Prayer

Prayer and Perseverance

The Lord himself gave us an outline for prayer, the “The Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread;

and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;

and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from evil.

1. Reverence and Worship

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…

God calls us to worship him alone and to have the deepest reverence for his name. This is what prayer is all about. We need to enter into a right relationship with our Father whose name must become or remain hallowed to us. Throughout the scriptures we are given stories and testimony of how God is honored by his people. We are even shown, for example, in the Psalms how we are to worship our Father.

Psalm 34 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the Lord; the lowly will hear me and be glad. Glorify the Lord with me, let us together extol his name. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

Psalm 134 says, “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who stand in the house of the Lord during the hours of night. Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary and bless the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, the maker of heaven and earth.”

Moses was called by God himself as his intimate friend and we find Moses after the freedom that God gives to his people from Pharoah singing a song to the Lord, “I will sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea. My strength and courage is the Lord and he has been my savior. He is my God, I praise him, the God of my father, I extol him. The Lord is a warrior, Lord is his name!” (Exodus 15: 1-3)

God calls us first of all into this relationship and he calls us to love him with all our heart, our strength, our mind and being (Matthew 22:37-40). That is the primary aim of our prayer life, to love God. Jesus said to the woman at the well that God himself would call a people who would worship him in spirit and truth. We must look beyond our situation today and first to honor the Lord as our savior, our messiah, our king, and our Father.

2. Conformity and conversion

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven

As we grow in our relationship with God, he will call us to a deeper conformity to his ways and a deeper conversion from the old person we were to the son or daughter that he wants us to be. He tells us, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!” Our calling is a higher calling to perfection in God through Jesus Christ.

St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” God will reveal to us, during prayer, areas in our lives that are not in a right relationship to him or out of line with his will. One of these ways is through the scriptures. We should use the scriptures in our prayer time and ask God to both teach us and to manifest those areas that don’t line up with his word.

Sometimes, God will give us a strong sense through his word showing us directly what is wrong in our lives.  James 1:12-18 says this, “Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him. No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire(lust). Then desire(lust) conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers: all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” I began to understand just how much God loved me even more by showing me this.

God also wants to speak to us in the quiet of our soul. We find this illustrated in the story of Elijah. He is at a cave and hears an earthquake go by, then fire, and then wind. In all of these he does not sense the Lord. It is only when he hears a tiny small voice that he hides his face and goes to stand at the entrance of the cave and then God speaks to him (1 Kings 11:11-12).

Listen!…..       Listen!…….

God does not leave us in the dark. He wants to let us know why we must be conformed to his word and why conversion is important. In Isaiah 59: 1-2 we hear, “Lo, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather, it is your crimes that separate you from your God. It is your sins that make him hide his face so that he will not hear you.” Sometimes we wonder if God is really hearing our prayer. We wonder if he really is with us, we wonder this, we wonder that, we wonder….. Get into God’s word and see what he wants to tell you. God has a plan for our lives, but we must be willing to seek him out.

He tells us in Jeremiah 29: 13 that if we seek him with all our heart, we will find him. Remember the story of blind Bartimaeus. He didn’t care what those around him thought. He cried out three times, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me”. Jesus came to him and said, “What do you want me to do for you? Lord, that I might see.” The understanding at that time was that a person who had been blind from birth was so because of his/her sin or the sin of his/her parents. Bartimaeus wanted to be free of this. What is it that you want to ask God to do for you? Have you ever really thought about this in light of eternal salvation and the sins and struggles in your life?

The Holy Spirit that we have been given, gives us the power to become God’s sons and daughters. We must learn to ask for his help in our lives and to listen with a heart that wants to be converted. God listens to those he loves and he answers their prayers.

3. Provision

Give us today our daily bread;

Jesus told Satan in the desert, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Prayer should lead us to ask our heavenly Father for our real needs. It is okay to ask God for the things we desire that are for our good. Last week, I prayed a lot about this talk and for some people that I have been praying for. God woke me up at 3A.M one morning and said, “Rise and pray!”. I rose and did as God commanded.

On Friday, I was to fly back to Dayton from some training in Orlando, FL. As I sat in the airport, I was just thinking about how nice it would be to fly first class. I hadn’t hardly even finished this thought, when all of sudden I heard on the loudspeaker, “Mr. Bruce Murphy, paging Mr. Bruce Murphy. Please come to the counter.” I had never in my life been paged in an airport and I wondered if something was wrong. When I went to the counter, the woman told me that I was to be seated in the first class section. They needed my ticket and gave me a first class ticket. She said, “This is okay isn’t it?”. I said, “Well, I guess so and she replied, “I guess so?.” She said, “Don’t you want to sit in first class.” I said, “Yes!”.

I was so shocked. I relate this to you, not that you ask God for things like this, but that you understand how God thinks. Jesus said, “Do not worry about what you are to wear or what you are to eat. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” (Matthew 6: 25-34). God knows our needs. He knows what we truly desire in our hearts.

We must also learn to thank God for what he does give to us. How often each day God provides for us and we don’t give him thanks. In 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-19, it says “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” God wants us to learn to be a thankful people.

