Are You Exhausted And Out Of Prayers? God Gave Us An Answer

“The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that God wants His people to communicate with Him, not just at church on Sunday, but wherever we are and whatever our need.” David Jeremiah

How often do you pray? Do you carve out a little time to speak to God once and a while? I’ve heard several people say that they have no prayers recently. Some feel this way because their candidate (in the USA) did not win. Others are confused by all that is going on around them. It seems like every single time we open a news app there is more breaking news. Often the first question you ask yourself is, “Why?” After the question comes, the fear creeps in like the bitter cold that has visited many of us this winter. What is going to happen next? What should I do? How should I pray? Jesus gave us an answer in the scripture for us to ponder and pray. 

The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for such a time as this

Growing up in the belly of the south meant that we were attending church each and every time the doors were open. One fond memory that I have is our scripture memorization contests. Yes, there were contests. The prize? McDonald’s fries and Hubba Bubba Gum. Five packs of them! The thought of having 5 packs of gum was more than enough motivation to memorize as many scriptures as possible. One of the first passages was 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 debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, Amen. 

The Lord’s Prayer has 7 Supplications to ponder. 

What does supplication mean? It means to ask humbly, almost begging for God’s intervention. In this prayer there are 3 “thy” petitions and 4 “us” petitions. It is good to note what the number 7 represents to God. 7 means completion, perfection and holiness. God created the world in 6 days and took His rest on the 7th day. To give you an idea of just how important the number 7 is to God there are: 7 proclamations of what the Messiah would embody in the book of Isaiah, the book of Revelation has 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets and seven bowls. That is just a few examples of 7. 

• Our Father Who Art in Heaven: Note that Jesus said, “Our Father” not “My Father.” Why did he do this? Because God Almighty is our Heavenly Father who desires for us to pray and seek Him. He is accessible to all. 
• Hallowed be Thy Name: God is Holy and set apart. He deserves our Holy worship because of His love and marvelous grace to us. How do we worship God? Through our Holiness. There has been a movement that has been moving somewhat slowly and sophisticatedly through the church in the last few years. The scriptures have been used to excuse and even permit our sin rather than using the scriptures to change us from within to walk in holiness. Rather than seeking morality, the church has turned it around and made the scripture moral for their truth. God is Holy. His truth far outweighs our truth. 
• Thy Kingdom Come: we are asking for God’s Kingdom to manifest in our lives through following Him and His precepts. Our precepts or “truths” will lead us in one direction, to our fleshly desires. Also, we are asking for the ultimate return of Jesus Christ to bring us into His glory eternally. 
• Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: in our supplication to Him we are asking for God to have His will be done in our lives. How do we do that? We commit to walk in the way of Jesus, pursuing His truth, not our own. When Jesus went to the garden before His crucifixion, He prayed: “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup [of divine wrath] from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done.” Jesus knew that what He was about to endure would be absolute agony that we cannot imagine. Our flesh wants our will, our truth and our way. Giving ourselves to God’s will brings His truth, His Will, His truth and His way. 
• Give us this day our daily bread: we are asking God to provide us not only with physical sustenance but also spiritual sustenance through His Word. Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life. Just as we rise each day and eat, we must also rise each day and feed our spirits with God’s Word. 
• Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: I used to have a spiritual mentor who often said: “It’s always good to keep your forgiveness slate clean.” When I asked what she meant she said that each day she asks God to forgive her of the sins that she was aware of and those that she is not aware of. In that prayer she also asked that God would make her aware. Forgiveness is what God gave us, He expects us to give it to others in return. Sometimes that feeling of forgiveness does not appear overnight, often it takes some time but that first step of making the decision is a step in the right direction. We are acknowledging God’s great mercy that we did not deserve. 
• Lead us not into temptation: What does that mean? In the book of James the scripture tells us that God cannot be tempted by evil and He Himself tempts no one. Ok, if God does not tempt us, why ask? Our flesh leads us to temptation. Our minds lead us to find a way to make scripture “truth” for us rather than God’s truth. We are asking through our walk in holiness that we will walk in His ways when the world swirls around us. 
• But deliver us from evil: Some translations say, “Deliver us from the evil one.” Who is the evil one? Satan, his purpose is to lead us down the path of the flesh. Satan tempted Jesus with: “Has God not said?” Satan asked Jesus, the Son of God who had sat in the heavenlies with all of its glory if God’s Words were true. How much more will he try to lead us astray in our humanity? That’s why we need God. Amen. So be it. 

For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory Forever Amen was added a bit later to the text and was added to some of the music that has been composed over time about this prayer. God has given us a way to pray when our words fail us. We just have to be willing in spirit to come to Him with our needs. We do indeed live in interesting times, what a great day to start a time of prayer with the Creator of the Universe Who so desires for us to seek Him. Here is a link to one of the compositions of The Lord’s Prayer by by Howard Malotte in 1935, normally I accompany myself but I am recovering from the flu and tried to keep things simple. 

God gave us the prayer so that we could follow Him

For quite some time the world has used the phrase, “Follow your heart” or “Let your conscience be your guide.” I’ve got some not so good news, the conscience or heart does not work for most people. Historically speaking, those who came before us knew that conscience was not enough, they realized that God-based teachings concerning morality were a necessary part of navigating through life. Think about it, if someone was evil and impacted the lives of others via murder, thievery or any morally abhorrent action or an ideology of Nazism, communism; shouldn’t their conscience keep them up at night to consider their wrongdoing? Of course not. Also, people who were on the opposite sides of conflict believed they were following their conscience. World War II comes to mind when both sides of the conflict believed their cause was just. 

We all have a built in yearning for God in our lives

Yesterday I read that there is not only a jump in sales of the Bible, but also a jump in interest in those with no Biblical background or Judeo-Christian teachings. Why is that? We need purpose, we need a guide, we need to build our conscience. God is there waiting to guide us. If you need to start somewhere or renew your walk with God, the Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful place to start. If you can’t manage those words the scripture does tell us that And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26 I leave you all with the words of Sir Thomas Buxton: “You know the value of prayer: it is precious beyond all price. Never ever neglect it.”