Do you believe in the power of prayer? Do you really even know how to pray? Jesus taught His disciples to pray by implementing what we now refer to as the Lord's Prayer which is the following: Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. That is from the ultimate teacher. A modern day teacher is a man by the name of Bob Sorgee. Bob wrote a book called The Secret of the Secret Place. In that book he tells the reader that each one of us needs to find that special place and time to pray daily. He lays out his ideas of the proper way to pray.
When I get a tug at my heart that tells me that I need to take time to draw closer to my God, that I need to take some time to pray to Him, I like take the thoughts of both of these teachers and pray. There are times that I feel the need to pray, but I just don't know how to or what it is I should say. How do I start? What should I say? Those are the times that I simply start out by reciting the Lord's Prayer. After all it lays out the things we have the most need for any way. It acknowledges that we have a great and holy God, God the Father that is all around us in heaven. It says that we want God's kingdom to be magnified and that we want God's will to be the same here on earth as it is in heaven. It acknowledges God for our very sustenance by thanking Him for our food and water and the air we breathe. It acknowledges that we need to forgive the people who have sinned against us and we ask for forgiveness from God for when we have sinned against Him and our fellow man. Then it acknowledges the fact that our whole Christian walk should hinge on staying away from the temptations of life as we focus on God. After all of this some how the Holy Spirit seems to flood me with the other areas that I need to really pray about. The needs of others, the salvation of souls and the praising of the God that provides all of those things.
There are times that I implement the thoughts of the modern day teacher, Bob Sorgee, as well. Sorgee's teachings included the following principles. First find a quiet place that you can retreat to that is away from the distractions of your daily life. Find a place where you can pray that you will not be interrupted by the phone, your kids, the t.v. or the radio. This can be a closet, your study or office, your car wherever you can go to be alone with just God. The next thing you need to do that seems to be helpful to inspire prayer is to get into the Word. Daily devotions keep us in tune with God is saying to us. It is life's road map and is as alive and applicable today as it was when it was written. As for how you should pray, according to Sorgee, is to pray scripture back to God. Start by saying "It says in your word..." God wants to commune with you and it pleases Him to know that His word is hidden in your heart. That way you will be less inclined to sin against Him and you can use His Word as a sword of the Spirit, that any time the devil rears his ugly head in your life you can use that Word to slay him under your feet.
The verses I tend to pray back to Him are as follows. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. The steps of the righteous man are ordered of the Lord. and I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. After I pray those verses back to him I like to thank Him for the blessings He gives me. At the end of that I return every blessing He gives me back to Him in praise. So I give Him prayers of adulation and tell Him how great He is and how thankful I am that he is in my life.
I have always had a tendency in my life to take a negative attitude towards things. So one of the first things I pray actually against each day is that He would take away any negative thoughts that may enter my mind, any negative feelings that may try to enter my heart and take a way any words that might try to escape my mouth. Each person has their own downfall. This would be a good time to confess them to God and ask for His help to keep you from whatever weakness you may have. I go through that part of the process with a thankful heart and again praise Him for taking that away from my life.
The Bible also talks about the need for us to pray for our leaders. So I take some time at the end of my time of prayer to lift up all of our soldiers all around the world. I pray for their safety and ask God to bless them because they are the keepers of our freedoms in this nation. I will also list the governmental agency that I feel are most responsible for the decisions made in our government. I pray for salvation for these governmental officials and for wisdom and discernment so they make good decisions. I also pray that the actions that they take are of strong character, high moral value and true integrity. Again until I'm assured those prayers are answered I will pray without ceasing. I end my prayers by asking for his forgiveness of my sins and that I would be more like Him.
We serve a great and loving God, but He is also a very jealous God. We need to continue to shower him with praise and adulation. He loves to hear His own words prayed back to Him. He wants us to have a thankful heart and He wants us to be specific in the petitions we have for Him to intervene in the situations and times of need for ourselves and our loved ones. I have had so many loved ones who have needed things especially here recently. People are always sick or hurting and need God's healing touch. Loved ones are lost and people need the comfort of the Holy Spirit and there are so many other needs that need to be turned over to a loving, caring God. We need to come to Him each day and lay our cares at His feet. We have big problems, but thankfully we have a bigger God that can take care of those problems. We also need to listen to what He says so we need to be in His word to hear from heaven so he can heal the hurts and lead us down the right path. The ultimate goal is to be with Him in heaven, but for now we need to be able to bring a little bit of heaven here to those that need Him here on earth. That would be every one.
