Some thoughts on prayer….
We all know that children are very honest and they tend to say things the way it should be said. Here are a few gems I found while looking at kid’s thoughts on things:
Kids thoughts on Love and Marriage:
* “If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don’t want to do it. It takes too long.” — Glenn, age 7
* “Love is like an avalanche where you have to run for your life.” — John, age 9 One evening, a little boy was saying his prayers, and this is what he said;
* “Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me.” — Dave, age 8
Kid’s letters to God:
Dear God, I think about You sometimes even when I’m not praying. — Elliot
Dear God, Did You really mean “do unto others as they do unto you?” Because if you did, then I’m going to get my brother. — Darla
Dear God, Are you really invisible or is that a trick? — Lucy
Dear God, Is it true my father won’t get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house? — Anita
Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t You just keep the ones You have now? — Jane
Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay? — Neil
Dear God, Thank You for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. — Joyce
Dear God, Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before, You can look it up. — Bruce
Dear God, If we come back as something — please don’t let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her. — Denise
Dear God, My brother is a rat. You should give him a tail. Ha ha. — Danny
Dear God, I want to be just like my Daddy when I get big but not with so much hair all over. — Sam
Dear God, I bet it is very hard for You to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. — Nan
But here is what a young man said one evening while saying his prayers with his Father.
“Dear God, bless my mommy & daddy, and take care of yourself, too, because without You, we’re sunk! Amen” You see, he gets it. He knows that when he’s praying, he’s talking to God and knows that without God, we’re sunk. Just a child, but he gets what prayer is really about.
But many adults have trouble understanding how to pray. Let me show you why. Have you ever tried to use a tool you weren’t familiar with? You don’t have good results at first because you don’t fully understand the proper usage of the tool.
Many people pray like that. They aren’t that familiar with it, and as a result, they don’t see much results and end up getting frustrated. The problem is that they don’t fully understand what prayer is.
We have always been taught that prayer is just talking to God; that it is just a conversation with God where we ask for what we need and occasionally thank Him and sometimes pray for others too, but it is so much more.
There are many different ways to pray. We sometimes pray in public, but more importantly, we also need a daily quiet time of prayer. A time of no interruptions so we can fully focus on Him and to meditate on His holiness. We need a time where we listen as He talks to us instead of us doing all of the talking.
Prayer is vital to our relationship with God. It’s the most powerful thing on earth but it is the least used of God’s tools.
God is calling every Christian to get spiritually prepared and He wants us to understand the URGENCY of His calling. This calling is amazingly important and is essential to our survival in this world.
Many churches talk a lot about prayer, but they don’t model it and they don’t teach it. As a result, Christians don’t really understand the blessing that prayer is and the power which comes from it. We end up trying to avoid it rather than embrace it.
The ironic thing is that we serve a God of abundance and when we ask for something, not for our own gain but to glorify Him, we will get it in the right way and time. But we rarely ask for those blessings.
Billy Graham once said, “That heaven was full of blessings nobody ever asked God for…So they just sit there unused.”
Two pastors were sitting in a coffee shop discussing the best position in which to pray
One said that kneeling was the best, and the other said head bowed was best. The man at the next table finally spoke up and said the best position to pray from is when you simply realize you need more of Jesus.
Jesus and His disciples were resting on a mountain and the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray
Starting in MATTHEW 6:5-13, we see what Jesus said:
‘And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, who love to pray public so they can impress people with how religious they are. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to God, who is unseen. ‘Then He, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
‘And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need even before you ask Him. This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we have also forgiven those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
The first thing that Jesus says is to not be like the hypocrites who prayed in public so people would admire them.
God wants us to pray directly to Him from the center of our hearts: a private and focused prayer.
It is fine to pray in a public place as we do in church, but there is another form of prayer – a prayer that is holy – and solemn. When we pray in private, we concentrate more intently, and we end up feeling closer to God.
Now, let’s get into the actual prayer. Jesus said that we need to start praying by PRAISING. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” When we pray, do we exalt God? Do we first thank Him for WHO HE IS instead of going into our wish list? God is sovreign, holy, just, and true. All that we are and all that we have is because of who God is. The first thing we need to do in our prayers to God is recognize that.
The next thing that Jesus teaches us is that we need to depend on God for everything we need in life. “Give us this day, our daily bread.” God teaches us in His word that he provides good things to his loved ones.
Acts 14:17
Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
Before we can expect Him to answer our prayers, we must believe He CAN and expect that He WILL. God desires to answer your prayers. He WANTS to give you the fullness of who He is.
THIS NEXT PART IS VERY IMPORTANT
“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Jesus lets us know that we should ask to be forgiven. Even then, Christ realized that His death on the cross and resurrection did not mean that the world would stop sinning. We need to constantly be aware of the separation that sin creates between us and God and ask for the forgiveness that He provides.
