OUR WORDS IN PRAYER

The importance of prayer and our words in prayer. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, gave us a prime example of how to pray, in which through the years has been called “The Lord’s Prayer.

At the end of today’s thoughts, I will share an example on how God used me, just after I had spent some time with Him in praise, worship, and prayer.

When praying, we should always start with giving honor to our Heavenly Father, God, that of praise, thanksgiving, and worship. As you pray, lead into asking God to have His way on earth as in heaven.

Next, begin to ask for forgiveness of your sins and to forgive others who have wronged or hurt you. We then proceed to ask for His protection over evil and not to lead us into temptations.

What is it that you need? Ask in faith, believe, and let God. In other words, trust God for the answer.

End the prayer with giving glory to your Heavenly Father, through Christ Jesus.

As I have said earlier, prayer is not to be a set of words, as a repetition prayer or repetition formatted repeatedly. Prayer should always be fresh from the heart, for that time of worship, praise, or asking in time of need.

Let me share a blueprint for prayer, in which I see as revealed in “the Lord’s Prayer;” again, prayer is to be from the heart to God our Heavenly Father.

This pattern, you might say, can be remembered, in the word ACTS, or broken down from the very letters, A.C.T.S:

A. for adoration, give God praise.

C. for confession, confess your sins.

T. for thanksgiving, thank Him for what He has just done, cleansed, washed away all your confessed sin. Repentance is a good thing. For without repentance, there can be no forgiveness, but through repenting, our Lord and Savior hears our cries, and meets our needs.

Oh, how precious is the blood of Jesus, that washes away our sins, and through Jesus, we have access to our Heavenly Father, God.

S. for supplication, that of asking. NOW, this is where I see you might say, the rubber meets the road. Because, we/ I am made righteous in Christ Jesus, I can come boldly to the throne room of God.

When I pray, I see myself walking into the very throne room of God, asking in faith, believing that what I have asked for, will come about.

Won’t you take time out and step into the throne room of God and receive what you are in need of. There are many promises in the Bible, that are ready to be fulfilled, to the believer who asks in faith. As the Bible states, the prayer of the righteous availeth much.

The Word of God given to man, is more precious than Gold. What is it you need? God is waiting for you to come to the throne of grace in faith – “ask, seek and knock” and you will find.

The promises of God are there, waiting to be claimed. Prayer is the way to God’s heart, and when spoken from your heart, your spirit leaps inside, knowing our Father cares about you, His child.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus taught other truths on prayer and gave us examples of what prayer is to be. Let us look at a few.

Prayer should be “believing prayer” as stated in 21:22. Do you really believe what you pray? Are you asking in faith what God’s Word says you can have?

There are many promises in His Word that are yours, and you can receive them. Begin to ask, believe by faith. and receive them. Find the promise, pray the promise in faith, over and in your life. Prayer should be “watchful prayer” as stated in Matthew 26:41.

Prayer must always be prayed as God’s will and not our will. Do not allow our own selfishness, to get in the way of God’s will. None of me, but all of Him. Many times, during prayer, the Holy Spirit will pray within us, and release the very answer to us during prayer.

Prayer should be “persistent prayer” as stated in Luke 18:1. Prayer is to be “pray without ceasing.” In other words, never give up. Pray until something happens. God will use a vessel willing to obey.

Take Me With You. Let me share a personal example. It was a beautiful spring morning, as I made my way over to the church to pray. I would go early to pray, worship, and give praise to my Heavenly Father, God, before I went to work. Around 6 am, I put on praise and worship music in the sanctuary, praying and worshiping my Lord and Savior.

As I step out through the front doors to leave, I looked up and said to God with tears streaming from my eyes, “I don’t want to leave, can I just stay here.” I was impressed with this thought; it was as though God Himself spoke to me; “take me with you for there are others who need me.” I than asked, “could you do something special today’’ meaning, I am willing to be used for you.”

When I walked into my workplace, I felt such a presence of the Holy Spirit upon me. Yes, I was different that morning. As I was casing and preparing the mail, one of my co-workers came over to me and looked me in the face and stated, “all I see is Jesus, I don’t see Paul.”  She then proceeded to say, “she wanted to talk to me about Jesus after work.”  I said, ok. As I left the Post Office, I stopped at my normal morning coffee shop, for a break. I sat down next to an elderly gentleman and ordered coffee and a roll.

As I got up to leave, something said to me, “tell Him about pray.”  I then looked at my watch, and my ten-minute break was finished.

Let me add, I had just been studying the night before, about prayer and how to pray. I had written down in my journal this pattern of prayer which I had once read.

I reached for a napkin and proceeded to write this down. I said, “Sir, when you pray, pray like this” it spells ACTS.”

A. for adoration. Give God praise for who he is.

C. for confession. It is like this cup, no one wants to drink out of a dirty cup and God cannot and will not use a dirty vessel. Then the gentleman interrupted me with these words. “At 5:30 am, I was awake reading a book, but I did not understand it, so I grabbed another book, and I still did not understand it. Then something said to me, “go over to the coffee shop and there will be a young man who will explain this to you.” He then said, “I am beginning to understand it.” I then proceeded to say this.

T. is for thanksgiving, give Him thanks for what He did. He washed away all your sins.

S. is for Supplication. Ask Him for what you need. I asked Him, “what is it you need?” He proceeded to tell me, He needed to write a letter to a friend, but He did not know how to say it. I will say, this man was an educated man. I said, “when you go home, pray in a similar manner. Pray this pattern of prayer, from your heart.

For me I said, it is like I step into the throne room of God with my petition, and I bring it to Him. I prayed a brief prayer with Him and left.

As I stepped outside, I looked at my watch and it was only ten minutes from when I went inside. Did God stop time for me? I asked God, “what was that all about,” and the thought was, what did you ask for earlier?

Later I pondered over that day and realized that I was still in bed at the moment, when God spoke to the gentleman to go to the coffee shop to meet me. Yes, God knows our steps before we even do them. It is important to always pay attention to the voice of God when He speaks.