What is prayer? Prayer is to come before God and ask. It includes everything. The realm of prayer is not limited. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer is a channel to rely on God. So, we can't help but pray. Because not relying on God is the root of sin. Prayer is like breathing. It is right to pray without ceasing. Because we can live only by God's grace and mercy and the power of resurrection from now to eternity.
What do we pray for? Prayer is asking for God's will to be done. It is not asking for our will to be done. As prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah, Daniel asked the Lord God to forgive and release his people and send them back to the land of Judah when the Babylonian captivity reached to 70 years (Daniel 9:1-19). Because it was the promise and the will of God given through the prophet. Jesus told us to pray that the will of God his Father be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for the Father's will to be done. Jesus offered himself as a Passover sacrifice on the cross to fulfill God's will.
How do we pray? Prayer is submission to God. As the Son, Jesus was given all authority in heaven and on earth. But Jesus said the Son could do nothing by himself (John 5:19). Jesus heard what the Father in heaven was saying and obeyed what he saw him do. Jesus came to this earth incarnated and always abided in the Father and always depended on him through prayer. God the Father loved his Son and revealed everything to him. Jesus obeyed the will of God the Father who dwells in him and obeyed even to death on the cross. Prayer is submitting our bodies to the Lord in obedience to his will.
God already knows what we need even before we ask. Then, why should we pray? Prayer is not to inform God of our needs, but to remind us how much we need his help. We can do nothing without our heavenly Father's provision of grace, from breathing to all food, clothing and shelter. Crops, fruits and vegetables cannot be harvested without sunlight and rain. Our bodies cannot survive without sunlight and rain. God faithfully bestows abundant harvests by giving enough sunlight and rain at the right time. Jesus said to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It is a reminder that we need food every day and that our heavenly Father provides it.
This, then, 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 this day our daily bread, that we may forgive those who sin against us. Forgive us our sins as you have forgiven us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil one (Matthew 6:9-13).
March 8, 2023
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