To begin, let us get over how selfish we are, even by our prayers for loved ones.
He IS God! and I am not.
What is prayer, anyway? (Think about it. What is a prayer? Why would you even bother to pray?)
Prayer is many things. Most of our mind and flesh would relegate prayer to a single context (a selfish context, I might add) called petition. We have a prayer request or petition to bring before God.
However at its most basic level, prayer is a communication between a mere mortal and the Immortal Almighty God.
Do you believe in God? Do you believe that God IS, has been before time as we know it and will be forever beyond our timeline to the infinite?
God is NOT finite. God is NOT in everything.
God cannot be defined or placed into a box of definition or a time observable in the laboratory of life.
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24
“I who speak to you am he.” – John 4:26b
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. – John 15:26
And we do not require any mediator between sinful man and a Holy God other than Christ Jesus! He IS the Very Living Person of the Trinity of Almighty God, sent as Perfect Adam and Perfect Sacrifice for our sins.
WHO are you and I praying to? IS God a man (or woman) like us? Certainly not! Is any mediator or example required of any man (or woman) other than Christ Jesus?
NO!
No holy mother, no living lama, no prophet, no priest, no ancestor, no spirit, no angel, no law. Yet as servants of our Master, Christ Jesus, we must obey the scripture, as our Lord has spoken and commanded.
No intercessor other than Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit is required! Christ our Lord who warned: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” – Matthew 24:11 KJV
Worship only God; because the ransom paid for our sin on the Cross by our Savior and Redeemer, Christ Jesus, Who IS and was and will return on the clouds as King to rule in His righteous love: over all mankind, all angels and all creation – the Perfect price of your soul you cannot afford; no ransom for the dead will bring resurrection to the darkness of a soul buried in sin.
So I ask you again of your prayer: Do you believe in God?
Do you believe that Jesus Christ IS the resurrected and living Son of God, Who lived and died for our sins as a son of man (technically, Mary)? And do you believe all Jesus said, including His promise of the Holy Spirit to intervene with God our Father (a more loving Image than that of God the Judge of all righteousness)?
Do you think of God as a Person?
Then as Jesus instructed, let us first bow down humbly to Him as our Lord. Let us worship the Lord first, before all of our selfish petitions and requests.
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so in earth.
Should our pattern for prayer not resemble the outline of scripture?
Even the Commandments begin with four concerning God, followed by six for the actions of man. And did Christ our Lord not give a ‘greatest commandment,’ even prior to our oft’ repeated golden rule, as prerequisite prelude of worship of the Lord our God?
Matthew 22: 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
Therefore let us worship the Lord our God, before we presumptuously approach the Throne of Glory with our lowly petitions and requests for our daily wants and needs, which our All-knowing and loving God does know.
Let us tell the Lord His worth: even before we ask, even as we ask, even as He does not answer, God – our loving God who sacrificed His only Son Christ Jesus on the Cross for our sin – our loving Father for this prodigal of the flesh: He hears our prayers.
He would have us ask, once we bow down to His Will and His ways, which are Higher and more knowing than our own sinful ways.
Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Pray, and the Lord will listen; for His heart is kind and gentle for those who love Him.
Christ Jesus IS Lord.
Ask Him and ask me; for I will also pray for you, as you pray to God for your own needs.
Pray also for me. (And next time we will talk about our petitions of prayer.)
To be continued…
