CWW Week 32 - Prayer - Day 1
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Prayer Is How We Communicate With God.
Scripture.
Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
God is inviting us to talk with Him directly. My wife Michelle calls it her Royal Telephone and she’s on it all day long.
We are called to use this connection to God for all things,…..anything. There are some vital things to remember when we connect with Him.
The Disciples asked Jesus how they should pray in Matthew 6:9-13
“In this manner therefore pray.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever.
In Jesus name. Amen.”
Lets break this down into the essential elements.
Addressing The Call.
Who are we calling to?
Our Father who lives in heaven, Who’s name is hallowed or Holy.
This sets the tone for our communication with our Creator God. It sets the standard for our language and respect. It’s not a “Oh hi God; how doin’ today.”
The Reason For The Call.
“Your kingdom come and Your will be done,” references our faith in the soon return of Jesus and an acceptance that no matter how or if our prayers are answered, our faith in Him means we never challenge the results because we know that for what ever results we get, it will most definitely be in our best interest.
“On earth as it is in heaven.” is us saying to God that we want to uphold His heavenly principles here on earth.
Our Requests.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” Yes we are asking for our basic daily needs to be met, but there is more to this than asking God for a sandwich.
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus responds to the devils attempt to tempt Him after He fasted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. He was hungry and the devil instructed Him to turn the stones into bread.
Jesus replied, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Jesus is telling us that the Bread Of Life is the word of God.
So in this part of the prayer we are asking for physical and spiritual sustenance. We are asking God Himself to instruct and guide us.
This is why we pray for the Holy Spirit to instruct us when we open the Bible; God’s word and the bread of life.
The other point I would like to make is this. We are asking for daily bread not weekly or monthly bread. If it were real bread where would we store it?
Why would we need to store ahead if we have faith in God to meet our daily needs.
The Holy Spirit in prayer will give us just enough for today for us to digest and bank in our hearts. It also encourages us to come back to our knees every day as a healthy routine to get some more fresh bread.
Mercy And Grace.
If we are to receive forgiveness we must also be prepared to give it.
“And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
How can we have the outrageous gaul to ask God to forgive us if we can’t forgive those who have hurt us.
The Holy Spirit led my wife to this revelation when she was contemplating how to deal with the man whole molested her for six years as a child. What followed on from this realisation would turn her life completely around.
God allowed Jesus to come to earth to show us His character and be the epitome of mercy and grace at the cross.
Help In Avoiding Sin.
“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
God tells us that He will never allow us to be tempted beyond our limits; but He will always provide a way out so we can endure. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Some have questioned why God doesn’t remove the temptations all together?
It all comes back to the foundation of our choices. Why are we offered choices? Because you can’t mandate love and you can’t develop a Christ like character without being tempted by sin. That was what the wilderness experience for Jesus was all about. It was the same for the Israelite’s when Moses led them out of Egypt. For forty years they confronted character and nation building tests that they often failed.
God has given His ten commandments to convict us of sin so as to avoid it. Sin can’t be avoided but we can thrive as we reject it with the help of the Holy Spirit.
We can only do this in prayer and supplication to our Creator knowing that we are a daily work in progress.
Lastly the Kingdom and all power belongs to God and we recognise this and give all glory to Him as we close with the word that says “I agree;” Amen.
In the coming days we will examine the power of prayer as we learn how to use God’s toll free 1800 number.
Questions.
- Have you found it hard to pray and seek God’s help?
- What is it that holds you back?
- He is available minute by minute. Is it time you took Him at His word?
Prayer.
Dear Lord, Papa God.
You make it so easy to approach You but still we struggle. Is it our lack of faith in You or does it lie in the shame we feel about our sinful past. Papa I pray today that you will examine me and test me Lord that my character will grow daily to be more like your Son Jesus in whose precious name we pray.
Amen.
Have a great day today with Jesus.
Graham Hood.
