The Prayer of Jesus

     The best examples of prayer that we can find in the Bible, are given to us by Jesus Himself. He often went out alone to pray and would pray all night. He prayed before healing someone, feeding the five thousand, before calling Lazarus out of the grave, and knelling in anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew Chapter 6 He gives us the model prayer so that we don’t have to guess how He wants us to pray, but we have a formula to use as a guide. Before giving us His model, He gives some other instructions: Don’t be like the hypocrites. Don’t stand and pray where people will see you. Go into your room and pray in secret. Don’t use vain repetitions.

   “In this manner, therefore 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. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9-13)

Let this simple model become your model too! Take time out right now and pray along these lines the things that God has put on your heart. Use simple words, your words, not fancy, spiritually sounding words, but simply the cry of your heart to His heart.

Pray that:

1.     God will fill you with a desire to pray more and more everyday.

2.     God will be glorified in your life and your faithfulness to seek His guidance in all that you do or say.

3.     Other members of our church will become more and more in love with the Savior and desire to spend time with Him in prayer. 

God's Faithfulness

      Rees Howells was a precious man of God and prayer. He was born in Wales in 1879 and was saved in the United States where he had gone to make his fortune. He returned to Wales just in time for the Welsh revival, which began in 1904. He was used by God to pray and bring many to salvation as he worked by day in a coal mine and walked two miles, one way, to attend gospel meetings every night for several years. He learned to rely upon God to meet all his needs and to always give what he had for someone in need and worry about his needs later.

    In 1910 he was married and shortly after that he and his wife felt a call to the mission field in South Africa. As the day approached they were short the money to make the trip to London where the mission organization would outfit them and put them on a boat for South Africa. They had prayed for God to provide the necessary funds but they only had enough to get them to the next station on the route! They trusted that funds would come through the mail, as it had on many occasions previously, but it did not. Then they thought someone saying good-bye to them would hand them enough money for the tickets, but no one did. So they said goodbye to family and friends and then, with everyone still there singing songs and waiting to see them get on the train, they got in line to buy the tickets.

    There were twelve people in front of them. As they slowly moved forward toward the ticket booth they still did not know how they were to purchase their tickets. When there were only 2 people in front of them, a man in the crowd said he had to leave and open his shop. He placed 30 shillings in their hands and bid them farewell. That gave them enough to buy their tickets! As soon as they had bought the tickets several other people gave them money also but Mr. Howells said: “The Lord held them back until we had been tested. We were singing all the way to London.” (Rees Howells Intercessor, Norman Grubb)

Who are you really trusting to take care of you today? Who is it that you think will provide your daily bread and your earthly needs? “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Pray:

1.     That those around us, our family, neighbors, coworkers, and friends will see that we serve a prayer-answering God who meets all our needs.

2.     That parents will take time today and all this week to spend time in prayer together as a family.

3.     That everyone in your church will have tender hearts toward the things of God and to walk closely with Him.

Jehoshaphat's prayer

    In the 20^th chapter of 2 Chronicles we read the story of King Jehosaphat of Judah and what he did when his kingdom was invaded by the armies of Ammon and Moab.  A messenger arrived and told him that a great multitude was coming against them and they were already at En Gedi near the Dead Sea. King “Jehosaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” (2 Chron. 20:3)

   He stood before the assembly of the people in the temple and said: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?” O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” (2 Chronicles 20:6,7,12)

    As all the people of Judah stood before the Lord with their king, they had with them their wives and their children. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the priests and he gave the answer of the Lord to Jehosaphat and the people. “Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (2 Chron. 20:15b)

    Then God instructed them that they would not have to fight this great army. They would only need to go out and stand still and watch their salvation by the Lord. So the next day the army of Judah marched forth and as they sang praises to their God, God set ambushes against the armies of Moab and Ammon and they killed themselves! When the army of Judah arrived on the scene there was nothing but dead bodies in the Valley of Berachah. They returned to Jerusalem, everyone of them, with joy and singing with stringed instruments because the Lord had triumphed over their enemies.  (Read the entire story in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20)

What great challenges are awaiting you in the coming weeks and months? Who is it you are relying on to defeat your enemies and to carry you through the day of battle? Put your trust in the One who has already won the victory on Calvary and who will be your shield and protector! (“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (1 Pet. 5:7)

Pray that:

1.     You will cast all your cares upon Jesus because He is the one who will help you weather the storm or storms that are coming.

