Power and the root of prayers come from faith

Prayer is the means of communication with the higher being called God. Many in response to their quest to have fellowship with their Creator speak to Him in prayers. All the believing nations who believe in a Creator agree in this one thing that there needs to be communion with that Creator through utterances of words spoken to Him in prayers. The root and the enabling power of all these communications is faith. Prayer being a means of dialogue with God needs to be empowered by a renewed faith, which is the well watered abiding means of a spiritually healthy existance. David in Psalm 1 says “ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season.  This illustration of faith based on abiding by the waters speaks of a continual strength available to those who would remain in an abiding relationship with God through faith. Faith renewed on daily basis is the underground waters that keep the tree of our lives continually alive to God for all longevity and fruit bearing. Luke chapter 11 verse 1 the says it in this way.

“Now it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him. Lord teaches us to pray as John also taught his disciples.”

So he said to them “When you pray say:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and do not lead us into

Temptation, but deliver us from evil one.

In this way He taught His own disciples how to daily pray and in this He never meant to make this a form of habitual chanting. Uttering words, many times without understanding them. In it Jesus opened to them a whole new and fascinating and awesome heavenly mystery of their new found identity with God, and the visible and invisible world around them. In this awe inspiring revelation Jesus affirmed their new identity as the sons of the Kingdom and in this teaching He demonstrated the power they now had as the sons of God in His New Covenant through the shed blood of His Son.  Now let us see what the Lord’s Prayer really means to us. The Lord’s prayer is a prayer outline with seven major topics, each representing a basic human need; This came about  because of the disciple who was asking Him to teach them how to pray who reminded the Lord of John the Baptist’s teachings to his disciples on the importance of the teachings on prayers.

1.) The Paternal need “Our Father” When we pray all needs are met by the benevolence of a loving Father. This basic, but very important truth of our adoption as sons is revealed in this very first part of the Lord’s pattern for all prayers. Here Jesus introduced our common privilege in calling His Father also our Father. A very basic human void filled by the nature of our conversion and justification by faith in Christ’s atoning death and the power of His resurrection. This brings men’s heart to a secure sense of belonging to a Higher being that has eternal paternal care for us. It also speaks to us in regards to family of believers and that the same God is the Father of us all. 2.)  “Hallowed be your name” This speaks of our human need to daily enter into His presence through praise, to call Him Father and in doing so we bring Him the glory He only deserves on daily basis and in that presence and acknowledgment of His

Holiness on daily basis we too are reminded the need for us to stand in His sanctifying work of holiness in us. Yes in this we acknowledge our need to remain on that highway of holiness in refinement of all impurities in us through the sin nature we have inherited from our earthly forefather Adam. A basic daily reminder for the necessity of walking in holiness like the One who is our Father. This also could mean we need to cry out to Him for sending His fires of cleansing in our lives, so His name would be hallowed in us in daily growing into His image and resemblance.

3.) “Your Kingdom Come” Here once again we see the Lord Jesus teaching us that His Kingdom priorities need to take precedence over our own earthly addenda’s in life. A common error that visits all of us in continuing living in this body. A reality of Kingdom existance needed in our lives and in the lives of those around us. The reality of

Living with the principals of this heavenly rule, which would not only transform us from within, but that would affect the lives we touch on daily basis. The higher demand of rightousness which the Kingdom of heaven is based upon needs to be transforming our daily lives and through it the lives of those with whom we live. The Church life and the basic principles of the life we are involved in.  4.)“ Give us daily” Here again Jesus by this part of His modeled prayer outline taught us the imperative of being daily depended upon Him for all our needs, even to the very basic and simple need of our daily bread. Some of us sometimes spiritualize these verses, but in its core they are speaking of the very basic elements of our life this side of heaven. Here Jesus was teaching His own disciples that life without a complete reliance on Him is the sign of independence from Him.  Exactly what our earthly forefather Adam chooses to do. By this Jesus our Lord was laying a basic foundation of all true prayers.

In this portion of the Lord’s prayer He also taught us that He is Jehovah Jireh the supplier of  all of our needs.

