Many prayers are said but not all of us, including myself, know how they should be said. However, as if by nature, my prayers were not that bad and I did not fare as badly as some of my friends. Excuse me for boasting which is not allowed in front of God.
I learnt, the first thing that our prayers must have is the acknowlegement of God. That is why, the Lord's Prayer which is a very good example, begins with ' Our Father in Heaven....'. You may proclaim Him as Lord, Jesus our Saviour, Holy Father, Holy God, to name a few.
Then, you need to continue to give Him honour and praise with other acknowledgements like,'Holy be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...' Then you will need to tell Him that you remember His will for you, as it will please Him. That is how we want to be when we come into prayer in His presence: pleasing, and in full obedience and submission
The next point is that we need to recognise that we are not perfect and we need His grace to forgive us, as evident in the following verses ' Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, do not bring us to a test but deliver us from evil . Amen.' Then, it also says that we need to forgive, but this is one thing we always forget. We may say the prayer every day but it has become too mechanical for us to be aware of what we are saying. We are still revengeful.
When we study the Lord's prayer and its true meaning, we would realise if we really mean what we prayed, we would be better individuals. Unfortunately, many of us are self-centred even in our prayers. We pray selfishly, for example ,praying for more wealth, not remembering those who are poor and suffering. What do you think God will feel when He listens to such prayers? He will definitely be very furious but I do hear some people praying like that. It is always 'I' or 'my', never about others. When our prayers are not answered, we get angry, disappointed and soon we begin to lose our faith. God does not have to concede to what we asked for. We don't tell God what to do. We just lay our requests and problems at His feet. He will answer our prayers in His own way, usually not conceivable to those who are not true and faithful Christians. Perhaps, you may ask, 'How do you know?' 'Are you God?' or 'Are you a Messenger of God?'. Well, I would say, I can equate the situation to how a child make requests to his/her father. Wouldn't it be the same?
The child approaches the father. 'Hello, daddy. How's your day, daddy? I love you , daddy. You are the best daddy in the whole wide world. Daddy, I am sorry about yesterday. I know I have been rude. I promise I won't do it again. BUT daddy, I really need this and that. Will you help me? Okay, I can wait. Okay, I will do whatever you like me to do as long as you help me, Daddy.'
See the similarity? There's acknowledgement of the higher authority. There's respect, honour, and love as the child proclaimed his father's name. There's the same asking for forgiveness and admission of wrongdoing. The promise of good behaviour analogous to 'the forgiving of those who sinned to us'. The character of God is enacted in the character of our earthly father. Someone whom we must give reverence to. God has ordained the duty to our fathers, though some of them are grossly imperfect but there must a divine reason for whatever happens. God is using their lives and our lives for His divine purposes.
I learnt, the first thing that our prayers must have is the acknowlegement of God. That is why, the Lord's Prayer which is a very good example, begins with ' Our Father in Heaven....'. You may proclaim Him as Lord, Jesus our Saviour, Holy Father, Holy God, to name a few.
Then, you need to continue to give Him honour and praise with other acknowledgements like,'Holy be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...' Then you will need to tell Him that you remember His will for you, as it will please Him. That is how we want to be when we come into prayer in His presence: pleasing, and in full obedience and submission
The next point is that we need to recognise that we are not perfect and we need His grace to forgive us, as evident in the following verses ' Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, do not bring us to a test but deliver us from evil . Amen.' Then, it also says that we need to forgive, but this is one thing we always forget. We may say the prayer every day but it has become too mechanical for us to be aware of what we are saying. We are still revengeful.
When we study the Lord's prayer and its true meaning, we would realise if we really mean what we prayed, we would be better individuals. Unfortunately, many of us are self-centred even in our prayers. We pray selfishly, for example ,praying for more wealth, not remembering those who are poor and suffering. What do you think God will feel when He listens to such prayers? He will definitely be very furious but I do hear some people praying like that. It is always 'I' or 'my', never about others. When our prayers are not answered, we get angry, disappointed and soon we begin to lose our faith. God does not have to concede to what we asked for. We don't tell God what to do. We just lay our requests and problems at His feet. He will answer our prayers in His own way, usually not conceivable to those who are not true and faithful Christians. Perhaps, you may ask, 'How do you know?' 'Are you God?' or 'Are you a Messenger of God?'. Well, I would say, I can equate the situation to how a child make requests to his/her father. Wouldn't it be the same?
The child approaches the father. 'Hello, daddy. How's your day, daddy? I love you , daddy. You are the best daddy in the whole wide world. Daddy, I am sorry about yesterday. I know I have been rude. I promise I won't do it again. BUT daddy, I really need this and that. Will you help me? Okay, I can wait. Okay, I will do whatever you like me to do as long as you help me, Daddy.'
See the similarity? There's acknowledgement of the higher authority. There's respect, honour, and love as the child proclaimed his father's name. There's the same asking for forgiveness and admission of wrongdoing. The promise of good behaviour analogous to 'the forgiving of those who sinned to us'. The character of God is enacted in the character of our earthly father. Someone whom we must give reverence to. God has ordained the duty to our fathers, though some of them are grossly imperfect but there must a divine reason for whatever happens. God is using their lives and our lives for His divine purposes.
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