MY FAITH JOURNEY
By Kevin R. Schultz
Prayer Or The Power Of
11-23-2023
Two small notes. When I post these blogs you will see two dates and here is why.
The first date is when I start the blog and the second one is when I actually publish it.
You see when I start these blogs I research them first and I go by two rules and they are…
1. Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
2. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Now what does this mean? It means I always start with God, meaning that I start with prayer asking God to guide me, grant me the wisdom to understand the knowledge He has given us in His word (the bible). It means that I go through each verse of scripture to get to know it. This even before I start writing.
Matthew 6:5-8
5 “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.
Here we are being told not to pray in a manner that draws attention to ourselves, but to keep our personal prayers private. Those who pray to bring attention to themselves will get their full reward here on earth.
Where as we will get our reward stored in heaven.
Mark 11:25; Luke 18:10-14; Matthew 23:5
Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of American English
PHYLAC’TERY, n. [Gr. to defend or guard.]
1. In a general sense, any charm, spell or amulet worn as a preservative from danger or disease.
2. Among the Jews, a slip of parchment on which was written some text of Scripture, particularly of the decalogue, worn by devout persons on the forehead, breast or neck as a mark of their religion.
3. Among the primitive christians, a case in which they inclosed the relics of the dead.
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.
Here we are given instructions where we should be praying, in private. This is not say you cannot have more than one person praying, you can. But you still have to do it in private. Like a group of friends getting together, or at a bible study.
There is one rule you should have and that is what is said in prayer stays there and not spread about like gossip.
If we do this God’s way all of our rewards will be stored in heaven, waiting for us when we get there.
2 Kings 4:33; Daniel 6:10; Matthew 6:4, 6:18; Luke 20:47
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
We are told to keep our prayers short and to the point, not to ramble on like the Pagans (Gentiles).
God will hear our prayers as long as they in His will.
Ecclesiates 5:2; 1Kings 18:26-29; Matthew 6:32; Mark 12:40
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Again we should not be praying like the Gentiles. If we pray long prayers God might not answer us. Since God already knows what we need we don’t need to be long worded in our prayers.
Matthew 6:32; Isaiah 65:24; Luke 12:30; Romans 8:26-27;Deuteronomy 2:7; Psalms 38:9, 69:17-19
The Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
We are told by God, that we should pray to God only, no one else. Only God can answer prayers. Not men or the dead saints.
God hears our prayers, He does not need help or hearing aides. As long as what we are praying for is in His will and not against it, He will answer it in His time not ours.
Luke 1:49; Malachi 2:10; 1 Peter 1:17; 2 Samuel 7:26; Isaiah 29:23; Matthew 23:9; Luke 11:1; John 16:24
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
We should always ask for the will of God in whatever we are praying for. God will always give us the correct responsee, the guidance from God’s will and us His children following His will can only lead to good things happening for us.
David Guzik says it this way in his commentaries.
We must remember that the purpose of prayer is not persuade a reluctant God to do our bidding.
The purpose of prayer is to align our will with His and in partnership with Him, to ask Him to accomplish His will on earth.
Matthew 26:39; Psalms 135:6; Matthew 12:50, 26:42; Luke 22:42; Acts 21:14
11 Give us today our daily bread.
Here we are asking God to feed us. In some cases we ask for food because we need it. It also covers spiritual food (God’s Word).
Proverbs 30:8; Job 23:12; Isaiah 33:16; Ruth 1:6; Luke 11:3, 4:3-4; Deutetronomy 8:3
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
God has already forgiven us with the death of Jesus on the cross, who has washed us clean with His blood. So if God is willing to give up His only begotten Son for us I am more than willing to forgive those who have sinned against me.
Matthew 18:21-35; Exodus 34:7; Psalm 32:1; Matthew 9:2, 26:28; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7-9; Matthew 6:14-15
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’
God does not lead us into temptation. We do a good enough job of leading ourselves into temptation, we don’t need any help with it.
James 1:13; Matthew 5:33-37; John 17:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 John 5:18
We almost always are the ones getting ourselves into trouble. But God is always there for us. He promises us that there will never be more than we can handle and that He will guide us through it.
Matthew 26:41; 2 Peter 2:9; Revelation 3:10; 1 Corinthians 10:13
Now why go through the Lord’s Prayer? To show the importance of prayer and the proper way to do it.
We should never do it to make ourselves look good.
While the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer onto itself, it is also instructios on how to pray properly.
- We are to pray to God only.
- We are to seek God’s will in whatever we are praying for.
- The daily bread mention here is refering to spiritual food (God’s Word)
- To forgive those who have sinned against us. For if we cannot find it in our hearts to forgive someone why would God want to forgive us?
- Know that God will deliver us from whatever problems we get involved in.
Now look up these scriptures,read them and see what they tell you.
Ephesians 6:18-20; Jude 1:20; Matthew 5:16
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