No 18

(Prayer)

As true born-again Christians, the Bible is the light on our path, the staff of our sanctification and our weapon against any and all of Satan’s evil ploys. However, the more we read the Bible, the more aware we become to sin in our lives because the Bible is also God’s treasury of His truth. Jesus said “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17). Prayer is the Christian’s way of communicating with the Creator and when we realize our sinfulness in the face of a holy and just God, confession is our only alternative. Prayer ought to be grounded in God’s Word because there and only there can we find God’s will for our lives. There are several types of prayer and we do well to have a good mixture of all the components of prayer that the Lord has made available through His Word:

U Prayers of worship and praise to our gracious heavenly Father are the ones He cherishes the most “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, 24)

U Then come the prayers of thanksgiving : “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Phil 4:6)

U Next are prayers of confession “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

U Lastly, come prayers of supplication and/or intercession “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16b)

We found out about how to pray through the Bible by the words of Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. This is the first of several studies on prayer and worship.