Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Even though I've been praying for years and I've seen results, I still say, "Lord, teach me to pray." There are times when I feel so inadequate—like I just don't what to pray about some situations. Or I wonder if I am praying the right thing. I believe God is okay with that. I've never gotten the impression that He would be upset by us asking for help.

¹ Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
² So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
      Our Father in heaven,
      Hallowed be Your name.
      Your kingdom come.
      Your will be done
      On earth as it is in heaven.
       ³ Give us day by day our daily bread.
       ⁴ And forgive us our sins,
      For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
      And do not lead us into temptation,
      But deliver us from the evil one.”  Luke 11:1-4 NKJV

The disciples had seen Jesus pray . . . many times I'm sure. One day one of them asked that He teach them to pray. Jesus didn't say, "Really? . . . . You don't know how to pray by now?" No, He gave them/us an example of how to pray. His example, which some call The Lord's Prayer or the Disciples' Prayer, is simple instead of some long oration.

Matthew records it like this:

⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

      Our Father in heaven,

      Hallowed be Your name.

       ¹⁰ Your kingdom come.

      Your will be done

      On earth as it is in heaven.

       ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

       ¹² And forgive us our debts,

      As we forgive our debtors.

       ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,

      But deliver us from the evil one.

      For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.      Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV

If we use this as our sample, and we should, prayer begins with acknowledging God as Father and how holy He is. Then we pray that His kingdom and will is accomplished on earth (as opposed to our plans for the world.) We ask for what we need. This can include more than food. What else do we need today? Wisdom, joy, peace, the Word for the day. He will provide. Then we ask for forgiveness as we forgive others. We ask God for spiritual strength to stand faithfully obeying His Word, no matter what. Finally we end our prayer again acknowledging who God is. That's my take on Jesus' prayer example.

I know how to pray most of this. The part that especially comes in handy is "Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I pray this when I don't know how to pray for a specific situation. We know by the Word, what the will of God is. It is God's will that no one die in sin, but that everyone repents and knows Him. 2 Peter 3:9 It is His will that we are healthy. Matthew 8:16-17, etc.

But what about the details of our lives like where should I work? Where should I live? Whom should I marry? We can pray, "Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in my life."

I like to sing Jason Upton's Teach Me How To Pray.

The lyrics that I can relate to are:

Not my will or my plans or
the way I want it
I’m so tired of my hands in the way

That last line makes me think of a story that my spiritual pop, Ron Haynes, would tell. He talked about buttoning his son's shirt, when his son was young. The little boy wanted to help. So Haynes said they would end of up with 20 fingers on one little button. Of course, that slowed progress. You know how little kids are; they like to say, "I do it myself."  When I hear this song, I imagine myself drawing my hands back and saying to Daddy God, I'll let You do it. And just like the button story, we accomplish the task faster with only Daddy's hands . . . when I say, "let Your will be done."

Pray out loud with me:

My heavenly Father, not only are You holy, but Your name is holy and to be spoken with love and respect; not to be used carelessly. Reign in my life. I want Your will for my life, which is better than my own plans. My knowledge is so limited. You know what's best for me. You know everything I will need today—physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and financially. So give me wisdom for this day and joy in this day. Please give me the right words to say. And thank You for meeting every other need that I have for today. Forgive me of whatever I've done that was not part of Your will including my wrong thoughts and motivations and especially saying what I didn't need to say. Because You are so gracious and merciful to forgive me, I have no right to hold anything against anyone. I will not hold grudges or feel like someone owes me. I'm going to need Your help with that. Grant me spiritual strength. You know what I can and cannot handle well. Help me to hear Your voice so I will not wander into something that I don't need to be in. Help me to hang around people who are a good influence and support my spiritual growth. You know what's best for me. You are God and You reign. You deserve all praise, glory and honor. Thank you for Jesus teaching us how to pray and that we can pray in His name. Amen.

WWHIYP Out Loud

Sometimes we pray silently. God knows what we're thinking. He can answer silent prayers. 

But. . .

what would happen if you prayed out loud?

