SO THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD PRAY…
Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote me quite a lengthy message, sharing about his friend who asked him how he should pray.
He wants to pray with power, and he wonders why he does not get the same results as—let’s say—a well-known TV preacher and others like him when they pray.
I want to begin my answer to you with something you wrote:
“From the conversation it seems that he wants to pray with power so that things will happen.”
One of the great wrongs in many preachers’ services, in my opinion, is that they in effect want to manipulate God to act as they want, and make things happen according to their will. They then mislead people, and by such behavior—or shall we call it a performance—they set the example that others also want to follow in the same way.
Let me give just two examples (out of many I could have used) that people write to me about.
I receive letters from people saying that when others pray for them, if they do not want to fall over, they are physically pushed so that they will fall.
Then you also find this: people pray for others regarding some problem, and they in effect command God to do what they ask.
Something like:
“Lord, I pray for…” and then they say it in a loud, sometimes even shouting voice, as if God perhaps cannot hear them properly:
“Do it, Lord! Do it now!”
But Jesus and His disciples proclaimed the gospel, and if our Lord worked in some way—praise the Lord—then He worked. And if He did not visibly work for people at that moment, they still continued to proclaim the gospel.
Unfortunately, many people who pray publicly do so to draw attention to themselves.
Jesus speaks very strongly against this error in the church:
Matthew 6:5 (AMP)
“Also, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets so that they may be seen by people. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full.”
Now let me give you an example of how I sometimes pray—sometimes in full, sometimes only in part, and not always in the same order. This is just a broad example, because every person’s circumstances are different, and even for the same person one day may be different from another.
So, this is only a guideline, a way of how I pray and how I think we can pray:
Matthew 6:9
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.’”
(Here you remind yourself that you are speaking to the Almighty, All-wise GOD, the Creator of heaven and earth and everything in them. You pray that people will see Jesus in and through you, so that God’s Name will be hallowed through your life before others.)
Matthew 6:10
“Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.”
(Pray about His Kingdom, His children, His church. Pray as you are led—about persecutions, yourself, your loved ones, your enemies, Israel and its enemies—and entrust them all into God’s hands.)
Matthew 6:11
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
(Pray for your daily needs.)
Matthew 6:12
“And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].”
(Pray for forgiveness of your sins, and ask for His help to forgive your enemies, whatever form they may take.)
Matthew 6:13
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]”
(Pray that God will not allow satan to cause you to stumble or fall, but that you will be free from satan and his evil. Then confess that you know and believe that GOD your FATHER has the final say in everything.)
Then just this:
I must always remember to go to our Lord in the Name of Jesus.
In this regard we read:
John 14:5–6
“Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?’
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’”
And Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit—knowing what Jesus said and proclaimed—writes:
Colossians 3:17
“Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
With prayer, as with so many aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ, people sometimes make it so unbelievably complicated (and “unbelievably” is really the right word here). Yes, people make aspects of the gospel of Jesus so complicated that I struggle to understand their preaching—such as, for example, with prayer.
At one point Jesus prayed to our Father in His role as “the Son of Man,” as He often referred to Himself:
Matthew 11:25–26
“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth [openly and joyfully acknowledging Your greatness], that You have hidden these things [the gospel truths] from the wise and learned, and revealed them to infants [to new believers, to those seeking God’s will and purpose].
Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.’”
The gospel of Jesus, in all its aspects, is so simple that Jesus once said to us:
Mark 10:15
“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
Someone once wrote to me, saying that he was going to look up every word “pray” in the Bible to finally see and understand how we should pray.
But Jesus says—how simple is this?—that if we will just listen to the Holy Spirit within us, He will lead us into all truth.
So finally, read again, with the faith of a child, under the leading of the Holy Spirit:
Matthew 6:9–13
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father, who is 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 have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’”
For me it really cannot be made simpler than this about how a person should pray.
Or put another way—
Can it really be said any more simply than this?
With all the clever reasoning that sometimes goes around about this or that in the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is one thing I always try to remember when I answer people’s questions and proclaim the gospel. And I want to humbly ask you to do the same:
In this ministry my first priority is to bring people the simple gospel of Jesus, to introduce them to Jesus, and to help them begin a love-relationship with Him.
And I try to do this through the Word—only the Word—yes, only the wonderfully simple, true Word and gospel of Jesus Christ:
1 Corinthians 2:2
“for I made the decision to know nothing [that is, to forego philosophical or theological discussions regarding inconsequential things and opinions] among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified [and the meaning of His redemptive, substitutionary death and His resurrection].”
Sakkie