How should
we pray?
When
people are undergoing some tribulation, their lean is to do
everything doable so that they can have, in a jiffy, what they wish.
Many believers make the same mistake with the Creator. They use
certain practices that don’t delight Him. One of them is described
below:
They
think that the prayer is to convince the Creator to do what they
desire. And many go to the point of behaving like David, who prayed
and fasted for his child insistently in order to change the mind of
the Creator (2Sam 12:16-23):
2Sa
12:22-23
-> “And
he said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I
said, Who can tell if
God will be gracious to me so that the child may live? But now
he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall
go to him, but he shall not return to me”.
Nevertheless,
Jesus was clear:
As
you can see, the Creator doesn’t need that we say to Him what we
need; He knows much better than ourselves. It’s truth that we can
and ought to expose our problems and defies before the Creator:
Php
4:6 ->
“Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to
God.”.
Nonetheless,
there are certain rules that we must observe when in prayer:
1
– Thanksgiving: first of all, we need to be grateful for what He
granted us (His blessings, His Holy Spirit, His salvation, etc.).
2
– He isn’t only our Father, but Father of everybody who believes
in Him and He desire to be Father of everyone (see Mat 5:44,45; Ezek
18:32):
Therefore,
we need to think: my request is good for those who are close to me?
For you understand what am I asking, see these examples:
a
– If someone hurt you, recall that Jesus died for Him too and wish
to save them; although they deserve nemesis, it is good to remember
that we also deserve, once all of us sinned.
b
– If you are asking Jesus to thrive your business, remember that
the more you thrive, the more your competitor loses. It’s good to
remember that they also have family to nurture and bills to be paid.
3
– We need to recognize that His
ways
are
higher than our ways, and His
thoughts,
higher
than
our thoughts
(Isa 55:9):
Therefore,
He know much better than us where our ways will guide us:
Isa
59:7,8
-> “Their
feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their
thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in
their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is
no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no
one who treads on them knows peace.”.
And
His thought about us is infinitely superior to everything we planned
for us:
Jer
29:11
-> “For
I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah;
purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a
hope.”.
Eph
3:20 ->
“Now
to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think, according to the power that works in us,”.
4
– The Creator has, in highly esteem, His precious name:
Exo
20:7 ->
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the
LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”.
Isa
48:9 ->
“For
my name's sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I
restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.”.
Eze
20:9 ->
“But
I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in
the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I
made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of
Egypt.”.
Eze
20:14 ->
“But
I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in
the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.”.
Eze
20:22 ->
“But
I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should
not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had
brought them out.”.
Eze
20:44 ->
“And
you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my
name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your
corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”.
Eze
36:21
-> “But
I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had
profaned among the nations to which they came.”.
Hence
Jesus said:
So,
will what we are asking hallow His name or desecrate it? Will what we
are asking make people use His name for holy or profane purposes?
In
other words, what is the purport of our asking: increase in Jesus or
in the world?
See
the example of Ananias and Sapphira: both were dead by Peter’s word
because they lied to the Holy Spirit. This brought much fear to
Jesus’ Church:
Act
5:9-11
-> “But
Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to
test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have
buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you
out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her
last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they
carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great
fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these
things.”.
So,
we are praying so that:
we
can be free of all problem and has a quiet life in this world or so
that
He
can bring to us every circumstance which will allow us to increase
in holiness and purity and, thus, His name can be sanctified in the
life of people around us?
As
we can see in the case of Nadab and Abihu, the Creator wish to be
sanctified among those who are near Him:
Lev
10:1-3 ->
“Now
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put
fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire
before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came
out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the
LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has
said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and
before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his
peace.”.
In
other words, the Creator desires to use our life so that His name can
be feared and used only for His glory.
5
– His kingdom is to be present in our world:
Take
heed how Jesus highlighted this in His preaching:
Luk
10:8-11
-> “Whenever
you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before
you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God
has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they
do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the
dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you.
Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’”.
Since
the beginning, the intention of the Creator was to establish a
kingdom of kings and priests:
Exo
19:5,6
-> “Now
therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant,
you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the
earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and
a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the
people of Israel.”.
And
today, this is "the desire of Jesus for us:
Luk
17:20,21
-> “And
when he was demanded of the Parashiym, when the Kingdom of Elohiym
should
come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of Elohiym
comes
not with observation: neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the *Kingdom
of Elohiym
is
within you*.”.
In
addition, the great promise of Jesus for us includes seeking His
kingdom:
So,
is what we are asking making His kingdom increase inside us?
Recollect that we are being built as a spiritual house:
1Pe
2:5-8
-> “you
yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in
Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone
chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to
shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those
who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has
become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as
they were destined to do.”.