2.     You will have the courage and the desire to fast for one day or for one meal this week so that you can concentrate on your prayer to God.

3.     Husbands and wives will pray together this week with one accord for their marriage to be strengthened and that they may be one in Spirit and will.

4.     That the children see that their parents are sincerely seeking God to direct their families and their individual lives.

5.     Pray that the Lord will make it clear that the enemy will be defeated because He is the one who will fight for you.

Pray with faith

    

 "The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16b

     George Mueller was an awesome man of God. Born in Germany in 1805, God called him to help the poor children of Bristol, England. He started out as a pastor of a small congregation where he received no salary, just the voluntary gifts of his constituents to supply his needs. After a few years God lead him to establish a home for orphans. He firmly believed that he would never ask anyone to help supply the needs for the home. He took his requests directly to God and God always met those needs through those that God chose to send funds or food to support the orphanage which began with one house and grew to one hundred and seventeen more over the years. He believed that “God’s faithfulness to him would encourage other believers to develop faith like his own—the faith without which it is impossible to please God…the faith that moves mountains of obstacles out of our path; the faith that takes hold of God’s strength and is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” (Autobiography of George Mueller, pp 5-9)

   In 1877 Mr. Muller was traveling in the U.S. and Canada and had booked passage on a ship to take him to Quebec. It was a trip of several days and at some point in the voyage they were unable to proceed because of heavy fog. It was a cool August day and the ship had not moved for 24 hours. He knew that if they didn’t get going soon, he would not make his engagement on time. He approached the bridge to speak to the captain. When he entered the bridge he addressed the captain. “Captain, I have come to tell you that you must be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.” The captain replied that that would be impossible. Mr. Mueller then said, “I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down to the chart room and pray.” The captain thought he had lost his mind. “Do you know how thick the fog is?” he responded. No George replied, “My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.”

   George simply knelt down and prayed for God to lift the fog. Before the captain could open his mouth Mr. Mueller told him not to even attempt to pray because he obviously did not believe that God would answer. And since George did believe there was no need for him to pray. The captain’s eyes widened, then Mr. Mueller said, “I have known the Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Captain get up and open the door and you will find the fog gone.” The captain arose and opened the door to see that nothing remained of the fog. Captain Dutton told and retold that story to anyone who would listen for many years to come. (Prayers That Changed History by Tricia Goyer, pp 151-152.)

   What about you and I? Do we have the faith to go to our Lord first for every need or request for another? How about trying it today. What are your needs or the needs of your immediate family? Take them to the Lord today.

Pray for:

1.The needs of your immediate family and friends. Especially those who need to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

2. The faith to bring all your needs and wants to Jesus first. To trust Him to provide for you, and give you guidance, and not to trust your own knowledge or intellect.

3. God to give you the desire to be used by Him to pray for the needs of those in physical, financial, or emotional crisis.

4. God to guide your every decision, not just the big ones and to trust Him with all you wishes and dreams.

5. God will do a work that will last in your life and the life of His church, both your local church and the church universal.

       

Daniel's prayer

  Almost everyone knows the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. He had been thrown in there because he refused to follow the Kings decree to pray to no one but the king for 30 days. He was a prayer warrior who spent time with his God three times a day and was not going to obey an earthly king forbidding him to pray to the Creator of the universe (Daniel chapter 6). Perhaps you may have wondered how Daniel prayed during these prayer sessions. Check out chapter 9 of his book and see! Daniel’s prayer for his people in exile in Babylon can be found in chapter 9 of the book of Daniel and is a great example of how we can pray to our Father and Lord.

    “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, and said, ‘O lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. O Lord righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. (Daniel 9:3-5,7)

     “Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:17,19)

    O that we would pray like that! With humility and passion Daniel cries out to the Lord and asks for forgiveness, not only for himself, but for his people. We need to cry out for our people too! We need to ask forgiveness for our nation, our leaders, and our church as we ask forgiveness for ourselves also. (Read all of chapter 9 of the book of Daniel.)

Pray that:

1.God will forgive our nation and our leaders for leading us down a path of disobedience and rebellion against His laws and precepts.

2. God will forgive us for not being obedient to His words and commandments.

3. We are more faithful in praying for revival in our own hearts and the hearts of the members of our church.

4. The Lord will let revival begin in me.