We Ought Always to Pray

“If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  II Chronicles 7:14

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gave us the model to follow when we pray.  Some call this the Lord’s Prayer, but it is really the people’s prayer, a pattern for us to follow, but God can hear us no matter in what order we pray.  Jesus instructed us to go into a quiet, secluded place and pray to the Father in secret, and God would see us and reward us openly.  The need for solitude is so that we can avoid distractions and concentrate on our conversation with our heavenly Father.  Even if we are in a public setting and called on to pray, we are not to make a big show of it, trying to call attention to our ability to sound pious in order to impress others.  He said that the short lived attention that a show off who prays like that will be the only reward that he or she will receive.

Jesus also said not to use meaningless repetitions.  That used to bother me because I have a habit of praying much the same prayer every morning, but the people and the things for which I pray are the sincere desires of my heart.  Sometimes, though, when situations arise, I pray a spontaneous prayer, you know, sort of a “help me Lord” petition.  I think a meaningless repetition could be a prayer that was memorized and just said but not really heartfelt.  I remember in elementary school (when we used to be allowed to pray publicly), we would say before lunch, “God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him, for our food. By His hands, must we be fed, Give us Lord our daily bread.”  It was just something that, for many of the kids, we repeated each school day with little thought to Whom we were speaking and for what we were asking.  But, I had rather be able to pray like that in schools than no prayer at all.  God desires to hear our heart even though He already knows what is on our heart.  He just wants us to verbalize it.  Similarly, we know that our loved ones love us, but we like to hear it now and then.

In following Jesus’ model for prayer, He begins with a recognition of the sovereignty, authority, and the holiness of God, the Father.  That should begin every prayer.  Secondly, He asks God to meet our daily needs, and then asks forgiveness of our sins.  He then prays that God will help us not to give in to temptation and to keep the evil one away from us.  He ends the prayer again recognizing that everything belongs to God (Thine is the kingdom), and that God is all powerful and all glory belongs to Him forever.  Amen (so be it).  Some folks think they have to pray long, drawn out prayers, but sometimes a quick, short prayer is sufficient.  God desires that we be specific when we pray.  We should always thank God for hearing our prayers, and, if we really understand that God always has our best interest at heart, we should also pray like Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane, “not My will, but Thine be done.”  And one other thing:  prayer is not to change God’s mind, it is to change us and lead us more into the will of God.

Thursday, May 7, is the National Day of Prayer, a day set aside for everyone who will to pray for our nation, for our leaders, and for the direction of our country, which, right now, is pretty much off the track.  It has been off the track for a long time, and there have been several train wrecks from time to time.  We are facing an invisible enemy at this time, one of which the casualties are increasing daily, not only in the deaths and the misery of thousands, but also taking an economic toll the likes of which none of us have ever experienced.  It’s difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel because of all the unknown factors related to this COVID-19 pandemic  We all desperately want this battle to end so that we can get back to some sort of normal.  We have been praying and will pray on this National Day of Prayer that God will see fit to give us some relief from this scourge, but we need to realize that, like ancient Israel, we need to repent of our sins if we want the Lord to answer our prayers.

I believe that there is not a person alive who doesn’t need to repent of sin.  However, the verse from II Chronicles stated above singles out the people of God as the ones who need to lead the nation in repentance.  Believers are called to a higher standard because we belong to Christ and are His representatives on earth, thus it behooves us to set the example for the unbelieving world to repent, be forgiven, and receive the healing that we so desperately need.  I Peter 4:17 tells us that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”  Now, that’s a sobering statement.  On this day of prayer, let’s all find a quiet place of solitude, get down on our knees if we are physically able, recognize the sovereignty and holiness of Almighty God, repent of our sins, pray for healing for our nation, and then thank God that He hears us.