A Pattern For Powerful Prayer

Jesus' disciples come to him and ask him to teach them to pray. Matthew 6 records Jesus' response:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

**Some manuscripts include :

for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Jesus makes it clear that prayer is not a performance, nor is it about saying the right carefully crafted words over and over to be sure you get what you want.

A Pattern for a powerful prayer life:

1. A desire for Fellowship with your very best friend.

Our Father in heaven

Prayer is not an obligation.

Not something to get out of the way first thing in the morning or so that you can eat.

Prayer is about being able to spend time with one who created you.

The one who loves knows you like no other and yet still loves you fully.

(Think of a time you were reunited with a best friend, you both talked and talked, couldn’t talk or type fast

enough.)

In August of 2016, my younger sister lost her battle with cancer. The last several years we lived a thousand

miles away from each other and did not talk nearly as much as I am sure either of us would have liked to. A

day does not go by that I don't wish I could have one more conversation with her. Yet I know that won't be

possible until one day when we are reunited in heaven. It is so very easy to take for granted the time given to

us to share moments with our loved ones while we still have them with us and have the opportunity to talk.

It sadly too often is not until we no longer have them with us and cannot have 'one more conversation' that we

realize how precious that time is. Every day we are given the precious gift of talking to our best friend, our

Lord. Let us never take it for granted.

2. An obedient spirit ready to listen to God.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Too often we go to God with our plan, our strategy.

In our mind we have this picture- (Apollo 13 control room.)

We see ourselves as flight control and give God the plan and ask Him to make it happen.

Prayer is not just about talking to God but listening to him.

We may never hear his audible voice speaking to us, but most certainly we can hear Him speak through His

Holy Spirit living in us. Despite what one misguided host of "The View" feels, listening for God's voice in our

lives is not a mental illness. . She would be wise to repent and take Jesus as her Lord, for she will most

certainly one day hear the voice of Christ very clearly, only then it will be a voice of judgment.

3. A life that is centered and dependent on the Lord.

Give us this day our daily bread

We spend so much time getting things.

We have garages that are full, storage facilities that are even more full.

We collect, we hang on to, we hoard.

We truly do not know what it is to need.

But there are those in our community who do…every day.

While we enjoy the blessings of God, let us never lose our complete dependence on Him.

Focus on the spiritual, not the material.

4. A heart that seeks the forgiveness of your heavenly Father.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Forgiven our debtors is past tense. It means that we do that before we expect or ask to forgive us.

IF WE ARE UNWILLING TO FORGIVE OTHERS WE CUT OFF GOD’S FORGIVENESS TO OUR OWN LIVES.