How to Pray
The Apostle Paul teaches us to, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV). Praying can be a daunting task for folks. Praying has become — to be frank — cliché and a spectacle. The best way to explain how to pray, is not to provide another cliché. In fact, who better to teach how to pray but God/Yahweh himself.
God teaches us to pray in what has been known as the Lord’s Prayer. You without a doubt have heard it before. The Lord’s Prayer from the King James Version of the Bible goes like this:
Our Father who art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
One earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us of our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer is taught by our Lord and Savior Jesus/Yeshua Christ in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4. This prayer teaches us a great deal in a short amount of verses. Here are the lessons from our Lord:
1. God is sovereign
The Prayer begins acknowledging the Father. Christ reminds that God is sovereign. God is in heaven above us. We are to always remember that God is in charge. Jesus/Yeshua spends roughly 3 verses addressing the sovereignty of God. Verses 9,10, and 13 relate to God being supreme. We are told in the verses that: God’s name is hallowed, His kingdom will come, His will must be done on earth and in heaven, God’s kingdom is forever, and God’s glory is the eternal power.
Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ is asked what is the greatest of the “Ten Commandments.” Christ responds by saying, “You Shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 23:37–38 NKJV). We must be ever reminded to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. God is the creator and sustainer. God is sovereign.
2. We must repent of our sins
In the Lord’s Prayer, Christ reminds us to repent of our sins. Sin is the disobeying of God’s commands. The Apostle Johns tells us. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4 NKJV). When we disobey God, we must repent of our sins. In the Old Testament it was required to present offerings to God to be reconciled with God.
Thankfully, Jesus/Yeshua has become our sin offering. It is by and through Christ — and Christ alone — that we are reconciled to Yahweh. The Apostle Peter writes, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth… He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:21–25 ESV). Christ bore our sins and took our penalty. In repenting of our sins, it is also imperative how we are forgiven.
3. We must forgive others
After repenting of our sins, Christ instructed us to forgive for our fellow man. He tells us in Matthew 6:15, “…but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus/Yeshua’s command is simple: without forgiveness of our fellow man He will not forgive us. He forgives our sins and gives us a clean slate. God says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins “(Isaiah 43:25, ESV). In our prayers we have to forgive the wrongs done to us just as God forgives the wrongs we have done to Him.
4. Temptation is strong, but God provides a solution
Let’s face it we are all tempted on a daily basis. The internet nowadays provides infinite temptation methods. “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who loved Him… But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:12–15 NKJV). It is never a question of if we will be tempted; it is when we will be tempted. As the Bible tells us, sin is a slippery slope which starts from temptation. We are tempted, the temptation turns into sin, and the sin leads to our death.
5. Remember that God is sovereign
The Lord’s Prayer ends by further acknowledging the sovereignty of God. Christ reminds us that God is the Beginning and the End; Alpha and Omega. His reminder to us is to never forget His sovereignty. No matter what occurs in our lives this must be in the forefront of our hearts and minds,
I sincerely pray this helps you somehow. Again, the Lord’s Prayer is the model given to us by Jesus/Yeshua. If you are stuck at a lost for words to pray, you can repeat the Lord’s Prayer.
As the Apostle Paul closed his letter in 2 Corinthians 13:14, so too will I close this writing by saying, “May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
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