Learn from Jesus Prayers Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. —Luke 23:34 I believe that the way people pray and the things they pray about reveal lot character and spiritual maturity. There was a time when my prayer life did not indicate much spiritual maturity. Even though I was a born-again, filled with the Holy Spirit, my prayers were pathetically carnal. When I prayed, I had a list of requests I thought God had to say yes to before I could be happy—and all of them were natural things: Lord, make my family prosper. Give us a peace; do this; do that. Make my siblings change. Make the kids behave, and so on. In response, God simply said to me, I want you to examine the prayers of Jesus and the prayers of St. Paul. Then well talk about your prayer life. Of course, there are many prayers throughout the Bible, especially in Psalms, but God told me to pray the prayers of Jesus, which are found in the gospels and the prayers of St. Paul, which are found in the epistles. When I began to pray the way Jesus prayed, I discovered that there really is no more powerful way to pray than to pray the Word of God because it shows us what is important to Him. He prayed prayers such as Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth ( John 17:17); His prayer for unity among his people (see John 17:23); and His prayer for St. Peter: But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail (Luke 22:32). I encourage you to read the gospels and see how Jesus prayed, then pray similarly as you talk and listen to God. Pax!!!!!!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 15:55:19 +0000
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