Pattern for Prayer

You are so very blessed in that you serve a God who wants to hear from you, personally. He wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to hear you tell him about your day, about your problems, about your friends and family and about your life. He wants to hear from you.

This is so amazing that the Creator of the Universe wants to hear from you. He loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus who volunteered to die on the cross – to shed His blood for your sins, your personal sins and the personal sins of all who have ever lived, now live and who will live in future times. He did this before you were ever born. His blood washes away your sins today, if you accept His sacrifice and make Him Lord of your life.

A lot of people are put off praying because they mistakenly believe that they have to use religious-sounding words. Nothing is further from the truth. How do you talk to God? Well, how do you talk to your friends? Just talk to Him like you are talking to one of your friends. You don’t have to use fancy religious-sounding words to talk to Him. He wants to hear what is in your heart and isn’t particularly interested in the words you use or even the position of your body. You can pray flat on your face, kneeling, sitting, standing, etc. Most people choose kneeling as it shows respect and the attitude of a servant, but many people cannot physically kneel or are in a place where they can’t kneel. Pray where you are, using everyday words. Silently or out loud, just pray!

Jesus gave us an idea of how to pray and how not to pray when He gave us the pattern for prayer – The Lord’s Prayer.

Matt 6:5-6 5 “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."

We are to do much of our prayer in private. Find a quiet place where you and God can be alone, where you can pour out your heart to Him about everything in your life, where you can pray for yourself, your family, your friends, and others in the world privately.

This is not the only time you pray, for you are commanded to pray all the time. I Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing” “Never stop praying”

You need to pray in all sorts of situations and circumstances. You can pray while standing in line, while you are riding or driving a car, before meals, when you have a decision to make, in church, in Sabbath class, everywhere, at any time.

Matthew 6:7 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.”

You are to pray in your natural language. Fancy-sounding religious words will not make your prayers more endearing to God. Make up the prayers from your heart using your own words, not as one that is repeated and repeated over and over.

Jesus gave us a pattern to use as an outline for prayer – The Lord’s Prayer. There is nothing wrong in using the exact words of this prayer as long as the words are coming from your heart. When you just memorize them and then repeat them, a lot of the time you will lose the meaning behind those words – you are just repeating them by rote. Your prayers to God must come from the heart.

Let us go through the pattern prayer and see if we can see the meaning behind the words.

Our Father God is your heavenly Father. You are His child.
1. You are to approach God like children approach a loving Daddy.
2. Approach God with joy, love, honor and respect.

In Heaven, hallowed be Your Name God is in Heaven and His Name is holy.
1. Praise your God, the Creator of the Universe.
2. Praise His awesome Creation from the mighty universe to the tiniest bit of created matter you can’t even see.
3. Honor and respect His holy name.
4. Acknowledge that He is supreme – that He is your Lord and ruler of your life.

Your Kingdom come
1. Pray for Jesus’ return and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.
2. Look forward to the day of His return, the establishment of peace on the earth, and living with Him forever.

Your Will Be Done on the Earth as it is in Heaven
1. Pray that all requests and answers to prayer will be according to God’s will.
2. Pray that your free will does not stop God’s will from being accomplished in your life and in the lives of those for whom you are praying.

Give us this day our daily bread This is the time to really talk to God about your life, your hopes and dreams, your problems and the problems of others for whom you are praying.
1. Ask God for the things you need before asking for the things you want.
2. Emphasize your trust in His will for you and your acceptance of His will for you.
3. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering for their faith.
4. Ask God to release the power of His Holy Spirit in the lives of those you love who are unsaved and those in the world yet unsaved.
5. Place yourself as a sheep before your Shepherd. The Shepherd cares and watches over and protects His sheep as God loves and cares for, watches over and protects you.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
1. Ask God to help you forgive others who have hurt you and ask Him for the power of His Holy Spirit to forgive them knowing it is impossible to fully forgive others without His help.
2. Confess your sins to God and ask Him to forgive you.
3. Realize that unless and until you forgive others, you will also not be forgiven.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one
1. Ask God to protect you from any temptation that Satan or his devils and demons would put in your path.
2. Ask God to release you from any bondage or addiction you have that is preventing you from having a complete relationship with Him – this is anything that you are involved in that takes away time that should otherwise be spent building your relationship with Him (TV, the computer, computer games, drugs, alcohol, etc.)
3. Ask God to guide you in all that you do, think or say.

For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever.
1. End by praising and thanking God for everything He has done for you.
2. Express gratitude for His love, forgiveness of your sins, and the gifts of salvation and eternal life.
3. Thank Him for giving you power over sin in your life, in the lives of those you love and in the lives of those for whom you have prayed. Amen.

Your relationship with God is the most important relationship you will ever have. To think that the Creator God wants to have a relationship with you is mind-boggling.

Psalm 8:3-5 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor."

Don’t neglect this form of communication that God has provided for you. Pray to Him every day and if it is helpful, use the pattern prayer He has also provided for you. Develop, grow and maintain this most important relationship.

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