How To Pray

19 Feb

The first time I sang “The Lord’s Prayer” in a high school choir rehearsal, I fell in love with it. The soaring melody lines and close harmonies of the song by Albert Hay Mallotte seemed to capture the beauty and sacredness of Jesus’ words in a compelling way. Even though I had memorized the words as a child, the song gave me a new level of understanding of the prayer found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. In both passages, Jesus admonishes His disciples “When you pray…” followed by this beautiful sequential outline of what God wants to hear from us.

What we call “The Lord’s Prayer” is really the disciples’ prayer. After observing Jesus pray, a disciple asked Jesus to teach him and his fellow disciples how to pray. In response, Jesus gave them a sample prayer as a pattern to follow: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 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 thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” (Matt. 6:9-13)

According to Jesus’ pattern, prayer starts with praise and worship. Speaking the names of God is one way to worship as a prelude to personal prayer. His names describe His character and His relationship with us. Some of those names are:

Jehovah – “I AM”

Jehovah-jireh – “the God who provides”

Jehovah-nissi – “God our banner”

Adonai – “Lord” or “Master”

El-Shaddai – “God Almighty”

Jehovah-Shalom – “the God of peace”

Jehovah-rophe – “Jehovah healer”

Abba – “Father”

There are many more characteristics of God with which we can praise Him in prayer, like omnipresence, omniscience, goodness, grace, love, and sovereignty.

Praise in song or by word and praying praises or other verses from Scripture is another way that we can worship during prayer. We cannot help recognize the amazing gifts God has given us as His adopted children when we begin with worship. This draws us into a protected mindset in which Satan is loath to enter because the very name of our Lord Jesus Christ acts as a deterrent to his presence. Worship prepares us to hear from God in our innermost being, giving us the strength to intentionally reject distraction. The Holy Spirit is able to work in us unhindered by the devices of the enemy.

Asking for forgiveness is also a key factor in the Lord’s pattern for prayer. While our sins are all cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:6), in John 13:9 Jesus himself uses the metaphor of washing feet to point out that we do need to have our feet washed occasionally from the inevitable “dust” picked up in walking in an unclean world. In the same way, we need to recognize in our own lives those things that do not honor our God.

In other words, in confession we deal with sin that we have allowed to gain a foothold in our lives to the detriment of our walk with God. Confession includes the plea for forgiveness. It also includes the recognition that God has indeed cleansed us from all sin so that we are not bound in any way to disobey God and follow our old nature. We are new creatures in Christ. Confession and forgiveness for the Christian involves the intentional setting aside of those sins (whether from the world, the flesh, or the Devil) that hound us and compromise our effectiveness in the calling and giftedness God has given us.

Next week I will continue this discussion about prayer.

[Some parts of this discussion are excerpted from The Gift of Seeing Angels and Demons: A Handbook For Discerners of Spirits by Susan Merritt, PhD. Published inRoseville, CA, by PTLB.com. 2016]