Remember we ended last week with these two questions to reflect upon in our quest to understand our approach when it comes to praying aright.
- Is our heavenly Father accountable to any man that He should change His mind as we often wish He does?
- Can a man get all the benefits of God’s kingdom on his own terms?
There are several examples of prayers to learn from; and if we will apply the lessons we pick from them, our prayer lives would change. Of course the prayers made by the Lord Jesus Christ ought to be the starting point for examination. The model prayer we take is what He taught in response to the plea from His disciples as recorded in Luke 11:1-4 (AMPC)—Then He was praying in a certain place; and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, [just] as John taught his disciples. And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven. Give us daily our bread [food for the morrow]. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended us or done us wrong]. And bring us not into temptation but rescue us from evil.
Acceptable prayer recognises the priorities set forth here:
- Seeking God’s glory and the establishment of His will on earth as in heaven is primary to our Father. How is this reflected in your daily supplications to Him? Do you recognise and contend against the obstacles to these being fulfilled in our land and in the lives of fellow believers? You can see this pattern in several of Apostle Paul’s prayers through the course of his ministry. Please make a point of studying each of these examples, savouring their flavour by checking different translations:
- Ephesians 1:15-19
- Ephesians 3:14-19
- Philippians 1:9-11
- Colossians 1:9-14
- 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
- Back to the model prayer, do you notice how many times ‘us’ and ‘our’ occurred and rarely ‘I’! Our prayers must be rid of expression of self-desires and consciously pursue collective inclusiveness.
Does that mean I should not pray for myself, my needs etc? I was blown away by the answer I got to that question. His answer was expressly stated in Psalm 37:4 (NLT)—Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.
Our desires and secret petitions will be given without our asking as we delight ourselves in the Lord! Indeed your mind is questioning this assertion quoting Philippians 4:6 but the practice of this by the Lord as well as Paul relates specially to prayers of deliverance in the face of trouble as expressed in Matthew 26:36-44; John 12:27; 2 Thessalonians 3:2 and 2 Timothy 4:18. Several other examples are in the testimonials of David’s prayer life in Psalm 31.
As we fight the battles of the Lord, and the battle of others, the Lord will fight our battles. Exodus 14:14, Deuteronomy 3:22 and Psalm 34:17 testify.
To change from your old prayer pattern has to be intentional on your part. Work on it and delight yourself in the Lord. You will return with a testimony. Selah.
Pastor Afolabi Oladele
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