Demands of Jesus - Always Pray and Do Not Lose Heart - 5

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Greetings and peace to you all in the name of the Almighty name of Jesus Christ. In the last session, Part 4 we learned HOW to pray. We learned that we should pray with Faith and that we should not pray for the praise of others. Now let us concentrate on FOR WHOM are we to pray exactly? And WHAT should we pray?

FOR WHOM?

For whom does Jesus demand that we are pray? Of course it is for ourselves, is it because we are deserving? Prayer has nothing to do with deserving, it's all about mercy. We pray for ourselves because we are weak. We are so prone to sin and utterly dependent on preserving grace to sustain our flawed obedience. "Pray then like this," Jesus said, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matt. 6:9,13). That is a prayer for ourselves first, since we know our own frailty and vulnerability better than anyone. Then it is a prayer for the other followers of Jesus and the world.

Praying for self does not allow us to exclude others from our prayers. When Jesus tells us to pray, "Hallowed be Your Name" (Matt. 6:9), He means that we should pray this for anyone who does not yet hallow God's name. And if our selfish hearts should think of some adversary that we do not like, Jesus is unsparing - these too must be blessed in our prayers. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt. 5:44); "bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6:28). None must be excluded from our love, and none may be excluded from our prayers.

WHAT?

Finally, what does Jesus demand that we pray? What are we to ask the Father to do? Jesus' summary answer is called the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13).

Our Father in Heaven,

1. hallowed be Your Name.
2. Your kingdom come ,
3. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
4. Give us this day our daily bread,
5. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
6. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

We pray for ourselves and for other followers of Jesus and for the world (1) that we should reverence and cherish the name of God above things. This is the first function of prayer - to pray that people would pursue the glory of God.

(2) We pray that God's saving, purifying, Jesus-exalting rule would hold sway in our lives and would finally come in universal manifestation and extent.

(3) We pray that we would do the will of God the way the angels do it n heaven - namely, without hesitation and full of zeal and thoroughness.

(4) We pray for the practical provisions of body and mind that make an earthly life of obedience possible.

(5) We pray for forgiveness for our daily failures to honor God as we ought. That is, we ask God to apply to us each day the perfect redemption that Jesus obtained once for all when He died on the cross.

(6) We pray that God would protect us from the evil one and from the temptations that would bring us to ruin and weaken our witness for Him.

The Lord's Prayer shows us the astonishing nature of prayer. It puts in the position of greatest importance the prayer for God's Name to be glorified, God's kingdom to advance and triumph, and God's will to be accomplished on the earth the way it's happening in heaven. This means that God intends to use human prayers to accomplish His most ultimate and universal purposes. For example, Jesus tells us to pray for workers that will be required to spread the gospel to all the nations. "Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Matt. 9:38). Yet nothing is more certain than that the kingdom of God will triumph. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it... this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matt. 16:18; 24:14). There is no uncertainty about the triumph of God. Nevertheless, in God's providence it depends on human prayer.

This implies that prayer is not only a duty of man but a gift of God. Jesus will awaken in His people the spirit of prayer that asks for everything it will take to accomplish God's purposes in the world. The prayers of Jesus' followers and the purposes of God will not fail.

Source: What Jesus Demands from the World - John Piper

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin