There are so much to learn about prayer...This is the next red-letter words in my Bible.
"... when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites...... But when you pray, ... pray to your Father...... when you pray, do not keep on babbling ... many words.... This, then, is how you should pray..." Mat 6:5-15
RG: Lord until now I cannot fully understand what is it in prayer that seems mysterious sometimes. Others would consider it as power to get things done specially when it involve spiritual dimension. Other consider it as a mark of a saints. Lord please teach me what really prayer is.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: First of all RG prayer is not for show. So don't pray so that others would know or others would see or hear your well arranged words with highly spiritual sounding words with matching rise fall of your voice to show how spiritual you are. In other words you do not pray to promote yourself.
RG: Whuuo... this is heavy Lord.. I remember my self engaging to this kind of prayer during prayer meetings or praying when there are people around... Oh Lord, please free from theatrical prayer. Please continue Lord to teach me what payer really is.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Secondly, prayer is not for magical power, that when you pray several times a day, or repeating certain words, or in certain position or with certain accessories, or in certain place with matching trembling hands and rising and falling of voice, then you make things happen or you force God to make it happen.
RG: Lord, I am tempted to do this whenever I face difficult situation. When I am sick and when I am facing a personal, family and even ministry problem, I want them to vanish right away so my prayer sounds like magical. And when it does not happen, first I will begin to justify that probably its like this and like that... but later on, I observed my self that little by little I am drifting away from you...then the worst thing that happened to me was when I resented you ... because you seems to be not listening to me... you don't let the things that I prayed happen. Until now Lord I still have that tendency... so sometimes I would say to my self, I better not pray...what's the use of praying if God don't let it happen.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Yes, RG I remember that time that you resented me so much when things are not happening the way you wanted it to be in the training apartment that you started in Cebu. I was overwhelmed by your demands (hehehe)... you were so confused who is the Lord between the two of us. And when I did not do what you want you started to resent me and did not want to talk to me for eight months!!! can you imagine that! hehehe but of course I treasure that time because finally you learned who is Lord between the two of us, and you learned that there is no place on earth to hide that I can not find you and reach you with my love.
RG: Yes Lord, I remember that moments and I treasured it too.. Lord, please tell me, if prayer is not about asking you so that things would happen then what is it?
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Well, RG, prayer is about GOD and about your relationship with Him, yes He cares about you but it is all aligned to who He is and His relationship with you. You see in the first two things I mentioned what prayer is not, they are all about you. Both theatrical and magical prayer are all about your old self. You are just using prayer to advance yourself and your agenda, and you are not just using prayer, you are also using Me.
RG: Urgh!!! kasakit Lord, but you are right...forgive me Lord, and please teach me what prayer really is.... ahh ok Lord, I remember now, you did not explain what prayer is to your disciples but instead you taught them how to pray. Lord please teach me also how to pray.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Ok RG, I will teach you the same prayer I taught to my first disciples. Go ahead write it down.
RG: Oh this is exciting, Ok Lord here it is:
'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' Mat 6:9-13
Oh I didn't realized that it was very short.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Yes it is short but it says it all. It starts with defining how you should approach God when you pray. "You are his son and He is your Father!". As a Father, God longs for you to talk to Him about anything and you should rejoice that His dwelling place is in Heaven. It doesn't implies that He is a distant father, because he is everywhere but rather it says about His character. Here on earth, fathers are not perfect, all tainted with sin and selfishness but not your father in Heaven where holiness, faithfulness and love abounds.
RG: Ok Lord, so my prayer first of all should be out of my relationship with you as my Father. Thank you lord for making me a father to my three sons, at least I know how it is to be a father, as imperfect as it is, you gave me a glimpse of how you feel when your children come to you to talk about anything.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Not only God is your Father RG, this Father that you have is also a reigning holy King and God of the universe. He has His big plan of regaining back part of His Kingdom which was surrendered by Adam and Eve and usurped by Satan. You are part of this redemption, that's how you become His son, you are now His ally. So,your prayer should always be align to who God is and to His Plan. That is why you say "Let Your Name be glorified, Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done here on earth as it has been in heaven"
RG: Lord, I know I can not align my prayers if the things that I do and the way that I am is not align to God and His plan. How about my needs and my family's needs Lord where is its place in my prayer?
The Lord Jesus seems to say: He wants you to depend on Him for your needs, he knows it even before you ask, but he just want you to ask. Its not just the asking that is important to God its the joy of hearing your voice because you are His son. That is why He loves you to do it in a daily basis. So you should pray "Give us THIS day our daily bread", so that tomorrow you will come again to Him.
RG: Oh Lord You are amazing, thank you for causing me to come to you daily...
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Since you are now my son and my ally, I want you to extend to others what you receive from Me. So you should be able to pray "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sins against us" . There is something that snaps in our fellowship as Father and son if you can not do to others what I have done to you.
RG: Oh Lord I treasure our companionship as Father and son. You are not just my Father, you are my friend too and I don't want anything that would break it.
The Lord Jesus seems to say: Neither I RG. I treasure our friendship more than you do. So I want you to pray " That you will not be led into temptation but let God protect and deliver you from evil" Don't be on your own, always depend on your Father, because that is the essence of prayer. Prayer puts you and God to its right place.