In
our spiritual house (within our heart – 2Cor 3:1-3) there are many
dwellings for be inhabited for those who will comprise the kingdom of
the Creator in our life:
There
is a saying that asserts that people wish that Jesus comes, but
without His kingdom”. This is a great foolishness. Although Jesus’
presence is marvelous, without His kingdom we would feel the lack of
something.
See
the case of Eve in Eden. Adam and Eve counted on the Creator’s
presence every day (Gen 3:8) and, nonetheless, this wasn’t
sufficient to Adam (he needed a woman - Gen 2:18) and Eve (she sought
ken thinking that this would fill the void that disturbed her).
6
– His desire is the best for us and for everyone around us. So, we
need to pray always:
Don’t
mind how hard is the Creator’s will, His will is always the best.
Hence Jesus prayed:
Luk
22:41-42
-> “And
he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and
prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup
from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””.
Especially
because, His will edifies us, is delightful and fill us outright:
Rom
12:2
-> “Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of
your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.”.
It
is for this reason that John said:
After
all, if we ask according to His will, we will be asking what will
manifest His kindness and goodness to everyone close to us. Hence
Jesus always considered as His nourishment to do the Creator’s
will:
Heb
10:7 ->
“Then
I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is
written of me in the scroll of the book.’”.
Joh
4:34,35
-> “Jesus
said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to
accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four
months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your
eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”.
To
do the Creator’s will is so important that Jesus added:
In
other words: to be intimate with Jesus we need to do the Creator’s
will. Hence:
Mat
7:21 ->
“Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven.”.
And
for you have an idea of how important is the Creator’s will, read
below:
Rev
4:10,11
-> “the
twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne
and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.””.
Everything
that exist only come to existence because the Creator desired it. And
what is His desire now?
a
– Help the little ones:
Mat
18:10-14
->
“See
that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you
that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is
in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and
one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on
the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And
if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than
over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the
will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones
should perish.”.
b
– Considering the others as superior to us (Phil 2:3,4), serving
them as bondservants of Christ:
Eph
6:5,6
-> “Bondservants,
obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere
heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as
people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of
God from the heart,”.
Doing
this, we will be used to establish His desire, here and in the
heaven. You can ask: how can we contribute so that the Creator’s
will can be done in heaven? Well, the Creator establish the Church in
order to use her to manifest His wisdom to principalities and
potentates in the heaven, and the angels long for perusing this:
Eph
3:10 ->
“so
that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made
known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”.
1Pe
1:12
->
“It
was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you,
in the things that have now been announced to you through those who
preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,
things into which angels long to look.”.
So,
when we cope with the situation moved by the Holy Spirit in His Word,
we are confirming to all the angels (good and bad) that, regardless
the situation, Jesus and His Word is the unique perfect solution.
7
– We ought to live one day at a time:
Instead
of concerning with the future, we need to receive with gratitude
Jesus’ provision for today and believe that, while we are sleeping,
He will provide for us our next day (that is to say, if it is for us
to be alive in the next day):
Instead
of feeding dreams, what we need is to embrace Jesus’ plans for us.
Hearing His voice, Jesus will watch for the fulfillment of His word
in our life (Jer 1:11,12; Isa 55:10,11), bringing and making His
boons follows us wherever we go:
Deu
28:1,2 ->
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being
careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the
LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the
earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake
you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”.
His
hidden manna will be always available to us (Rev 2:17).
8
– Jesus’ blessings are to reestablish bonds of love:
If
Jesus forgave all our debts in the cross of Calvary, why do we need
to ask the Creator to forgive us again? The only explanation is:
Who
really is born again needs to behave in total sanctity and purity
(1John 3:5-9; 5:18). The only thing that they owe to the Creator is
love because, don’t mind how much we express His love for people
around us, we always need to stay covered with His love (John 15:9;
Col 3:14).
Understand:
forgiveness isn’t a question of forgetting people’s fault. First
of all, is a restauration of the bands of love which were broken:
Hos
11:4 ->
“I
led them with cords of kindness, with the *bands
of love*,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I
bent down to them and fed them.”.
See
what Jesus said about these “bands”:
Mat
18:18-20
-> “Truly,
I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again
I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask,
it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two
or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”.
So,
what we are asking ought to able us to rebuild the bonds which were
broken and establish new ones:
And
this love manifested in form of forgiveness can cover multitude of
sins:
Jas
5:19,20
-> “My
brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone
brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner
from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a
multitude of sins.”.
1Pe
4:8 ->
“Above
all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a
multitude of sins.”.
Many
people think about how they can get free of a sin (for instance, an
addiction). The recipe is the love, especially for the Creator, to
the point of loving His presence and knowledge (Rom 1:18,21,28).
In
short: what we are asking has to give room in our heart so that Jesus
can stay close to us removing from us everything that keep us far
from Him; and this has to make us ready to stay close to the person
while Jesus takes away of their life everything that keep them aloof
from Him and His Church (including us).