Listen to some of the phrases used for prayer:

Call to Me . . . Jeremiah 33:3

I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue. Psalm 66:17 NIV

. . . . You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. Genesis 16:11 NLT

When we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; Numbers 20:16 NKJV

Give heed to the voice of my cry,

My King and my God,

For to You I will pray. Psalm 5:2 NKJV

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;

In the morning I will direct it to You,  …  Psalm 5:3 NKJV

Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. Psalm 55:17 NKJV

I cry aloud to the LORD . . . Psalm 142:1

And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? . . . Luke 18:7 NIV

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Matthew 6:7 NIV

Ok, I think I've made my point that prayer is vocal. Again, God can hear our silent prayers and our thoughts.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

   you perceive my thoughts from afar. Psalm 139:2 NIV

Whenever possible, prayer should be audible.

Praying out loud is biblical; that point was made above.

Praying out loud is humbling. If you have not prayed out loud, find out what would happen if you do. God is great and awesome. When we approach Him, our approach should be with humble hearts. For some people, it may be humbling to pray out loud. If you have never opened your mouth to pray, maybe pride or fear has stopped you. Decide that because it's God's will that you pray with your voice, you're going to pray out loud. God will honor your faith and obedience.  

God resists the proud,
      But gives grace to the humble. James 4:6b NKJV

Praying out loud can bring an emotional release. Sometimes your mouth is like a radiator cap; it can keep pressure in or can release pressure. One day my friend told me something that she had never said out loud—she had only thought about it. After she said it, she covered her mouth. When what she was thinking came through her lips, it caused her to laugh and she thought she wouldn't stop. Laughter was bottled up within that thought. She was surprised and I thought it was funny. When we voice our prayers to God, we can relieve ourselves of some of the pressure and emotion that comes with the situations we are praying about. You know how it feels when you say, "I'm glad I got that off my chest"? Tell God about it. He is ready to listen.

Praying out loud helps us stay focused. When I pray silently, my thoughts can and will wander. But when I pray out loud, I can't usually think of anything other than what I'm saying. I heard a preacher give an interesting example. Try this: Count silently. Now continue to count and say "hallelujah" and "thank You, Jesus." When you talk out loud, your counting was interrupted. When you pray out loud, your unfocused thoughts are interrupted and you can stay focused on talking to God.

Pray out loud with me:

Father, thank You that Your word gives me examples of how to pray. You not only show me how to pray, but You give promises that you hear me. God, Your are my help. So please help me to pray out loud. Help me to trust You and not be afraid to pray with my voice. At times, it is necessary to cry out to You. So where there is fear, please remove it. Where pride tries to stop me, I will humble myself. I have nothing to prove to anyone. I want to pray out loud because that's how You want me to pray. Thank You for meeting me where I am and helping me to grow. Thank You for increasing my prayer life and my communication with You. I love getting to know You better and it's all because Jesus has made the way. So I pray in His name. Amen.

Happy Father's Day, God

You created a place. You designed a planet. Not too close too the sun and not too far.

A place with oxygen and water.

Then you formed a man out of the dust of the ground.

You breathed into him and he became a living soul.

From the man, You created a woman—the man's suitable partner.

You put them in a garden that You had prepared. You gave them everything they needed.

When they disobeyed, you moved them, but You still took care of them.

You told Abram to leave his father so You could make him a father to many nations.

You promised him with a child and named the promise "he laughs."

You taught the father of many nations what it's like to lose his only son – but he didn't. 

Jehovah-Jireh.

You blessed the family until they grew to many or "too many."

When their enemies enslaved them, you still fathered them.

You brought them out with miracles, rejoicing, shouts of joy, silver, gold, and good health to a place to learn how to not be slaves.

You gave them food every morning.

You made drinkable water flow from a rock.

You made Yourself known to them and taught them how to live.

You defeated their enemies; their name struck fear in the hearts of the people.

You took them to their promised land.

You built up a kingdom.

You promised them a Savior.

He was a miracle.

He came as a humble, ordinary baby; but He is the King.

He grew up to teach the people of the Father's love.

Then You did what would not allow Abraham to do.

You let the only Son suffer for what we do.

You permitted the perfect Son to be punished for our wrongdoing.

You turned away as He took our sin.

You poured out Your love with every drop of blood.

You let them bury Him in a borrowed tomb.

You kept EVERY promise You made.

The Son conquered death!

He gives us power to live victoriously.

You sent the Helper.

You do not leave us comfortless.

You are our strength, hope, faith, salvation, deliverance, peace, joy, health, treasure, friend, and Father!

You have a place for us in Your house.

You will take away all our tears.

At Your house, we won't need the sun because You are our light.

You are AWESOME!

And I love you!

Straight from the Word Part 3

In a home Bible study in St. Louis years ago, I recall sitting on the floor one night as we discussed Psalm 1.

         Blessed is the man
         Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
         Nor stands in the path of sinners,
         Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;     Psalm 1:1 NKJV

As we discussed the first verse, I could picture the person who is not "blessed" following a progression. This person is the opposite of who we want to be. First the "not blessed" person walks with and listens to the ungodly, but at least he is still moving so he has a chance to change directions. Then he stops moving and stands in the way that sinners go. But at least he's still standing, he can easily start walking again. But instead, he finally gets comfortable and takes a seat with people of bad attitudes.

The light came on as we read this passage. I was like "wow, where'd that come from?"

I had been praying Ephesians 1:17-20. I have written about praying this scripture before when I shared the ridiculous story of me wearing sunglasses. (I hoped we had laid that one to rest.)

In the prayer in Ephesians, Paul is asking God to bless his friends at Ephesus with understanding of who He is and who they themselves are in Him.

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, ¹⁸ the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰ which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, Ephesians 1:17-20 NKJV

That was the version that I used when I would pray those scriptures – in the days before the New Living Translation:

¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

 ¹⁹ I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power ²⁰ that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1:17-20 NLT

God honors this prayer. Remember what 1 John 5:14-15 NLT tells us:

¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

God's Word is His will. His will is that we know Him and we know the power we have in Him. Because I prayed this prayer so often, like daily, God honored it. I began to understand His word. This doesn't mean I know everything, but verses that I have read before, at times seem new. I have a new understanding of them.

In May, I had my last class in Bible Study Fellowship on the book of Isaiah. The study began in September. We would read one or more chapter weekly and answer questions. I was amazed at how I saw the scriptures in a new light. I would just read them and gain new understanding of them.

God gives me understanding of the Word in another way. Sometimes I have questions about a scripture, any scripture and I'll go to a church that same day or a few days after and the preacher will explain it—without knowing I had that question. If you think that is coincidence . . . well, it not! There are more than 31,000 verses in the Bible. How many coincidences can I have where I'm thinking of a scripture or asking God what it means and someone explains THAT scripture the same day or a couple of days later?

Thank God that He answers prayer. He wants us to understand. More proof:

 ⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

 ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45 NIV

Jesus gave His disciples understanding in the scriptures above.

Pray with me for yourself and others:

Father, I pray that You will give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who You are, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened; that I may know what is the hope of Your calling, what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of Your power toward us who believe, according to the working of Your mighty power which You worked in Christ when You raised Him from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places,   from Ephesians 1:17-20 NKJV

And for the more modern pray-ers:

I am asking You, God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give me spiritual wisdom and insight so that I might grow in my knowledge of You.  I pray that my heart will be flooded with light so that I can understand the confident hope You have given to those You called—Your holy people who are Your rich and glorious inheritance.

I also pray that I will understand the incredible greatness of Your power for us who believe You. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at Your right hand in the heavenly realms. -from Ephesians 1:17-20 NLT

Moving Day or 'God Help Me'

On April 4, some of us from our building at work became temporary refugees in a different building because our building had a small flood the Saturday before. In the new building, I ended up in a nice corner where I was pretty well hidden. I didn't have a lot of traffic coming by or people stopping to talk. I was happy about this new spot because it was larger than my usual cubicle and people did not bother me much there. Or as my friend would say, I didn't bother anyone else. I will not deny that.

I was so comfortable in my new spot that I didn't want to go back to the old. We spent two months in the other building. One day, some of coworkers said they had called facilities to tell them we were ready to move back. I told them that I "depreciate" (a Denise word for "don't appreciate") that. I wanted to stay. 

Well the move date came up for May 25. I knew I would return to the other building via my usual form of transportation – kicking and screaming, figuratively speaking of course. I wasn't ready to move back and I had a bad attitude about it.

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world." in Matthew 5:14

Now how am I going to be light if I have a bad attitude? We had just begun the prayer challenge and I was working on creating a lifestyle of prayer by praying about everything. So the morning of the 25th I began to pray about moving. I was talking to my mom on the phone as I approached my workplace. I told her that I needed to hang up so I could pray about this move back. I hung up with her. Then my daughter, who was driving me, started talking. After a minute or so I told her that I needed to pray. I was almost at my building. You might ask, "what's the big deal?" For me it was a big deal because of my stinky attitude. I don't want to have a bad attitude. I want to represent God well.

So I prayed the rest of the way in. I entered my cozy cube and began to put a few items in the moving crate. Then I sat down at my computer. After about an hour, I received an email with the subject "New Move Date."

YAHOOOOOOO! Thank You, Jesus! You are God who answers prayer.

I had a three-week reprieve. Surely I could have a better attitude by then.

So today was the day. I didn't kick, nor did I scream. I was okay with it. I had time to prepare. We've been praying together in this prayer challenge for a few weeks. God is helping me. When I arrived at work, my chair and my moving crate were already back at my old, smaller, less private cube. (Can't you hear my attitude?) BUT my computer was still at the other building. Yes, I could have used the laptop, but why should I when I had an excuse to spend another hour or so in the comfy cube?

The computer guy came in a couple of hours. I walked back over to my original cubicle. As I walked, I prayed: God help me to have a good attitude and to not say anything about wishing I was still at the other building. Help me to not even refer to that other building.

When I arrived at my cube, I didn't say a thing about the old building  . . . for about two minutes. Then my coworker yelled over the cube wall at me – the other reason why I liked being in the other building. She was out of hollering range in the other building. but back home, she hollers and I walk back to see what she wants thinking that one day she'll get a clue. I think I'll have to wrap a clue up in big pretty box and maybe she'll get one then. HAHAHA.

Anyway, I walked back to her after she shouted my name. I told her in a calm, quiet voice, "I thought we gave up that hollering when we were in the other building."

Did anyone time that? How long was it before I referred to the other building? Didn't God answer my prayer? Oh you know as well as I do that that is not the question. The question is didn't I let God answer my prayer. Nope! I made a decision to mention the other building. For a split second I thought, "don’t say anything." (God trying to assist me.) And then I did it anyway.

God is still working on me. I'll be a better person one day. During the transition, love me anyway. :-)

Pray with me:

Gracious Father, You are good. You are the one who answers prayer. Thank You for answering the big requests and the small requests. In Philippians 4:6 New Living Translation You tell us:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Thank you for allowing me to pray about everything – nothing is insignificant to You if it concerns us. Please make me more cognizant of praying about everything so that prayer is part of my culture. Thank You for showing  me the results as I learn what would happen if I prayed. Thank You for allowing me to pray to You in Jesus' name. Amen.

God Asks Us; We Ask Ourselves

God asks today just as He asked Jeremiah:

I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27 NIV

The obvious answer is "no." There is nothing too hard for God—no thing. NO THING.

When we know that no thing is too hard for God, we should have faith in Him. Now let's go back and ask ourselves, knowing that we serve God who can do anything, "what would happen if I prayed?"

If you missed it before, here is it again with a few extras.

What would happen if I prayed . . .

·      for my family, friends, neighbors?

·      with my family, friends, neighbors?

·      to start my day?

·      to end my day?

·      about my job/work environment?

·      for my physical/emotional/mental health?

·      for the physical/emotional/mental health of others?

·      for my spouse?

·      with my spouse?

·      for a spouse? *wink*

·      five minutes longer?

·      the will of God?

·      for God's best in my life?

·      about my purpose in life?

·      to understand who God is?

·      for wisdom and understanding?

·      without doubt or fear?

·      without giving up?

·      for local/state/national leaders?

·      instead of complained?

·      for my church?

·      for my supervisors/employer/company?

·      for my employees/coworkers/repairman?

·      with thanksgiving in my heart?

·      about my business/business idea?

·      for my enemy?

·      about my finances or lack there of?

·      about the big things in my life?

·      about the little things in my life?

·      to break a bad habit?

·      to begin a good habit?

·      before I make a decision?

·      about some problem I think I can never overcome?

