Last Sunday’s message is everything I needed at that moment. We were reminded that we are all on the battlefield — personal spiritual war is the current struggle we all face; We might not know it or feel it outright, but we are not safe. Without God, we are dead to our spiritual battles and whoever wins in that materialize in the physical battles. Having the said, we cannot win using only human tools as the enemies are not in flesh and blood. And just like in any battle, soldiers need to prepare in order to win. We need to know our enemy, the battlefield, and the weapons; Prayer is a formidable weapon in this spiritual war.
12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
While listening to the message, it was impressed in my heart how critically important prayer is as it is my weapon in winning the battle. We cannot afford not to be praying as the first casualty of spiritual battle is FAMILY and it is destroyed by resentment, unforgiveness, immorality, and broken relationships. Second is CHURCH as it is distracted by the pop culture, impurity, and irrelevant justifications. I instantly realized why and how people get easily angry or affected by small things and right then and there, reality kicks in. The battle is real. As believers, we need to pray more.
I used to be an unbeliever and admittedly, I never knew the essence of the prayers taught and recited every day – I just memorized them to comply to the norms of my previous religion and my school. When I started my walk with the Spirit, my eyes opened to the truth that as long as I accept and believe Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I no longer need anyone else to mediate my personal prayers to God. I appreciated the privilege I was given to pray directly to the Creator!
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! 9 Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,[a]
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,[b]
but rescue us from the evil one.[c] Matthew 6:5-13
Jesus taught us the manner (how) of praying and NOT the content (what) of praying. When we pray, the PRIORITY is the Glory of God’s Name. Align with God’s PLAN and PURPOSE. We sometimes lose focus of the bigger plan of God because we get distracted by the small plans WE have. We must pray always to align with God’s bigger plan for us – ask for guidance. The Will of God must supersede the Will of man (Father and Child comparison) because if not, it will break His heart. When my PERSPECTIVE is the God is our Father, I OUGHT to be INTIMATE with Him as a child (PURE, PERSONAL, PURPOSEFUL prayer) by putting His PRIORITY, PLAN, PURPOSE, foremost and above all. Followed by my need for PROVISION, PARDON, PROTECTION to exalt His PRE-EMINENCE.
This pattern taught to us is something new to me as I was taught to use CAST (Confession, Adoration, Supplication, and Thanksgiving) and this new pattern feels right for me. I understood well the manner on how I can pray better to get to understand God’s plans for me. I firmly believe that with prayer, I can truly experience a breakthrough.
How about you? Do you know how to Pray the right way?
Leave a Comment