So,
is what we are asking making people draw near to us and to Jesus (to
confirm His Word)? Or is it contributing to broke our relationship?
9
– Asking only what is good, perfect and acceptable to the eyes of
the Creator (which is food for our innermost begin – Isa 55:2; Rom
12:2).
Mat
6:13 ->
“*And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil*.
For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.”.
Paraphrasing:
instead of leading us into temptation (satisfying our desires),
deliver us from the evil that is in our flesh (Rom 7) and which
incite us to yearn for what is not convenient.
Understand:
if we desire something bad, is because something bad is harbored
within us. And this evil spirit is harbored in our interior because
he found a breach which arose when we opt for not knowing the Creator
and have intimacy with Him:
If
a spirit of luxury break into this breach, the person passes to pine
for pornography;
If
a spirit of drunkenness harbors in this breach, the person starts to
ache for alcohol beverage;
If
a spirit of “game” installs itself in this breach, the person
begins to long for playing games all the time. And so on…
A
sound body, soul and spirit don’t crave for bad things. For
instance, someone who don’t like to smoke, hates even the smell of
cigarettes, cigars, etc.
So,
our asking is a fruit of our love for Jesus and His will, or an
instigation of our soul who is sick for disgusting pleasures and
entertainment? What is the way that our soul found toward well-being
(adrenaline, dopamine, etc.)?
Therefore,
thanks Jesus when He says “no” to your request! Probably, you are
(Luke 11:9-13):
asking
stone instead of bread;
asking
scorpion instead of egg;
asking
snake instead of fish;
seeking
the wrong thing, in the wrong place, at the wrong moment;
beating
in the Ha-Satan’s door.
In
the end, if we are being propelled by our sins, it’s better Jesus
doesn’t allow us to get successful, so that our ruin doesn’t come
to be so big as we can see in the parable below:
Mat
7:26-27
-> “And
everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be
like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the
rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”.
10
– Ascribe
to the LORD the glory due his name
(Ps 29:2; 96:8):
Mat
6:13 ->
“And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. *For
Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen*.”
We
need to keep in mind that the Creator is owner of the:
a
– kingdom -> many believers disparage this and seek Jesus in
order to accroach His kingdom, as we can see in the parable below:
Luk
20:13,14
-> “Then
the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my
beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the
tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let
us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’”.
b
– power -> many believers seek the power of the Holy Spirit so
that all their wishes can be satisfied. They forget that the power of
the Holy Spirit is given in order to corroborate His word (Mark
16:20).
Heb
2:3 ->
“how
shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was
declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those
who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and
various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed
according to his will.”.
c
– glory -> many believers, considering very delightful,
beautiful and marvelous Jesus’ glory, they aim this in their life
so that they can be greatly accepted by people around them (such as
pretty women use their bodies to entice the men and keep their minds
entangled in the sensuality). In other words, they crave for Jesus’
glory in order to engross people’s attention (as the celebrities of
this world do through TV).
So,
our request should put in evidence Jesus Christ, that is to say, our
prayer ought to be done in the sense of making us dependent on Jesus
in everything: dominion, power, honor, glory, force, wisdom, etc.
Understand: Jesus’ blessings in our life aim to make us (and people
around us) closer and more needy of His presence, and not independent
of Him and His Church.
Abridging:
if we desire that our prayer comes to be heard with delight by Jesus,
our request ought to:
1
– be an expression of gratitude for the Creator and stir up people
to glorify Him:
2Co
9:12-14
-> “For
the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the
saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By
their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of
your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of
Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all
others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of
the surpassing grace of God upon you.”.
2
– be a blessing, not only for us, but for everyone around us;
3
– make us (and people close to us) to think and seek the heaven,
where He is (Col 3:1,2);
4
– bring glory and fear for His name, to the point of His name being
used every time in our life (24 hours a day), and only for His
extolment. In other words, His name is to be on us every time and we
need to get involved only in situations that allows us to put in
evidence how sacred is His name;
5
– make people see what His kingdom means to everyone who receives
it willingly;
6
– convey His will in every place, at each moment;
7
– aim only what we need for today to fulfill His purpose for us.
Tomorrow belongs only to the Creator;
8
– reconcile us with the Creator (2Cor 5:18-20) and with our
neighbor;
9
– be something that, instead of making us to sink the in the
temptation, able us to get rid of the sin which harbor in us (our
proclivity of taking Jesus’ place, judging between good and evil,
which is used by Ha-Satan to enslave us):
Rom
7:16-18 ->
“Now
if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is
good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells
within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is,
in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the
ability to carry it out.”.
10
– make Jesus and His Word more and more important in our life, to
the point of us can never cogitate the idea of being independent of
Him in any area.
