I Cannot Remember When I Did Not Pray
Father
God we seek Your face. We have questions
and we long for You to teach us in a way that we will grow closer and closer to
you. We cling to Your promises and our
hope is in You. Blessed is Your Holy
Name. In Jesus’ magnificent name I
pray. Amen and Amen.
***
We have often
heard the question, “Why do we pray”?
In Luke 11:1, Jesus had been praying and one of the
disciples asks, “Teach us to pray”. The
result of that request Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer. It became the Lord’s Prayer by choice of
those who read the scriptures. Actually
it is a pattern for how we pray. We
believe the real Lord’s Prayer is John 17. One of the important thoughts to understand
regarding the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1), it was written in the imperative
tense. Why the imperative?
The word imperative used as an adjective means of 1vital importance; crucial: immediate action was imperative, and 2Giving an authoritative command; peremptory. Used as a noun
it means 1an essential or urgent thing, and 2a factor or influence
making something necessary. The word imperative originated from late Middle English (as a grammatical term): from late Latin imperativus (literally 'specially
ordered', translating Greek prostatikē enklisis 'imperative mood'), from imperare 'to command', from in- 'toward' + parare 'make ready'.[1]
We would acknowledge that prayer is very important
to our God and Father. It is imperative,
of vital importance, crucial, an authoritative and peremptory command. It is not that we order God around. We must first understand our roll in
prayer. Nothing is going to happen on this
earth unless we ask first (Matthew 16:19).
Through God’s Son, birth, life, death and resurrection, we become
redeemed people to lift our voices in prayer and change here on earth. The summons in the Lord’s Prayer is that we
walk into prayer with authority given to us.
When we realize the awesome trust God puts in us, we will begin to pray
the way God wants us to pray.
What then is effective prayer? It is prayer prayed in God’s Will.
The
word effective in the Greek means a decided, decisive, or desired effect, ready
for service or action. The Synonyms for
effective are: capable, able, powerful, and efficient. Strong’s #1754, effectively, energeo
(en-erg-eh-oh); One of the four big energy words; energeo, energes, energeia,
and energema. The words all stem from
en, “in”, and ergon, “work” and have to do with the active operation or working
of power and its effectual results.
(en-erg-eh-oh) be effectual, be might in, effectual fervent, effectually
work, show forth (one’s) self, to do, work, work effectually in. “….The effective fervent prayer of a
righteous man…”[2]
True effective prayer is work.
If you expect to go before the Throne of Grace in a laid back
state….think again. Jesus in the garden
exemplified the pouring out of His soul before God the Father. “He agonized until His sweat mingled with His
blood dripped to the ground and many have tried to deny this as even being
possible. However, there is a medical
term, Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, which is well documented. Under great emotional stress of the kind that
Jesus suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing
blood with sweat which can lead to weakness and shock. Isn’t it interesting that Luke, the physician,
is the only one who documented this fact in the Gospels”[3]?
We ask you are you willing to pour your heart and
soul out in prayer….are you willing to “work” at prayer….are you guilty of
“cookie cutter prayers”?[4]
Next week the continuance of “Why Do We Pray”.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. We will pray for you when we read them.