How Should We Pray?
1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing."
Luke 18 has a couple great examples of how to pray. 1) The tax collector, who in his awareness of his own sin would not even look up to heaven as he prayed "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
In the same chapter Jesus also spoke the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. After the widow came to the judge again and again then he gave her justice. Then Jesus said in verse 7, "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?" (emphasis added)
Matthew 6:9-15, "In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
The latter answer, also answers another question: What should we pray for? Not only do we first give God, the Father, the glory due His name, but we also ask His will to be done. We ask only for what we need. We ask to be forgiven as we forgive (that can be a scary thought!). We pray that God would keep us on the narrow path; away from temptation. And we finish by again praising Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment