Doug Van Pelt

Pray

I just got off the phone with a friend whose mother is not doing too well. That's the kind of thing that can drive you crazy -- especially if you are on the road away from her.

I wonder how prayer works. I like to pray specifically for people -- by name and need. But I am confident that God knows what I need before I even ask, so my specific details aren't necessary (just good). For instance, anyone reading this could ask God, "Father, please bring Your healing to Doug's friend's mom. Please restore her body to the healthy way you created her." I'm sure God will hear and respond to that prayer just as if you had mentioned her by her full name in prayer. It's not voodoo or witchcraft or a formula.

When His disciples asked Him, "Teach us to pray," (in Luke 11), He gave them what we call "The Lord's Prayer."

"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your Name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."

Praising God, and stating how hallowed His Name is can be classified as worship. This prayer is a good outline that can "equip" us to pray for a good length of time. If we devote 15 minutes to this "point" in the "outline," then check out how easy and organized it can be to "tarry one hour" in prayer!

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is akin to asking for guidance and simply aligning yourself with His will and His kingdom. It is also a point where we can intercede for others, asking for God's will to be done in their lives.

Give us today our daily bread.

This is another point where interceding for others can come in. It's also one of the most common areas of prayer (at least in my life), which is asking God to meet my needs. It's funny how sometimes when I'm in the process of asking God to meet such and such a "need" that I see that such and such might just be a selfish and unnecessary "want." It's amazing how much prayer can act like a mirror of my own heart. Sometimes I don't appreciate that!

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

This is a point where we confess our sins. One by one we can confess our specific sins to God and ask (and receive) His forgiveness. It's very interesting and most important that forgiving others is related to this. In fact, when Jesus teaches this method of prayer, He caps it off with parables about servants who don't forgive. He really drives home the point that "if we forgive others, our Father in heaven will forgive us." That is huge.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

This can be seen as a point where we engage in what Paul the apostle called "spiritual warfare" or "struggling ... against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." This is serious stuff. We can ignore it and go about our lives without having to consider it much, but we might get awakened out of our stupor at some point with a confrontation with evil. Jesus apparently thought it important enough to include as His last point in this method of teaching prayer.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at August 16, 2005 11:29 AM