How Jesus taught us to pray- Lord’s Prayer part 4

Give us this day our daily bread; (Matthew 6:11 MKJV)

In Matthew 6:10 (given above in italics) Jesus is confessing that He is dependent on God. This is how He taught His followers to pray- we should also confess that we are dependent on God. Why is it important to confess that we are dependent on God? The following verse can give us a glimpse why it is important:

Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning. (James 1:17 BBE)

The human race may think that they are self-sufficient or self-reliant, but that’s not the Biblical view! Every good thing comes from God! We should acknowledge that God is providing for us in our everyday needs. That is what Jesus is trying to teach His followers.

=> We can pray to God about our everyday needs!

Share your thoughts on how God provided for you!

Till next time.

How Jesus taught us to pray- Lord’s prayer part 1

Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (Matthew 6:9 MKJV)

This is how Jesus taught his followers to pray. It can be seen as an example prayer. Everyone can pray it. But sometimes if we say the same prayer over and over it becomes a meaningless string of words that come out of our mouths.

It is of vital importance that the example prayer must stay important to us. We should know what we say or ask for when we pray the example prayer. I mean, if the example that Jesus gave us becomes meaningless, then where can we learn from? In this post and those to follow I am going to talk about the example prayer that Jesus gave us.

Jesus addresses the Lord as “Father”. This was not the normal way of talking to God in the ancient times, as the Jews did not address the Lord as Father! But Jesus is the Son of God and out of that intimate relationship Jesus calls the Lord “Father”.

Christians today also believe that we are children of God. Christians also talk to God as the “Father”. The following may sound familiar: “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost”. It is general knowledge of every Christian that God is also their Father.

But of course that makes Jesus our brother, our next of kin! That is perhaps why some Christians greet each other as brother and sister in Christ.

But God is still holy, “Hallowed be Your name” is the words that Jesus used to talk to God. Even though He is holy, he is still our Father in heaven. He is thus our holy father in heaven; we must still have respect for the Father as God the holy one or God the almighty one.

What can we learn from the first part of the “Lord’s prayer” prayer?

·         God is the father of Jesus.

·         God is the father of his followers.

·         Jesus is our next of kin.

·         But the Godhead is still holy!

We continue with the example prayer next time!

Spiritual Praying (Part 2)

Core text

Then what should I do? There are times when I should pray with my spirit, and times when I should pray with my mind. Sometimes I should sing with my spirit, and at other times I should sing with my mind. (1 Corinthians 14:15 CEV)

We read in our core verse that the apostle Paul prayed with his spirit. Christians should also try to do the same!

The previous post was about the spiritual armor of God. I wrote about it in such a fashion that it can be prayed. Prayer should include your mind – in other words thinking in a cognitive perhaps even a religious way. You should not only pray with your mind but also your spirit. This can be applied differently to each praying believer.

We know that before you can pray with your spirit your spiritual side must take over. Consider a car for example, if it is in gear the engine will work. If it is not in a gear the engine wouldn’t work. It is exactly the same with our minds. If our mind is taken out of gear the spiritual side can take over. In other words we should be focused on God and not on things of this world.

This is perhaps why you should be calm when you try to pray with your spirit. Yes- it can take a while for a new believer to learn to pray with his/her spirit but it’s important that we try to.

Till next time!

Spiritual praying

Spiritual praying

Core text

Never stop praying, especially for others. Always pray by the power of the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for God's people. (Ephesians 6:18 CEV)

Our core text for today originates at the end of the spiritual armor that the apostle Paul described in the letter to the Ephesians. He says: “Never stop praying” linked to the spiritual armor. Now what was that spiritual armor again?

·         Belt:- truth

·         Breastplate:- Gods righteousness

·         Shoes:- go where peace is.

·         Shield:- Faith that stops the attacks from the evil one.

·         Helmet:- the salvation that Christ brought.

·         Sword:- the Word of God.

What does it mean for our prayers? Can it help us?

The belt symbolizes that we have to seek the truth in our religious beliefs. When we pray we cannot lie to God. God knows the truth. The breastplate symbolizes Gods righteousness. When we pray we must remember that God is just and fair. The shoes symbolize the fact that we must go where the evil one cannot get- that is with God. The shield symbolizes a strong faith. If we have a strong faith we will be focused on the Lord.

In prayer we can ask that God must forgive our sins. This is the helmet of salvation of Christ. Christ was crucified on the cross. That brought us the helmet of salvation. The sword is the Word of God. Most Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God. It is possible to pray Bible verses like Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepard. Thank you Lord that I will never be in need!”

It is possible to structure our prayers around the spiritual armor of God. It may take a lot of practice to master prayer but these easy steps simplify it a lot.

Till next time!