Activating the Power of God Series - No. 4
The Power in the Lord's Prayer
A couple of years ago, I was watching a televised Christian program related to deliverance and one of the team members of the Deliverance ministry whose program was being aired was asked, "so after a typical day casting out demons etc, how do you pray before retiring to bed?" The woman answered, "before I sleep I say the Lord's Prayer." The woman's response left me questioning her seriousness as a Christian. Personally, my understanding of prayer at that time had been shaped by the belief that prayer must be uttered in a 'certain way' for it to be powerful and heard by God, forgetting that Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in very simple words.
I believe, my judgement about this woman is typical of most of us who experienced or witnessed the revival of the Pentecostal movement, and then later the Charismatic movement from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. An offshoot of the Charismatic movement is where often most Charismatic preachers teach that praying in tongues (i.e. a sign of being baptized by the Holy Spirit) is the most effective and powerful means by which the presence of God is invoked or by which we are in direct contact with God. But after a careful study of God's word, I have come to a point where I believe that while praying in tongue is important, especially if you have that gift, tongue-speaking in itself does not necessarily mean you are in direct contact with God. You can be a tongue-speaking Christian and your prayers may at best be reaching the ceiling of your room, especially in the presence of sin. The bible makes clear in the following scriptures what actually hinder our prayers and prevents us from experiencing the presence of God, and that is sin, not the way we pray:
To begin, let's read the following scripture:
It is puzzling to me that the disciples of Jesus Christ were clueless on how to pray until later in their walk with Christ that they brought up the topic of prayer. On a side note, this tells me that our calling to serve Christ is not contingent on how ecstatic you can pray. It doesn't matter whether you are a prayer expert or not, when Jesus calls he also prepares you for the tasks he gives you.
So let's begin by going over the Lord's Prayer line by line:
1. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
The first line of the prayer points out not only the fact that we are to direct our prayers to God, but most importantly we must always begin our prayers by reverencing His holy name. Beloved in Christ, if you knew the power that can be unleashed through the true worship of God I would imagine that we will begin to spend more time in worshiping His holy name. In one of my earlier posts I explained the power that is unleashed when we worship and praise God so I am not going to go into details here. But let's read what happened when the Israelites, under King Jehoshaphat, were faced with war with their enemies and how the power in praise and worship to God was unleashed to defeat their enemies. The key point to take here is that don't ever underestimate the power in worshiping the name of the Most High God. We read below:
When we pray 'Thy kingdom come' we are literally saying let God's reign be established upon the earth. Beloved in Christ, we live in a time that more than ever we need God's reign in the affairs of men. So when we pray everyday for His kingdom to come, we are reinforcing God's power and authority in the affairs of men.
3. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Praying for God's will as it is in heaven to be done on earth implies petitioning God for His will concerning all aspects of our lives, including, world peace, the choice of leaders, marriage, family, employment, etc., as He planned it from the beginning and as it stands in heaven, to be established on earth. The bible tells us for lack of knowledge my people are destroyed (Hosea 4:6a). There are blessings that are held in store for each of us but because we fail to pray for these to be established on earth as it is in heaven most Christians leave this earth without fully enjoying these blessings.
4. Give us day by day our daily bread.
Asking God to give us our daily bread is petitioning God to supply your daily needs including food, and every resource we need throughout each day etc. I wake up each day with things lined up for the day and I know without a shadow of doubt that God's provision of strength and every other resource I have needed is what has kept me going. Like the Hymnist we can sing:
In an earlier post I explained that God's forgiveness for the believer is dependent on our ability to forgive others who wrong us. You can ask His forgiveness for your sins only after you have been able to truly forgive others who sin against us. If you cannot forgive others, don't even dream it that your sins will be forgiven by God.
6. And lead us not into temptation;
Beloved in Christ, temptations face us each day and it is only by petitioning God for His strength are we in the position to overcome. Remembering that we are the main target of the devil, every Christ follower needs God's strength to be able to overcome the temptations we face daily.
7. Deliver us from evil. Evil lurks around us at each turn and it is only God who can offer us true protection. Jesus taught his disciples to petition God to deliver us from evil. Now, note that this prayer is very important for the believer in Christ. In fact, in the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, which we find in John 17, Jesus petitioned the Father on behalf of his followers. We read below:
After I came to understand the importance and the power in the Lord's Prayer, I recognized my ignorance and chastised myself for questioning another Christian's seriousness after she explained that she only prayed the Lord's Prayer before retiring to bed.
I hope you are blessed. Please feel free to leave me a comment.
God bless you!
A couple of years ago, I was watching a televised Christian program related to deliverance and one of the team members of the Deliverance ministry whose program was being aired was asked, "so after a typical day casting out demons etc, how do you pray before retiring to bed?" The woman answered, "before I sleep I say the Lord's Prayer." The woman's response left me questioning her seriousness as a Christian. Personally, my understanding of prayer at that time had been shaped by the belief that prayer must be uttered in a 'certain way' for it to be powerful and heard by God, forgetting that Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in very simple words.
