Your Spiritual Journey
The Lord's Prayer
The New Testament is filled with incredible prayers. There’s Jesus' example of prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 often known as “the Lord’s Prayer.” Paul’s powerful prayer to the Ephesians in which he asks for their strengthening (Eph. 3:14-21). Even Paul’s short prayer that the Philippians may grow in love and wisdom is inspiring (Phil. 1:9-11). With all these early church examples recorded for us in scripture I think it’s important we take the time to learn how to pray from these first Christians. What is it that they spent their time talking to God about? What did they find important? What did they want to receive from God? While I hope you take the time to look over those prayers yourself, here are a couple spoilers:
- They regularly prayed that God would be glorified. Their faith in God made his reputation their biggest concern.
- They prayed for growth. Not wanting to slip into old ways, they set their desire to grow into the likeness of Christ at the forefront of their thoughts.
- They offered thanksgiving to God. Whether it was for His great deeds or gratitude for their fellow Christians, they regularly gave thanks.
- They prayed for the defeat of evil. Early Christians were not ok settling for the evil in their world. They constantly took their unease with Satan up with God.
- They prayed for fruitfulness. When they came before God they asked that their works for His kingdom be fruitful.
I don’t know about you, but I may need to rearrange the priorities of my prayer life after consulting with Jesus, Paul, John, and others. Of course, we can and should bring all things to God. Yet, I want the prayers of my heart to match those of those faithful leaders.
Blessings,
Houston
