Learning to Pray with Jesus

Praying to the Father through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit is one of the great spiritual blessings available to the Christians. I would also admit developing the discipline of prayer is still a challenge. It is so simple just to start laying out the list of things I want God to do for me; however, Christ bids me to pray this way:

Our Father who is 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 also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation
But deliver us from evil (Matt 6:9-13)
What a different pattern of prayer than simply asking for stuff. We pray to give glory to God. We pray that the kingdom of God would be a reality in heaven and earth. Then we pray for our needs, but always recognizing our canceled debt of sin in light of those who are the source of our offenses. We also seek the Lord to lead us away from temptation to sin, knowing that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle. How wise was Tertullian to teach: “But how gracefully has the Divine Wisdom arranged the order of the prayer; so that after things heavenly—that is, after the ‘Name’ of God, the ‘Will’ of God, and the ‘Kingdom’ of God—it should give earthly necessities also room for a petition!” (Tertullian, On Prayer, VI).

The greatness of Our God in opening up the doors to commune with His creation can only be responded with the declaration: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
Amen

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