Word of the Week - Prayer

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:6

Prayer is a wonderful gift that God gave us so we can simply communicate with Him as needed when needed, and He encourages us to pray frequently. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thes 5: 16-18.  It is an amazing and powerful way of communing with the Lord and building our relationship and trust in Him.  It is one of the primary ways we get to express ourselves to God.  Prayer is so powerful because it actually puts our faith into action, which literally prompts God to put things into motion in the heavenly realm where God does His work. Because it is so powerful, our enemy does everything in his power to keep us from engaging in prayer.  Besides God’s Word, this is one of the most valuable offensive weapons we have as believers, and thus we should embrace prayer and use it as our First response instead of our Last resort.  Praying is much more than simply reciting memorized words, it is truly communing with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  There are different types of prayers just like we have many types of conversations.  The Lord’s prayer is an outline/protocol Jesus gave us to guide us in our conversations with God:

• Our Father in Heaven – connecting with God intimately and relationally as our loving Abba father who deeply loves us and wants what is best for us.
• Hallowed be Your Name – worshipping the name of God and acknowledging His position as our Sovereign God, Savior and Creator of the universe.  Praising Him for all that He is to us to include: our Righteousness, Sanctifier, Healer, Banner of Victory, Shepherd, Peace, Provider, Salvation, the Great “I Am” and much, much more…..
• Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven – praying God’s agenda first and making His priorities our priorities – i.e. praying for the lost and for those in leadership.   Seeking God’s direction and will for our lives.
• Give us this day our daily bread –  we acknowledge that God is our source and we are dependent on Him for everything. This is our opportunity to present our requests to God and petition Him in our needs and desires we have for ourselves and others.  This is generally what people think of first in prayer but it should not be the first order of business in our conversations with God.  We should first acknowledge God for who He is then praise and thank Him and try to better understand His agenda for us.
• Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors – this is our opportunity to repent and ask God to forgive us for our sins and also remember that we are called to forgive others who have sinned against us and hurt us in the process.  We must be willing to forgive if we want to receive forgiveness. This allows us to live in freedom.
• And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one – we do have an enemy that is doing all that he can to keep us from deep connection with God and the fruit of His Spirit.  We must recognize that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities , against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual realms” Ephesians 6:12; therefore, we must take our stand against the enemy of our soul and proactively fight the good fight of faith.  Replacing every lie with truth from God’s word.
• For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever – we express our faith in God’s sovereignty and His ability to move heaven and earth by His power for His Kingdom and eternal Glory.  We declare our faith in God for who He is and what He has done and what He will do in the future.

Just like any good relationship, the key to success is communication that leads to deep connection.  Prayer is a key to maintaining our relational connection with God and gives us access to His power.  So let’s make prayer a part of our day to day lives and watch God do His work in us and through us.  Pray first and pray often….”Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed” Mark 1:35Have a great week…-Duane