Eucharist means thanksgiving. Jesus gives himself to us, his real body and his real blood. We can come to him and receive his real presence. In prayer, we can also come into his real presence and understand thankfulness. This is one area that I am very confident of.

Ever since the day that I surrendered my life to God, I have always sensed his presence in my prayer time. This has even been especially true after I receive the Eucharist. God spoke to me after receiving him one time and said, “In my presence for one moment, the reality of all hope for a thousand years is realized.” I have found that when Jesus draws me into his real presence in my prayer time, I am healed, forgiven, receive peace and joy and the profound realization of his love for me. In Psalm 16:11, it says, “You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.”

Listen!…..     Listen!…..

God knows what you need, do you? We must be careful of what we ask for. St. Paul said, “You do not receive, because you ask wrongly, with a view to squandering.” We need to understand the difference between needs and wants. We may want God to give us a flashy brand new car, he knows we need transportation to and from his church. We may want the latest fashion or nicest house, he knows we need clothing and shelter. He is a loving God and loves his children. When we pray we should be confident. Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7 Learn to find your treasure in him and in his kingdom.

4. Forgiveness and Humility

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors…

Jesus said, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:14-15). We are not perfected yet, but we are growing to reach perfection. We need to forgive others. When we are wronged, we need to ask God for the gift of forgiveness.

Jesus said we were to love God and then we were to love our neighbor. Love calls us not to brood over injury (1 Corinthian 13:5). Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother?” He thought there was a limit to how much forgiveness we should have. Jesus responded though by saying, “Seventy times seven times.” In other words, we should never stop forgiving. We must also pray for those who hurt us.

St. Paul said, “Bless those who persecute you, bless them and do not curse them.” (Romans 12:14). Sometimes, even our own families, friends, associates, or neighbors may say or do something to harm us. We must go to Jesus and ask for the grace to forgive. We must ask for the grace of his forgiveness. Are we holding a grudge against another for what they have done to us? Go to Jesus, ask him to help, listen…

5. Testing and Deliverance

 And do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.

This last part of the Lord’s prayer has two aspects to it; one is being tested and the other is deliverance and/or protection. I think it is very important for us to understand this.

God will allow our faith from time to time to be tested. He has done this with all of his people. We see examples of this throughout the scriptures. God tested his people in the desert to see if they would trust him. God tested Abraham by asking for his son Issac’s life. He allowed Job to be tested to show forth his greatness. He tested the great prophets like Elijah and Isaiah. God will inevitably test you and I. This is for our good.

In James 1: 2-4 it says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” God uses discipline and testing to produce perseverance so that we may become perfect as he is perfect. God wants to strengthen us over time so that he can take us to greater things. After God tested Moses, he then used Moses along with Aaron to deliver his people. After God tested Abraham, he then made him the father of all nations. Let God test you. Ask him in prayer. He may have a much greater purpose for your life than you realize.

We should also pray for protection, that God deliver us from the evil one. I will only say this then. The story of Daniel tells us that he wanted to be faithful to God. God allowed him to be tested in that he was given meat that was forbidden for a Jew to eat. He asked the steward to only give him and the other Jews vegetables to eat. At the end of ten days, though Daniel and his companions looked more healthy than the pagans.

Later we see them in the story of the fiery furnace and how God delivers them from the evil that the king intended for them. In Daniel 10, we see a key here for prayer. Daniel has received a vision of a great war. He fast and prays three weeks for an understanding of the vision. At the end of that time, an angel comes and reveals to him the vision and gives him the understanding. He tells Daniel that he had been withstood for 21 days by the “Prince of the kingdom of Persia”. He had to wait until Michael was sent to take his place so that he could show Daniel the vision and give him understanding.

We need to realize that our battles belong solely to God. Ours is to pray and not give in. We need to persevere until we see an answer come. It may not be the answer that we expect, but none-the-less, God promises us that he will answer us. In Romans 12, St. Paul encourages us to persevere in prayer.

6. An illustration of the Master

In Luke 8:22-25 is the story where Jesus calms the sea. Read It!. Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat. The storm and the winds are blowing and the disciples are scared. They thought that this was it, they were going to die. They wake Jesus who rebukes the wind and waves and calms the sea. He then looked at them and said, “Where is your faith?”

Stop for a moment and consider this account. The winds were driving the waves, the disciples were being tossed about. And to top it off, here is Jesus sleeping in the midst of it all. They could scarcely believe this. And then when they awaken him, he asks them, “Where is your faith?” We are perishing here.

Where do you fit in this account? Are you being tossed by the waves, do you feel it is the end? Where is your faith in God? Jesus awoke and rebuked the storm. He didn’t just have the way, Jesus is the way. He did not just have the truth, he is the truth, he did not just have life, he is life.

Listen!……   Listen!…….

When you pray to your heavenly Father, remember this account. When you are in the midst of precarious or unknown circumstances, remember what he is saying to you. Where is your faith? He is the way, the truth, and the life. He has the answers to all your needs and he holds you in the palm of his hand. He loves you! Listen to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. He will guide you in all your ways (Proverb 3:6).

In closing, remember that our first and foremost goal must be the love of God and then love of neighbor. Jesus said that the whole law rest upon these two commandments. God loves you and he will draw you to himself. Learn to spend time in prayer. Learn to listen.