Pattern for Praying”¦Dependency on God
Jesus took prayer seriously. He said, “˜This, then, is how you should pray”¦”™
Jesus was dependent on His Father every day. He showed this dependency through His habit of praying daily.
What is the pattern for daily prayer which Jesus said His follower”™s are to pray?
First: Acknowledge God as our Father (and this can only be those who have asked Jesus to be their Savior ““ only then is anyone a child of God and can truly call Him Father.)
“˜Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”™
Second: Prayer is to be an act of submission to this holy God. When we submit we can say from our hearts,
“˜Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”™
Third: Then our requests which we make will reveal our dependence on Him. As Americans, we are pretty self-sufficient. As a child of God we are to turn to the living God and ask Him for our needs to be met. Every person has physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and social needs.
Jesus makes it plain that we are to depend on God each day”¦for our daily needs to be met.
Many people need bread to satisfy their very real physical hunger. Many in America are well fed”¦do we thank God for our food before a meal?
All people need to have their spiritual needs met”¦through God”™s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Savior”¦has this spiritual need been met in your life? Once we have this primary need met, we will continue to need His word in our thoughts and our actions.
Everyone has the need to have their minds on the Source of life ““ God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ~ three, yet One God.
So many times we depend on people to supply our emotional needs ““ and this is important”¦however, how many times have we found that others do not meet those real needs in our lives? Where do we turn? Some people look for sexual (emotional) needs to be met outside of marriage. Others look for those deep emotional needs to be met in doing drugs or alcohol or eating or in various other ways. What does Jesus say? “˜Give us this day our daily bread.”™ We are to pray for our needs to be met by God every day.
Each person has relationship (social) needs for which we need to depend upon God to guide us in this crucial area of our lives.
We are to depend upon God, every day, to supply our needs.
Our dependence is to be on our heavenly Father to meet all our needs.
God”™s timing and His way will not look like how we would choose to have our needs met. Our hope is to be in God and in His strength in our lives. Pray and look for God to be at work for you.
“˜Give us this day our daily bread.”™
What is your prayer?