When You Pray...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When You Pray, Begin With Praise

 

"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven: May Your holy name be honored'" (Matthew 6:9).

 

When Jesus' friends asked Him how to pray, He gave them a model prayer.

Today we call it the Lord's Prayer, and it gives us a great outline for making contact with God.

The first idea Jesus gives us for making contact with God is captured by the words:

"Our Father in heaven: May Your holy name be honored" (Matthew 6:9).

Jesus is talking about praise. You begin making contact with God by praising him, by worshiping him.

What is praise? Praise is thanking God for who and what He is. It means to value Him, to esteem Him.

It means bragging on him: "God, You are good! There's no one as good as You!"

Why should I praise God? Because it gets my focus off myself and onto God so I can talk to Him and not at Him.

That's why we start with praise. If you want help learning how to praise God, read through the Psalms.

Many of them were written simply to praise God. If you read them aloud, you'll learn a lot about praising God in prayer.

Notice Jesus talks about God's name being holy. Did you know God has many names?

In the Old Testament there are many different names of God. In the Bible, a name was a clue to a person's character.

The Bible reveals the character of God through the names it uses for Him. Through these names, we learn that:

• God is present with me.
• God is my Shepherd.
• God is my Provider.
• God is my Healer.
• God is my Peace.
• God is my victory in conflict.

Praying the names of God reminds you of who He is and what He has done for you,

and that will stir up love in your heart for Him. You begin worshipfully praying by giving God your love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When You Pray, Give God Your Worries

 

"Give us today the food we need" (Matthew 6:11).

 

Once you have given God your love and your life, Jesus teaches you can give Him your worries

by asking God to provide for your needs and then trusting that He will provide.

For instance, we can ask God to give us the food we need each day.

Some translations say, "Give us this day our daily bread."

What is "daily bread"? It's the necessities of life—our physical and material needs that we're always worrying about.

God wants you to ask Him to provide those things so you don't have to worry about them.

He's promised to provide all your needs: "My God shall supply all of your needs" (Philippians 4:19).

What do you need today? Energy to make it through the day? Finances? Wisdom?

You have two alternatives: panic or pray. Philippians 4:6 says:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Do you really believe this verse? God says you can pray about everything. Nothing is too great for God's power.

Nothing is too insignificant for His care. Anything worth worrying about is worth praying about.

If we prayed as much as we worried, we'd have a lot less to worry about! Give God your worries.

When you talk to God about your needs, you need to be specific.

When you pray generically—"God, bless me"—how are you going to know if He answered it or not? What's a blessing? Sometimes blessings come in the form of problems. You'd better be careful when you pray, "God, bless me."

Notice the Philippians verse also says, "By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving."

When you pray, be specific and do it with thanksgiving.

Psychologists say gratitude is the healthiest emotion you can have.

The more you develop an attitude of appreciation for God, your family, and other people, the healthier you are emotionally.

You worship God through prayer when you give him your love (praise), your life (purpose), and your worries (provision).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When You Pray, Give God Your Guilt

 

"Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us" (Matthew 6:12).

 

We all make mistakes. We all have regrets.

I don't measure up to my own standard for myself, much less God's standard of perfection.

It's not very hard to admit you're not perfect. So what do we do when we fall short?

I was listening to a psychologist on the radio recently.

A guy called in and was pouring his heart out about how guilty he felt for things he had done wrong.

He asked, "How can I get rid of my guilt?" This psychologist said: "You can't. You've got to learn to live with it."

I almost shouted at the radio:

"Wait a minute! Give me that guy's phone number! He doesn't have to go through life filled with guilt!"

There is no reason in the world you have to live with guilt. God has given us a way to get rid of guilt.

It's called confession. God promises that when we confess,

He forgives us instantly, totally, completely, freely, and continuously.

If a Christian is carrying guilt around, it's because they're not taking advantage of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

Give God your guilt. Doing this, asking for pardon, is the next step in making contact with God.

God wants to forgive you. You don't have to beg for forgiveness: "God, please, pretty please with sugar on it!"

You don't have to bargain: "God, if You forgive me, I will never do it again." You don't have to bribe:

"God, if You'll forgive me, I promise to always read my Bible." You simply believe you are forgiven.

If you ever run out of things to pray about, just get specific about your sins and weaknesses.

When I talk with God about my weaknesses and sins, I never lack for subject matter.

In fact, I'm always coming up with new material! There's plenty of things to talk about in my life that need to be changed.

You worship God through prayer when you give Him your love (praise), your life (purpose), and your worries (provision).

And also when you ask Him for forgiveness (pardon) of your sins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When You Pray, Give God Your Hurts

 

"If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done" (Matthew 6:14-15).

 

In your life, you will be hurt by others; sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally.

How you handle that hurt determines your happiness.

When you bottle up hurt in your life and hold onto it, that is called resentment.

If somebody hurt you years ago and you're still holding onto it, it will poison your life.

For your own health and happiness, you must learn to forgive.

The Bible says forgive and be forgiven. In fact, Jesus says,

"If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done" (Matthew 6:15).

They're inter-related. It reminds me of the story where someone told John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,

"I just can't forgive that person! They hurt me too badly." Wesley's response was, "Then I hope you never sin."

For your own sake, let go of the past. If somebody hurt you, let go of it, release them. That's one of the values of prayer.

It helps you unload. Forgiveness is the only way to get rid of the past. Forgive them and let it go. Get on with life. Forgiveness erases the videotape of that hurt memory that keeps playing over and over in your mind.

In my own marriage, the times I've felt closest to Kay, the times of most intimacy and oneness,

have been times after a major blow up.

We've worked the thing through, we've both confessed to each other and asked forgiveness, and then we pray together.

The oneness that comes out of that kind of experience just can't be explained.

When we let go of our hurts and forgive others,

we are reflecting the grace of our heavenly Father who forgave us and continues to forgive us.

It means we've given God our love; we've given God our lives, and, in doing that, we worship God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Powerful Key to Prayer

 

"And I tell you more: whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for,

it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them" (Matthew 18:19-20).

 

If you look at the Lord's Prayer, you'll see that it reflects praying together:

"Our Father . . . give us . . . our daily bread . . . forgive us our debts . . . as we also have forgiven our debtors . . .

lead us not into temptation . . . deliver us" (Matthew 6:9-13, emphasis mine).

Many of us miss out on so much because we only pray by ourselves.

Yet, when Jesus gave us an outline for prayer, He spoke about praying together. There is power in group prayer.

If you're not praying with other believers, then you're not getting the support you need.

You're missing out on one of the major benefits of being a Christian.

Jesus says "whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them" (Matthew 18:19-20).

That's the power of praying with other people.

Ask yourself, "Who am I consistently praying with on a regular basis?"

You may be saying you've never prayed with anybody before and it scares you to death. It's okay to start slow.

When you get together with five or six other friends, you don't have to pray if you don't want to;

you can sit there and be quiet.

Then, after several weeks, as you become more comfortable, you can begin to participate more in the group's prayers. You'll find a new level of stability in your life.

If you've never prayed with other people, start by praying aloud when you're alone.

I do most of my praying, more than any other place, on the freeway.

I'm driving down the road and talking aloud to the Lord, "Lord, here are some things I want to talk with you about today."

Another suggestion is to pray at meals. Our family holds hands;

sometimes we pray sentence prayers such as thank you prayers to God for what he has done for us.

Praying together is another form of worshipping God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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