Praying God-Centered Prayers

When Jesus was asked by his disciples to teach them to pray, he responded by giving them what is most commonly referred to as "the Lord's Prayer" and sometimes as "the Prayer of Jesus." The NIV text of this prayer reads as follows:

   "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,  your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:9-13 - and some later manuscripts add the words, "for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.").

Now I could write for quite some time on all the insights into how we should pray that are given is this rich teaching of our Lord. But I will restrain myself and point out only one truth - and a powerful truth it is! Notice Jesus gives us 6 petitions (and keep in mind that Jesus gives us this prayer primarily as a model or pattern for all of our prayers). Of these 6, the first three deal with God (his name, his kingdom, his will). The last three deal with us and our needs (need for daily bread, forgiveness and protection in the spiritual arena). Now what this tells me is that when we pray and present our requests to God - we need to go about it in a God-centered way. So as we ask God for healing for Sue's lower back pain or ask him to provide a job for George - we need to ask him to do so in such a way that his name will be honored, his kingdom will be advanced and that his will be done. That's what I mean by the title of this posting. That's how to pray "God-centered prayers."

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj