Pursuing God - A Prayer

If I could only write a prayer such as the one below, but since I do not possess that ability, then if my heart truly seeks God, I can read this prayer out loud to God and mean each and every word.  If not then I am simply playing with religion.   

"Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation.  Lay Thy hand upon me.  Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet.  Forbid that I should become a religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic calling.  Save me from the curse that lies dark across the face of the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism.  Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offerings.  Help me to remember that I am a prophet—not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet.  Let me never become a slave to crowds. 

Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity.  Save me from bondage to things.  Let me not waste my days puttering around the house.  Lay Thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world.  Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping.  Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

I accept hard work and small rewards in this life.  I ask for no easy place.  I shall try to be blind to the little ways that could make my life easier. If others seek the smoother path, I shall try to take the hard way without judging them too harshly.  I shall accept opposition and try to take it quietly when it comes.  Or if, as sometimes it faileth out to Thy servants, I should have grateful gifts pressed upon me by Thy kindly people, stand by me then and save me from the blight that often follows.  Teach me to use whatever I receive in such manner that it will not injure my soul or diminish my spiritual power."
Amen

A.W. Tozer

The Prayer of Mother Theresa

    Make us worthy Lord to serve our fellow men throughout the world,

    who live and die in poverty and hunger.

    Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread

    and by our understanding love give peace and joy.

    Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.

    That where there is hatred I may bring love,

    That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,

    That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,

    That where there is error I may bring truth,

    That where there is doubt I may bring faith,

    That where there is despair I may bring hope,

    That where there are shadows I may bring light,

    That where there is sadness I may bring joy.

    Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,

    To understand than to be understood,

    To love than to be loved.

    For it is by forgetting self that one finds.

    It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

    it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

    Amen.

Mother Theresa 

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

As I have said before, If your faith can not save you from your own self-centeredness, your own selfishness, then it will not save you from Hell.  Is it possible for you to say this prayer and mean every single word?  If you want to get over yourself, this is a good place to begin.

Lord, 

Make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

On Earth as it is in Heaven Christian Prayer

Prayer

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”  Matthew 6:10

Logical, concise, emotional, passionate and convicting.  When asked by the disciples how should we pray, Jesus was so clear that a child could understand it.  “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”  Matthew 6:9-10  In a previous posting I addressed the beginning ‘Hallowed be your name’, in brief – honored be your name, how do I honor God, how do I honor my father?  

Logically the answer to that is what follows, praying that His kingdom comes and that His will is done on earth just as it is in heaven.  You do not have to go any further in your walk with Christ then this to determine exactly the status of your relationship with Him.  You do not need to read any best selling books, listen to any Christian music, or hear an inspiring sermon.  Either you will pray like this and mean it or you won’t.  It isn’t what you say, it’s what you do. 

Jesus was not suggesting, He was not asking, He was commanding Christians to pray in this manner.  To begin your prayers in that manner mandates that before you consider your personal requests, your personal desires, you are first and foremost willing to subject yourself and your will to God.  We want God’s will to work out when it happens to coincide with what we want, or when it applies to other people.  However, those words, following that command is…how to put this…  Not what we want for ourselves.  

To pray that way means that you have to mean what you say, you have to honestly desire God’s will over yours.  God’s will, that would mean you can’t look at those pictures, or that magazine, you would forgive the one who hurt or stole from you, there would be no divorce, no abandoning your children (thus no child support) no gossiping, no ‘it’s just business’, no little white lies, no keeping up with the Jone’s.  Perhaps it means instead of that new television the money would go to feed a family in need, or the time you spend on the internet would be spent instead helping others.  There would be no - this is what I want, and God will either let me have it, or He will forgive me for taking it. 

Either you will or won’t pray as Jesus commanded.  Either His words in Matthew 6:10 convict and inspire you or His words will convict and condemn you. 

Hallowed Be Your Name - Jesus' instructions to Christians

Prayer

I know a ‘Christian’ who has sincerely told me that God answered her prayers by sending to her ‘her boyfriend’.  Many people pray for God to send them their soul mate; sometimes He does, sometimes He does not.  That this particular ‘Christian’ is thanking God for a man who is already married is absurd, delusional, offensive, and an insult to the honor of God.  

This, then, is how you should pray: “‘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.  And 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

That is not an easy prayer.  Oh, I know all ‘Christians’ have “The Lords Prayer” memorized, but Jesus instructed us how to pray, not what to pray.  Very few ‘Christians’ pray like Jesus instructed.

We say the opening just fine, “Our Father in Heaven”; we are very quick to claim our relationship with God, a relationship of undeserved, and unconditional, yet practical love However, we are not so quick to do as our father tells us, and because we don’t it is the second statement that stops us in our tracks. 

“Hallowed be your name” Hallowed or honored - bring honor to your name.  Essentially, you are asking from your father that regardless of your desire, above all you want your thoughts, words and actions to honor God.  Is that what you really pray; is that what you honestly mean?  It’s easy enough to do when someone approaches you and asks you to pray for them so that they get a job they really desire.  We recite a short prayer, insert into our prayer that whatever happens let it honor God and be His will; then it’s off to watch the game. 

Do you trust God enough that you want whatever God knows will bring Him honor when your child is sick, or when you are faced with losing your job?  Do you want to honor God when you are tired of your spouse and just want out of your marriage?  Do you trust God enough that you keep your promises and vows regardless of the personal cost to yourself, so that He can be honored by your action? 

On the other hand, are you afraid to mean those words in your prayers, because God might do the opposite of what you want?  God might say no.  Your child may not recover, you may lose your job, you will stay married, keeping your promises may cost you thousands of dollars, or even friendships.  We pray out of our fleshly desires, God sees the soul temporarily contained within that flesh, which means God may not agree that what you desire, your thoughts, words and actions actually bring Him honor.  

But we want what we want, and if we get it then we say “praise God, my prayers have been answered, I must be doing things God’s way.”  In truth because we do not honestly desire or mean ‘Hallowed be your name” the rest of our pray cannot possibly be truthful either.  

“Hallowed be your name”; if you will not trust God in your prayers, you will not honor him in your thoughts, words or actions.  And that gets you a little closer to understanding 'What is Christianity'.