Prayer
– Lord, I trust You with my prayer requests knowing that You are all powerful
and can answer miraculously. Wonderful! Thank You.
Are
any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy?
You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of
the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name
of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the
Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be
forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has
great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:13-16 (Underlined for
emphasis.)
Prayer can begin with little ones.
Be an example for them...pray continually.
Meditate.
Pray.
What do
you say in your prayers?
How should we pray? James is giving
us some suggestions for when to pray: suffering hardships, happy, sick, for yourself
or others, and confession of sins. Jesus prayed frequently to His Father—and gave
us an example of “how” to pray when He gave His Sermon on the Mount to His followers
and as recorded in Luke 11:2-4 in response to His disciples’ request to teach
them to pray.
When you pray, don't babble on and
on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered
merely by repeating their words again and again. Don't be like them, for your
Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Pray like this: Our
Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May
your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And
don't let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one. If you forgive those who sin against
you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive
others, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:7-15
You may
know or have memorized this Lord’s Prayer in the King James Version, but it
still conveys the same meaning in the New Living Translation. So, how are we to
pray? Pray to the Father, honoring Him; and relying on Him to provide food—physically
and spiritually and for forgiveness on a daily basis. We can count on God to
give us strength to face temptation and to keep us safe from evil forces. Our
God is an awesome God. It is our privilege and honor to pray to our God—that is
merely our form of communicating with God. Here are a few verses on prayer for
additional guidance and encouragement:
Listen to my cry for help, my King
and my God, for I pray to no one but you. Psalm 5:2
O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen
on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you
who pray to the LORD.
Isaiah 62:6
One day soon afterward Jesus went
up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. Luke 6:12
God knows how often I pray for you.
Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with
all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. Romans 1:9
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our
weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the
Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26
I urge you, first of all, to pray
for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give
thanks for them. 1
Timothy 2:1
You can pray for anything, and if
you have faith, you will receive it. Matthew
21:22
Never stop praying. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Who do
you pray to? How? When? Where? For What or Whom? The answer is Pray constantly to our one and
only God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—night and day, for ourselves and others—asking
God for His help. We just need to have faith and trust in the Lord God that His
will be done as Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer.
How
do you pray? Do you choose to pray every day…all day?
Verse
of Salvation ~ But I keep praying to you, LORD, hoping this time you will show
me favor. In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure
salvation. Psalm
69:13
© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
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