Becoming More Effective in PrayerSample

REVISITING WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT PRAYER

Today, we will revisit what our Lord Jesus Christ said concerning the subject of prayer. The Bible is the best guidebook on the subject of prayer. You don't pray according to your opinion or tradition; if you will get answers to your prayers, you need to learn what Jesus has said especially because He had all His prayers answered by the Father.

The disciples never asked Jesus to teach them how to preach but they asked Him to teach them how to pray. This is because they observed and understood that the power manifesting in the life of Jesus was the outflow of a very effective, powerful, productive prayer life. Many people pray but there's not much in their prayer life to write home about; God wants you to pray and have results.

In answering the disciples’ request, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples”, our Lord Jesus Christ gave them what has become known in the Church today as the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is not a prayer to recite; instead, it is a pattern and a principle of prayer but many people have turned it into a prayer itself which they recite. Many believers recite the ‘Lord’s prayer’ but still end up defeated because the ‘Lord’s prayer’ was not meant to be recited. Jesus told them to pray “In this manner…” and He didn't say, “This is the formula to use…”

The ‘Lord’s prayer’ is in reality a set of principles for a powerful and effective prayer. The principles of prayer in this passage include the truth that true prayer is based on relationship, must include worship, the believer praying must embrace God’s way of doing right and the priority for the will of God in whatever we ask as we live a life of forgiveness daily.

PRAYER: Lord, I see it clearly now; every instruction from the ‘Lord’s prayer’ will be my watchword in prayers henceforth. So help me God in Jesus’ name. Amen!