·      for the success of an event/speech/presentation/project?

·      to rid myself of fear/doubt/worry/anxiety/grief/depression?

·      and then listened?

·      out loud?

·      in faith?

·      Spirit-led prayers?

·      with all my heart?

·      until I see the answer?

·      in Jesus' name?

Pray with me:

Father, You are God for whom nothing is too hard. You can do anything and everything good. I praise Your awesomeness. Because of who You are, I have faith in You. Because of who You are, I trust You. But I want to know You better. Thank You because when I pray, You and I are learning more about each other. Since You already know me so well, help me to look into my life and ask myself what would happen if I prayed. You know what's important to me. Help me to grasp hold of the possibilities of a culture of prayer. You know what motivates me. I open the door for You to enter and show me how important it is to pray and why I should pray. Change my attitude where it needs to be changed. Reveal to me the necessity of prayer in my life. Reveal to me the necessity of knowing You. Thank You for the great things that You are doing in my life –things that I could not even imagine. It's all because of what Jesus has done for me and in His name. Amen.

How Goes the Challenge?

Our challenge for these 40 days (16 days remaining) is to answer the question: what would happen if you prayed? How's it going? The word "challenge" suggests that we're doing something that offers a degree of difficulty. For some of us, it may be a challenge to read the scripture booklet in its entirety, daily. For others it may be to pray . . . at all. Or maybe you've never prayed out loud or this much or this regularly. But I hope that you are doing something different so that you will see results.

One of my friends was excited about the challenge because for the last few years, June has traditionally been a painful month for her to endure. For her, joining us in prayer has itself been a challenge. She's had to pray in spite of the history of the month. But she knows someone is praying with her. As a result, she said June "does not appear so intimidating." Praise God!

Another friend who is taking the challenge has begun reading a biography entitled Rees Howells, Intercessor (download from this page). God used Howells in the ministry of praying for others in early 20^th century Europe. A man looking for Howells went to his town but didn't know his name so he asked for the "man with the Holy Ghost." He was sent to the right place. (I would love to have such a reputation.) So by reading this book, my friend is being inspired, amazed, challenged, and convicted.

A friend who is part of a ministry to young people has called the rest of their ministry team to meet weekly to pray for their spiritual sons and daughters as well as other matters. How cool is that?

As for me, I am practicing praying about everything. I pray for the friends who are taking this challenge with me, regularly. I so enjoy praying for you. I have a little list with your names on it. I also have another list of things I would like to see change for others. I've been praying my one-minute prayers and focusing on God throughout the day. I may miss an hour here and there, but I feel as if I am establishing a habit. The other day, I prayed about shopping. If you know how I feel about shopping, you wouldn't be surprised. I had to buy certain clothing items. I prayed that I would be in and out while finding what I needed at a good price and do it all in 15 minutes. Well, it took a little longer than 15 minutes, but I still made good time and bought three dresses for less than 60 bucks. I was satisfied. Then I wanted a new blouse. I prayed that I would find something cute, it had be silver/gray/platinum-ish and at a good price. I found what I liked. It was the only one. I hoped the size would work for me since it was the only one. It was hanging on the 30% off rack. I took it and another top that I didn't like as well to the counter. I told the clerk that the one I really wanted was on the 30% off rack but I was hoping it was 50% off. She scanned the price. It was 50% off. Yippee! (Should have told her I hoped it was 70% off.) HA! Next, I hoped it would fit because I was not going to try it on in the store. Oh happy day! It worked for me.

God cares about us. He wants us to pray instead of worry. He wants to help us. He wants to accomplish His will on the earth. He does this as His people pray.

Like Jesus said,

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  John 15:16 NKJV

Pray with me (out loud):

Father, thank You for choosing me to accomplish Your will on earth as it is in Heaven. Thank You for teaching me how to pray about everything. Please show me what more I can do during this prayer challenge. Help me to remember to read the scriptures daily and to not give up. Sometimes I don't feel like reading the scriptures, but I've made a commitment and I want to keep my word. I know there is great benefit from reading Your Word. My faith is increasing. I am trusting You more and believing that You really will answer me when I pray in the name of Jesus. It' a promise and You always keep Your Word. Praise You Father