I believe, my judgement about this woman is typical of most of us who experienced or witnessed the revival of the Pentecostal movement, and then later the Charismatic movement from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. An offshoot of the Charismatic movement is where often most Charismatic preachers teach that praying in tongues (i.e. a sign of being baptized by the Holy Spirit) is the most effective and powerful means by which the presence of God is invoked or by which we are in direct contact with God. But after a careful study of God's word, I have come to a point where I believe that while praying in tongue is important, especially if you have that gift, tongue-speaking in itself does not necessarily mean you are in direct contact with God. You can be a tongue-speaking Christian and your prayers may at best be reaching the ceiling of your room, especially in the presence of sin. The bible makes clear in the following scriptures what actually hinder our prayers and prevents us from experiencing the presence of God, and that is sin, not the way we pray:
Isa 59:1-2 KJV Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Psa 24:3-4 KJV Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? (4) He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.Have we forgotten what Paul himself said regarding speaking in tongues? We read:
1Co 13:1 NIV If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
And let's read what Jesus also taught his disciples:
Mat 22:37-40 KJV Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.From love stem the ability to walk in holiness and exude the presence of God and not necessarily the way we pray, in particular, our ability to speak in tongue. That said, I want to move on to talk about the power in praying the Lord's Prayer.
To begin, let's read the following scripture:
Luk 11:1-4 KJV And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. (2) And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. (3) Give us day by day our daily bread. (4) And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.Many Christians recite this prayer without fully understanding the purpose and power from this simple-worded prayer our Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples. Now, let me say that while the recitation of the prayer is fine, I am of the belief that the seven lines of the Lord's Prayer was also intended to serve as a guide for Christ followers on how to pray.
It is puzzling to me that the disciples of Jesus Christ were clueless on how to pray until later in their walk with Christ that they brought up the topic of prayer. On a side note, this tells me that our calling to serve Christ is not contingent on how ecstatic you can pray. It doesn't matter whether you are a prayer expert or not, when Jesus calls he also prepares you for the tasks he gives you.
So let's begin by going over the Lord's Prayer line by line:
1. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
The first line of the prayer points out not only the fact that we are to direct our prayers to God, but most importantly we must always begin our prayers by reverencing His holy name. Beloved in Christ, if you knew the power that can be unleashed through the true worship of God I would imagine that we will begin to spend more time in worshiping His holy name. In one of my earlier posts I explained the power that is unleashed when we worship and praise God so I am not going to go into details here. But let's read what happened when the Israelites, under King Jehoshaphat, were faced with war with their enemies and how the power in praise and worship to God was unleashed to defeat their enemies. The key point to take here is that don't ever underestimate the power in worshiping the name of the Most High God. We read below:
2Ch 20:21-24 KJV And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. (22) And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. (23) For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. (24) And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.2. Thy kingdom come.
When we pray 'Thy kingdom come' we are literally saying let God's reign be established upon the earth. Beloved in Christ, we live in a time that more than ever we need God's reign in the affairs of men. So when we pray everyday for His kingdom to come, we are reinforcing God's power and authority in the affairs of men.
3. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Praying for God's will as it is in heaven to be done on earth implies petitioning God for His will concerning all aspects of our lives, including, world peace, the choice of leaders, marriage, family, employment, etc., as He planned it from the beginning and as it stands in heaven, to be established on earth. The bible tells us for lack of knowledge my people are destroyed (Hosea 4:6a). There are blessings that are held in store for each of us but because we fail to pray for these to be established on earth as it is in heaven most Christians leave this earth without fully enjoying these blessings.
4. Give us day by day our daily bread.
Asking God to give us our daily bread is petitioning God to supply your daily needs including food, and every resource we need throughout each day etc. I wake up each day with things lined up for the day and I know without a shadow of doubt that God's provision of strength and every other resource I have needed is what has kept me going. Like the Hymnist we can sing:
"Great is Thy faithfulness5. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me"
In an earlier post I explained that God's forgiveness for the believer is dependent on our ability to forgive others who wrong us. You can ask His forgiveness for your sins only after you have been able to truly forgive others who sin against us. If you cannot forgive others, don't even dream it that your sins will be forgiven by God.
6. And lead us not into temptation;
Beloved in Christ, temptations face us each day and it is only by petitioning God for His strength are we in the position to overcome. Remembering that we are the main target of the devil, every Christ follower needs God's strength to be able to overcome the temptations we face daily.
7. Deliver us from evil. Evil lurks around us at each turn and it is only God who can offer us true protection. Jesus taught his disciples to petition God to deliver us from evil. Now, note that this prayer is very important for the believer in Christ. In fact, in the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, which we find in John 17, Jesus petitioned the Father on behalf of his followers. We read below:
Joh 17:15 KJV I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.The New International Version says it a little differently: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."
After I came to understand the importance and the power in the Lord's Prayer, I recognized my ignorance and chastised myself for questioning another Christian's seriousness after she explained that she only prayed the Lord's Prayer before retiring to bed.
I hope you are blessed. Please feel free to leave me a comment.
God bless you!
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