Thoughts: Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Ø When we pray, do we attempt to say the “right words” in an attempt to manipulate God to do our bidding? In that case, does not the answer to our prayer end up glorifying us when God’s stated purpose to answer a prayer is to glorify Him? How many prayer phrases do we use almost by rote? (i.e. God’s will be done, in Jesus name, etc.) This doesn’t mean these are bad thing to pray-just that the impact/meaning is diminished when they are prayed as if they are an afterthought and are words spoken without the weight of meaning behind them.

Ø Prayer is relationship.

o   The depth and frequency of your talking/communicating with your family or friends also determines the level of intimacy of your relationship. The level of intimacy may extend to your prayer life and to your relationship with God. Bible study teaches us about God’s character and prayer brings us closer to Him. Reading about an author (as in an autobiography) tells us about him, but until we spend time with and talk to him we can’t really say that we are friends or that we know him. Prayer without Bible study does an injustice to both and one cannot truly know another without sharing in each person’s history. You could not understand that my reaction of fear to a dog unless you know that I had been bitten when a child.

o   If you were to ask a stranger you’d met briefly and your best friend both for the same favor, which do you think would give it to you?

o   Do we sometimes pray small because we think God’s world is as small as we are? Why not pray big because God is big. I think God wants us to pray big. If He created the universe, praying small might be an insult saying that He, as God, cannot handle big things. On the other hand, is it us, being afraid to ask big because we may get what we prayed for and not know what to do with it? Perhaps we may find that what we prayed for is really not what we wanted.

Ø Mark 11:25 When you get set to pray, first forgive.

o   Sometimes prayer turns into a reminder of who is really in control. The more desperate the prayer, the more the Who is in control is evident.

o   If we refuse to forgive another, does that presume to say we are acting as if we are God over them? God forgave us. How can we refuse someone else, knowing from what God forgave us?

o   If we look at others as being hurting people, how might that change the way we respond to them?

o   If we talked to our best friend the way we pray, what would they think?

§  Formally (almost as if we were reading a legal document)

§  Long and drawn out with a chance for the other person’s input

§  Demanding

§  Impersonal

§  Asking, taking and no giving

§  Praying out of our heads and not our hearts

Ø Because something is legal, does that make it right?

o   “Confess your sins one to another” James 5:16

§  Perhaps vocalizing our sins to someone else helps to diminish the sins power over us. We need to lance the wound so that the built up blood and pus are able to run into the stream of blood Jesus shed for our forgiveness.

Ø God’s Timing

o   If God answered everything immediately we would miss  communion with Him and we would have reduced Him to being a vending machine.

o   “In Jesus’ name” sometimes sounds like “open sesame”, the magic words that open the door.

o   Sometimes God’s voice is as loud as thunder, but most times, it is still and small.

o   Jude 1:20 …continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit.

§  How often do we “pray as directed”? How might we do this?