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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)

There are several important things to look at when examining The Lord's Prayer and applying it to our own prayer lives.

1. Position. God is our Father in heaven and we are his children. He loves us and wants to take care of us. He is our divine parent. James tells us, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). Paul tells us that he is our Abba, father, which is Arabic and literally means "daddy." Prayer begins by understanding that God is our loving Father and we are his children.
2. Praise. The second part of the prayer is praise to God's name. "Hallowed" means to make holy. We are to make his name holy through praise and worship. In other words, prayer is an act of divine worship. It begins by acknowledging and praising God for his mighty acts and greatness.
3. Purpose. The purpose of our prayer should be to pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be done. Jesus himself told the Father, "Not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). Prayer is not about coming to God with our personal agendas; rather, it is seeking his agenda for our lives. His ways are greater than our ways, and his plan is always better than our plans.



4. Pardon. No one is perfect except for Jesus. We are broken, fallen, and sinful humans who desperately need the forgiveness of God. In prayer, we must confess our sins before God. The Bible says, "He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). This is God's way for allowing us to continually come before him. We can come to God broken and stained, and leave cleansed and whole. Likewise, we should forgive others as God has forgiven us.
5. Protection. He leads us away from temptation and protects us from evil. We need to be reminded that there are spiritual forces of darkness in this world, and we need God's help to protect us. The first thing you should do every morning is to ask for God's protection throughout the day.
6. Power. The prayer closes in a similar way that it started, by acknowledging God's greatness. He is sovereign and in control. The kingdom, power, and glory belong to God! When we worship and praise God, it gets his attention. He loves it when his children worship him and acknowledge his greatness.

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The Mars Hill sermon series that inspired this post

"While we ordinarily first bring our own needs to God in prayer, and then think of what belongs to God and his interests, the Master reverses the order. First Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will; then give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us… In true worship the Father must be first, must be all."
—Andrew Murray

Pray Like Jesus

When the apostles said to Jesus, "Lord teach us how to pray," it was because they knew he was a man of profound devotion and prayer. The gospels tell us that Jesus prayed at every major event in his life: his baptism (Luke 3:21); the choice of apostles (6:12-12); his transfiguration (9:29); before the cross at Gethsemane (22:39-40); and on the cross (23:46). The Bible tells us that he continues in prayer for us. Hebrews 7:25 says, "He always lives to make intercession for them." He sets the example for us to follow:

• "And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone" (Matthew 14:23).
• "And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place" (Luke 4:42).
• "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray" (Luke 5:16).
• "In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12).
• "He took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray" (Luke 9:28).
• "He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35).
• "He went up on the mountain to pray" (Mark 6:46).

Shape Your Prayer Life to The Lord's Prayer

The secret to Jesus' powerful prayer life is found in the most important prayer of the Bible, commonly known as The Lord's Prayer. It is one of the most popular passages of Scripture read at funerals, weddings, and church services throughout the Christian world. But few people really grasp the meaning of this little prayer. It is Jesus' definitive teaching on prayer. It is an outline by which we can shape our own personal prayer life and begin to learn how to pray according to his will.

To be continued.

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The Bible gives us the keys we need to develop a powerful prayer life. Scripture is full of examples of men and women who walked with God and used prayer to impact their world, and you can do the same thing through prayer.

The following are Scriptural ways to develop a deeper, more fulfilling personal prayer life.

Keys to Personal Prayer

1. Pray In Jesus' Name. Real prayer is Christological. There are numerous New Testament references that talk about the importance of praying in the name of Jesus. Jesus even said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you" (John 16:23). When we pray in the name of Jesus, God the Father hears us. He responds to the prayer that is offered in the name of his Son Jesus.
2. Pray According to God's Will. God is not a Santa Claus in the sky; he does not give us just anything we ask for. But in 1 John 5:14 it says, "If we ask anything according to his will he hears us." This means that when we pray in accordance with his will we can expect an answer.
3. Scriptural Prayer. One the best ways to pray is to pray according to Scripture. John 15:7 says, "If you abide in me, and my word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." If God's word is in us then his desires become our desires, and we can have the assurance that he will answer our prayers. Make sure that your prayers are in line with Scripture.
4. Keep Commandments. "And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him" (1 John 3:22). God honors those who honor his commandments. If you keep his commandments and do what is pleasing, then you can be assured that he will hear your prayers.
5. You Must Believe. "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith" (Matthew 21:22). The Lord wants us to have faith that he will hear our prayers. Hebrews says, "without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). The Lord promises to respond to our prayer of faith.
6. Pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prayer. Paul tells us to pray at all times in the Spirit. Romans 8:26 reads, "Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." We don't always know how to pray or feel like praying, so we need the Spirit's power to help us.
7. Be Persistent. Don't give up if you haven't received an answer to your prayers. Throughout the Bible there are stories of men and women who persevered in prayer. In Luke 18:1-8, there was a little old widow who did not lose heart. James tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
8. Humble Yourself. One of my favorite parables about prayer is in Luke 18:9-14, where the Pharisee and tax collector come before God. The Pharisee was proud and boastful, while the tax collector was humble and asked for God's mercy. We are told that God hears the prayer of the humble. If we humble ourselves in the sight of God, he will lift us up.