 5.) “And forgive us our debts or our sins”. Here again through this portion of His teaching about prayers our Lord Jesus remind us that while living in this body of sin and in the midst of fallen generation we would be facing offenses of many kinds due to the presence of sin in this world. He also reminded us that we too would sin at times and we need to fully rely on Him for forgiveness both for our sins and others. This also was teaching His disciples then and us now that we need to daily walk in constant love and forgiveness while here in the body. In this the Lord also taught all of us that in constant attitude of forgiveness we would experience His presence. Therefore in developing a passion for His presence we need to develop a passion for forgiveness.

6.) “Do not Lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One” Here also Jesus teaches us that a very true and basic human need after being born again would be to depend on Him daily for deliverance. This many believe means we need to daily pray for our own protection and deliverance and our loved ones and that it also confirms the reality of the existance of evil in our everyday life and most important of all the Evil One or Satan Himself. I trust this part of the Lord’s pattern of teaching us how to pray is a confirmation of Apostle Paul’s words in regards to the need for us to daily put on the full armor of God spoken in Ephesians chapter 6. Yes it seems that Jesus was saying to this disciples you need to verbally communicate to God on daily time of fellowship with Him and ask Him to put a hedge of protection over you and your family and loved ones at all times, because there is a real enemy out there whom only God can stop. Protection from evil is what we regularly need.

7.) “ For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory” Here at the last portion of His teaching our Lord and Savior is reminding us that we need to daily acknowledge His soverignly over all things. Without this acknowledgment we could be lost in thinking at times of trouble or even divine judgment that Satan or other ruling entities have more power than the one we have placed our trust in. This is a very basic need of all believers in Christ Jesus that the true Kingdom belongs to Him and that we too are a joint heirs and fellow partners with Him in that invisible kingdom.

This will give us the power to trust Him above all other voices and His report above all other reports, even when physical death is the pronouncement all around us. Having said this I mean for a believer in Jesus Christ even the news of someone’s death has a completely different message, than for an unbelieving person. This why when Job Praying to His God said it in this way. “Though You slay me I will still worship you” or when he said “ I know one thing that one day I shall see my Redeemer in this body face to face” why? Because he too knew the sovereignty of God and his Kingdom over all other Kingdoms and His power and glory to be higher than any other human power.

When men pray they are admitting in their prayers that they do not possess what it takes to change anything in their circumstances. Prayer is a heavenly posture of humility. Prayers are intended to say to God that we are people who are utterly dependent upon You and Your  daily mercies. The intended purpose of all prayers should be a sign of complete surrender in humility, but many times right after we finish praying to God after we finish our time in  His presence we run to fulfill all our petitions in our human strength and worthless zeal. We ask God to perform for us what we cannot do, and then we jump

To perform all we asked Him to do for us in our own human understanding through our own strength. That is why Jesus in the Lord’s prayer laid a foundational pattern of utter dependence on God for all things. He did not leave any room for the flesh, since the strength of our flesh is driven from the spirit of independence acquired in Eden through rebellion. Jesus in giving the Lord’s prayer laid an eternal spiritual model for His own followers to follow in which He abolished all that man had inherited from Adam by being an independent being. I myself am very guilty of this same error. How many times I pray for a long time in regards to something concerning my needs and few minutes later I take an action to resolve my petitions to God in my own way and in my own timing.  I cannot even imagine how frustrating this could be to God. Just like when people ask us for advice or help and then after spending so much time they go and do what they want to do.

It seems like our time in listening to them was nothing but a waste. Or in some cases when people are just looking for people who would listen to them, so that they would feel better, but in their hearts they have already made their decision to follow the dictates of their own rebellious hearts. They think their confession of the truth has set them free from performing according to its demand, when many times they need  to only be still and to wait on God instead of them acting as God. Jesus taught us the Lord’s pattern of prayers to first and foremost establish our need for complete surrender to Him for all of our existance in this pilgrimage called life. Jesus being in the form of the sinful flesh the author of the book of Hebrews says in His time in the body learned obedience with through the things He suffered leaving us an example. He petitioned for freedom from the cross, but finally He said .

“Nevertheless let it be your will and not mine”. A very true pattern of genuine heart of prayer