How Do We Pray

When we pray, there is no special prayer that has more power than another. God looks at the heart, wanting to communicate to us through His Word while we speak to Him, he hears us if we are not walking in sin.

I gave up all canned and rote prayer when I left the Catholic church.

When Christ was showing the apostles "how" to pray, He was not giving them the words to pray nor a formula, He was giving principles that show us the mindset of our prayers.

1 John 5:13-21
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. ..."

Matthew 6:5-7
"5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward.
…6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.…

Matthew 6:9-13
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is 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 [a]our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

The principles of the Lord's Prayer, should be called the Lord's instruction.

Address the Father in our prayer
Praise and honor Him
Ask for HIS will to be done
Present our requests
Ask forgiveness for sin
Ask for strength to resist temptation
Deliver us from evil

Notice one of the things that many Pentecostals leave out, "Your will be done." When someone demands from God their own will, "claiming" they have a right to it, they are acting like spoiled entitled children who are not in submission to Christ.

God's will looks very different from our will often. We have tiny little child like brains compared to God. A child wants what they want the way they want it, God has a greater purpose than our fleshly desires. When we seek the mind of Christ, then we stop demanding things from God and desire to have His mind, even willing to go through hard things for His will to be accomplished.

When we are walking with Christ everyday, our desires become His. When we pray for a need, say a car or other physical possession, we don't pray specifically, we tell God our need and wait to see how He chooses to fulfill it. Perhaps we will have to wait and make do to stretch our faith and resolve to trust Him.

Those who demand things from God through the "claiming" mentality are not trusting God at all. These people go through life expecting to get whatever they want as spoiled children without caring what God wants for them. They are often disappointed, their faith is shallow, they run hot and burn out fast.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

1 Thessalonians 4:3
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;"

Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."

Notice in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you."

How silly to think we can tell God what His plan for us should be. We are to seek Him for His plan and praise Him for it!!!

Here is His plan:
Hebrews 13:20-21
"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

God does answer physical needs, but they are not His focus as much as our Spiritual growth!