quickly become nothing more than religious babbling.
3) Prayer should start with the acknowledgment of your spiritual relationship with God that has come to you through the Lord Jesus Christ. God is now your spiritual Father. Relationship has been established and remains. (Our Father in heaven)
Next comes an expression of your desire for God's name to be kept holy. This show personal intent and an expression that you are wanting to live your life in such away that it demonstrates holiness and so honors God's holiness name. (may Your name be kept holy)
Next we proceed to expressing our desire that God's full and complete will be done on earth. Expressing this also includes the desire of your own heart to be a place were God's Kingdom can reign today. (My Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven)
From these expressions of love towards the Lord we are now encouraged to start our petitions of personal request. First comes our need of nourishment. Certainly there's need for natural food but more important is our need to be fed spiritually. When Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness to turn rock into bread He responded by quoting from Deut.8:3. Lk 4:4 - And Jesus replied to him, It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone but by every word and expression of God. (AMP) The most important food is the spiritual food of God's Word, so we ask our Father to please feed us so that we can grow and mature and be all He has purposed us to be. (Give us today the food we need)
From here we move into requesting forgiveness of sins. Having come to Christ in true repentance all former sin is forgiven and washed away. From that point we move on in our new life endeavoring to avoid even the very appearance of evil, however during the maturing and growth process sin will happen. It's not desired and certainly not purposed but it will happen. When it does we need to be sure to keep short accounts with the Lord. God has made provision for us. When a child is learning to walk and falls down the parents don't get angry they help the child up. It's like that when we're learning to walk with the Lord. There are those time when we fall but He helps us up and we move on. 1Jn 1:8-10 - If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts. So this is the time to clear up any areas of concern and uncertainty. Quite often we get into sin through our attitudes and the way we handle offences that come through other people. It's important to release forgiveness in your heart towards other people, whether you consider them be in right or wrong. This is not always the easiest thing to do. You may have to call out to God for His help in releasing forgiveness to others but it's something that must be done otherwise bitterness will take root in your heart and you will start drifting away from God and the end is destruction. God releases forgiveness towards us as we release forgiveness towards others. (and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us).
From here we then move into petitioning the Lord as it pertains to us avoiding sin. This is a biggy! God will help and enable us us to live a holy life free from bondage and slavery to sin but we have to want it! (And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.)
Prayer is a big subject and all I've done here is to try to help you get started. Never loose sight of the fact that God is interested in you spending time with Him. He wants you to be free to come to Him any time and share your heart with Him. Life with God is to be relational not religious. .
