LIVE LIFE BY BEING A LIVING, PRAYER
(Thoughts about prayer for lent)
Being a” living prayer” is accomplished by allowing God to control your involuntary thoughts.
Let recite the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
GUIDELINE FOR PRAYER
Prayer is the most influence we can have on Earth and in Heaven on the day to day and eternal operations of God.
We all agree that the Lord’s prayer found in the Gospels is the standard guideline for praying. After all, our Lord and Savior tell each of us to “Pray in this way”
Agree! But WHY?
What is God’s motive to the instructions of His Prayer.
The Why We Pray.
UNDERSTAND: JESUS BROUGHT A CHANGE IN PRAYER RULES
The book of Matthew is a detailed writing of the transition from the “law that ruled our lives” to the “Grace of our Faith that inspires and motivates our living” The grace of the Salvation of Jesus Christ, brought life; the grace of our faith is for living.
Jesus died and offered the world (you and me) a transition. A transition from a performance-based relationship to grace-based dependence. This move changes our religion from “the material” or the outer appearance rules, to the living mystery of “Jesus Inside” or a “spiritual rule”. This transition was announced, by John the Baptist and finished by Jesus.
If we live by New Kingdom rules: God inside us, and we don’t get right, the why we pray, we miss the most excellent part of the Kingdom of the Heavens. You and I pray for the outside or material things and we will continue to do so. But those prayers of the material supply must in some part be assumed, as they are promised by God to be supplied, because we are His people. He will never leave us or forsake us. God desire is to move us on from the material prayer. If we can buy into the Kingdom life and our new way of living. Pray becomes all-important and must be seen as a way of living.
REASON 1: WHY WE PRAY, ENGAGE THE MYSTERY OF GOD
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Our prayers and the importance of them can only be calculated and understood by the mystery of God’s economy “GOD IN US!”.
Explain to me God in us!
Explain to me how God connects all the living we do for our good!
Explain to me the infection of affection for Jesus when HE comes into your being.
God is not in heaven with a hands-off approach to our lives. God is now inside us, wanting to infect our whole being, all our living.
REASON 2: WHY WE PRAY, BEING WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYER IS TOUCHING AND ABSORBING GOD.
I believe prayer is the most intimate and most productive habit we can form to understand and enjoy God. God redeemed you, so you can enjoy Him. Prayer is that path to enjoying God.
REASON 3: WHY WE PRAY, GIVES GOD OPPORTUNITY TO EXAMINE OUR HEART.
No person knows or understands someone else's heart, except God, we don’t even understand our own heart, but God does. We need to give Jesus's permission to touch us through prayer. To clean out the corners of our heart. You know what I am talking about.
REAONS 4: WHY WE PRAY, PRAYER IS THE NATURAL SET-UP FOR WORSHIPING GOD.
We were born worshipers! We prayerfully worship in Truth (God’s inspired Word), and we prayerfully worship in the Spirit (God’s breath into us). I have never been able to righty engage in true worship of God, without engaging in truthful and Spirit led prayer, and this predominantly happen by using God’s word.
REASONS 5: WHY WE PRAY, TO BE A LIVING PRAYER
Our motive or the WHY we pray, is For Living.
“The motive for our living will be reflected in our Prayers’. The words of our prayers reflect the lives we live.
AW TOZER said, “Prayer is an expression of our total life”.
Our prayers are only as powerful as our lives. If our prayers are disconnected from the living that God desires for us, why would He listen? Why would God answer your prayers if your prayers aren’t Kingdom minded prayers. I am not giving an absolute here. I am asking all of us that question and for all of us to look for how God in how hears our prayers.
Our life is an emphasis that “God is our life, and our living belongs to Him”. Do your prayers reflect this living?
Our lives are a continuation of the conflict of the sacred and secular. When Jesus steps into our lives and we choose to live according to THE KINGDOM RULES. There is no secular, and our lives and prayers must be motivated by pleasing God from the inside, out.
Being a” living prayer” is accomplished by allowing God to control your involuntary thoughts.
REASON 6: WHY WE PRAY, GOD LOVES US AND WE LOVE HIM.
God is looking to be with you through Prayer. In all categories of prayer God is waiting for you. In your:
Secret times
Environment
Corporate settings
Thoughts
Go to God in these prayers, with the following thoughts and petitions.
Ask God to help you understand:
Prayers are for LIFE! and for the Living of them. Live what you Pray!
A closed mouth in our secret times of prayer, leads to a heart touched by the Spirit of God.
There’s only one key to a God pleasing life.” Be a Living Prayer”. Don’t do the “Fruit of the Spirit” Be the “Fruit of the Spirit”
During lint. Do not form a habit of prayers. Form a habit of BEING with God through “Living Prayer”.
Let recite the Lord’s Prayer from a view of LIFE BEING IS LIVING PRAYER.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
