March 18, 2016
This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. . . And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:9-13
It is best to conclude our look at prayer by viewing some of those which have been recorded in the Bible. The Lord’s Prayer is obviously the best known. One recited by Solomon in the Old Testament covers a wide range of thoughts.
He is leading his people in prayer and centers on the theme that God is concerned with us no matter what situation we are faced with and that with confidence, He wants us to turn to Him in prayer because of His love for us. In First Chronicles, chapter 6, Solomon requests the Lord to hear his prayer for: “(1) crime (verses 22 and 23); (2) enemy attacks (24 and 25); (3) drought (26 and 27); (4) famine (28-31); (5) the influx of foreigners (32 and 33); (6) war (34 and 35) and (7) sin (36 to 39).”
Biblical prayer is personal. We begin the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father in heaven.” This illustrates we are praying to a personal and loving God, not one who is simply holy. “Your will be done” does not lead us to fate but praying that “God’s perfect purpose will be accomplished in this world and the next.” When we pray about giving our daily bread, we become aware if not already the Lord is our provider. We cannot do this on our own thus it is important to know of our trust daily in the One who provides us with what we need. As His people, we need the Lord’s guidance. Several days back, we looked at temptation where God allows us to be tested in these situations. Unfortunately, we all struggle in this area. However, we are relieved to know God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear as stated in 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Prayer: Make us thankful, o Lord, for prayer and may we use it in a profitable sense blessing the Lord, ourselves and others today and every day. Amen
Jeff Spang