However, it also says that we need to forgive others who have sinned against us. Forgiveness is important to God. We cannot even approach Him until after we have forgiven others.
Matthew 6:14-15 tells us how important forgiveness is to our salvation.
‘For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’
I know it’s hard, but you must forgive others.
Jesus also asked God to keep Him away from temptation. “Lead us not into temptation.” You may ask why Jesus would ask that. He was God’s son, but He was totally human and temptation still lingered. Satan was constantly trying to trip Him up. Jesus included himself in this section of the prayer. He clearly says, “Lead US” because He knew the flesh was weak.
When we pray, we should join Jesus in asking God to lead us away from situations which will tempt us and to lead us instead where He knows we should go, not where we think we should go.
Through this prayer, God is calling each of us as inividuals to develop a deeper prayer life and He is calling this church to do it, too
Here are a few suggestions of how we can do that:
1. Don’t just pray quick prayers
We hurry through everything in life; even in our prayers. Take time to really talk to God, let Him know what’s going on in your life. He loves you and what you have to say is important to him. However, make sure you let it be a two ay conversation. Take the time to listen.
2. Make sure you ask God to deal with YOU
How many times have you asked God to set someone else straight instead of asking Him to deal with you?
God is a holy God, so don’t approach Him with malice in your mind – – but with humility in your heart. Realize that more than likely you need to change as much or more than the person you are having issues with.
3. When you pray, be specific, be respectful, and be of humble heart.
ECCLESIASTES 5:1-2
‘Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth; do not be hasty to utter anything before God. Rather desire to be quiet instead, because God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.’
Search your heart to find the root of the problem. Find exactly what needs to be dealt with. Don’t worry about “sounding good” or having a lot of fancy words. Just get to the point and let God handle things from there.
4. Pray with a servant’s heart
Ask Him for things that will help you glorify Him — not make it easier on yourself. Zack brought an amazingly accurate point last week when he said that “God doesn’t save us just for us, but for THEM!” He didn’t perform the miracles just for his own glory, but that other’s might see and believe in the Lord’s Christ for their salvation.
ZEPHANIAH 3:9 says
‘Then I will purify the lips of the peoples’ says God, ‘so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord so they can fully serve Him.’
When we approach God, It must be done with a humbled heart – A heart that is submissive to Him and His will. Everything we ask for and everything we desire needs to be focused on one thing, bringing glory to the Father and bringing people to know Him in a salvation relationship. Spreading the gospel to the farthest reaches of our own homes, towns, and world trumps any personal need we could have.
In ZEPHANIAH, it tells us that being humble will bring blessings.
In MATTHEW, we are reminded to have a servant’s heart.
What does a servant’s heart feel towards others?
How can one really be humble, as God requires?
These answers are found in;
PHILIPPIANS 2:3-5
‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.’
Conclusion
All of us needs a deeper prayer life. That prayer life consists of talking to Him and being quiet enough to listen as He talks to us
PSALM 46:10
‘be still and know that I am God.’
We are a busy people, So we need a time to be still and concentrate as we pray
Jesus came down off of a mountain to see the disciples trying to drive evil spirits from a young boy, but they were having no success
He said that driving out that kind of spirit required fasting and prayer. Regular prayer just wasn’t enough, in-depth, concentrated prayer is sometimes needed. We need to learn the real use and power of prayer.
A young Christian man approached an elder at his church. He asked if the older man would join him in prayer.
The young man wanted God to give him more patience. The older man agreed, and they began to pray
The elder prayed, “God, please send this young man troubles in the morning ….And please send him troubles in the evening …”
At the point, the young man interrupted him and said, “Hey, I asked for patience, not troubles.”
The elder replied, “I know, but it is during our troubles that we learn to have our patience.”
We need to understand that the best way to pray so we receive spiritual blessings is to pray prayers that honor God.
The best way to do that is to develop a daily prayer time where we get to know God
and what He wants for us.
I have felt the leading of the Lord this week. He is telling us that if we make this a house of prayer, He will take care of every need we have. He is saying that if we start taking prayer VERY SERIOUSLY, then He will start taking us as Christians very seriously.
ISAIAH 56:7 tells us
God’s house is to be a house of prayer” and we should take that very seriously, too
How about you? Do you feel the call to pray? Would you like to develop a daily prayer time of your own?
Would you like to get closer to God than ever before ? Here is how you do that –
Start praying, slowly and often. Ask Him to tell you about His Son. Every Father likes talking about His Son
Ask Jesus into your life. I don’t necessarily mean the prayer of salvation, but that would be good too. What I am saying is to ask Jesus to come into every part of your life and change it. Ask Him to share those parts which you have tried to hide from Him and the world. Then, do these two things ….pray to God in Jesus’ name, and read God’s word every day.
The more you get to know God, the more you will desire more of Him, and the more you will know what His plans for you are.
Denniscraig's Blog 