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Before You Pray

Every believer can have a dynamic personal prayer life. The Bible gives us the keys that we need to develop a powerful prayer life. Scripture is full of examples of men and women who walked with God and used prayer to impact their world, and you can do the same thing through prayer.

However, before praying, there are four things that we should take into consideration.

1. Schedule a regular prayer time. Find a time every day to spend in prayer. The important thing is that we should be consistent. The psalmist said that he prayed seven times a day.
2. Choose a private place to pray. A prayer closet could be anywhere as long as it is private. You can use your garage, pantry, front porch, or any other creative place where you can get alone with God. Some people pray while driving in their car and others pray while working out or running.
3. Try to limit distractions. Don't pray in the same room where you watch television or are tempted by other activities.
4. Have a prayer list to guide your prayers. You should pray for your family, friends, church, etc. This will ensure that you don't forget important things to pray for.

To be continued.

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Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) was an English poet and hymn writer. Around the age of 30, she became an invalid and remained so for the rest of her life, suffering from inexplicable pain and weakness. Convicted by a minister’s words about her bitterness and anger towards God because of her illness, Elliott turned to Jesus Christ for peace. She penned around 150 hymns, including Just as I Am.

Horatio Spafford (1828-1888)

Horatio Spafford was a prominent lawyer in Chicago. After losing his 4-year-old son to scarlet fever, he sustained a great financial loss in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Horatio and his wife Anna worked tirelessly for two years helping the other victims of the fire put their lives back together. Then the Spafford family decided to travel to England for a holiday. Delayed by business, Horatio sent his wife and daughters ahead of him. On the way to England, their ship collided with an iron sailing vessel, and all four of their daughters drowned in the wreck. Through his great grief, Spafford held fast his trust in Jesus, writing the lyrics to the well-known hymn It Is Well with My Soul.

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Convincing

How has the church historically persuaded the surrounding culture of the truth of the Scriptures? If you know your church history, it has largely happened when people’s lives were changed so much by the grace of God that others could not simply dismiss those who were transformed, nor the truth claims that transformed them. There has been so much discussion about modernity and post-modernity and the apologetic challenge to the church in a post-modern context where modern, rational categories of truth and error, right and wrong, good and bad have been abandoned. While Christianity is neither anti- nor a rational, it is so much more. Truth claims are uttered by a personal God who redeems sinners to have a relationship with him. Scripture’s truth claims and propositions are not impersonal, logical systems for living a well-adjusted, meaningful life.

When a church counsels, they are saying so much more than simply the Bible is true; they are saying that the personal God of the Bible comes to change lives, families, communities, cultures, and the entire cosmos, and that you can actually see those changes! Paul in Ephesians 5 calls the church to “live as children of light and to expose the darkness.” The exposing that the church does is not simply speaking up for the truth but exhibiting the truth in the way we live our lives. When a church counsels, it is engaging in one of the most important apologetic tasks it can engage in. It is saying, “We will not simply proclaim the truth, we will demonstrate it in the way we live and in changed lives.”

Community

We don’t often think of the word community when we hear the word “counseling.” We naturally think of conversations between two people in secret where no one else can listen in. We think “confidentiality.” While we would not want to diminish the need to handle personal information and conversations with great care and wisdom, a church that counsels is actually a vibrant community. Paul in Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.” This passage is speaking of a vibrant congregation where brothers and sisters in Christ are counseling one another in the context of daily life as they grow as a community. This does not preclude more personal, confidential contexts for counsel. When a church counsels, it becomes the first place, not the last place, that people think about when they need help. How biblical and yet how radical for people to think of the church in that way!

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William Cowper (1731-1800) was one of the most popular English poets and hymnodists of his time. However, he suffered from periods of insanity and severe depression throughout his life, attempting suicide multiple times. Despite his suffering, he found refuge in Jesus Christ during his stay in an asylum, and as a result of his faith, he produced many well-loved hymns for believers.

Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was an English minister. After the death of his father, a young Robinson lived a life of drunken recklessness and destructiveness. He changed his life course after hearing a sermon preached by George Whitefield, and at the age of 20, he reformed his ways and became a Methodist preacher, penning the well-known hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

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Grace and I have personally benefitted from the following books; they are easy to read and are among the best in their areas of instruction. We have recommended these books many times over the years and have purchased many copies for our friends.

Biblical Counseling

• Seeing With New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture (P& R, 2003) by David Powlison
• Speaking Truth in Love: Counsel in Community (New Growth Press, 2005) by David Powlison
• Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave (P & R, 2001) by Edward T. Welch
• When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (P & R, 1997) by Edward T. Welch
• Blame It on the Brain? Distinguishing Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience (P & R, 1998) by Edward T. Welch
• Step by Step: Divine Guidance for Ordinary Christians (P & R, 1999) by James C. Petty

For those of you wanting to dig deeper and find books in particular areas of study, especially biblical study, you would benefit from bookmarking http://www.bestcommentaries.com/. For those looking to purchase a Bible, the ESV Study Bible is the new standard for study Bibles. Also great for personal reading and note-taking is the ESV Journaling Bible, patterned after the Moleskine.

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