What is prayer? Jesus Christ, God, who descended in the flesh to the sinful Earth to save people, left us many instructions recorded in the Gospel. A lot has been written there about prayer. And the whole Bible tells us about the righteous, who offered their petitions to God. What does prayer mean for people now? How to do it right? We’ll talk about this today.
When do you need to pray?
This is how modern man works - the attitude of most people to prayer today is the same as to ambulance. Something happened, someone fell ill, you need to go to the exam - urgently need to turn to God. And if all is well, prayer is not very necessary.
Jesus Christ in the gospel answered the students' question about how to pray. This is the well-known prayer "Our Father." What does the word "father" mean? This is an old word meaning "father."
That is, if you are a Christian, if you sincerely believe in God and strive to live righteously, the Bible says that He is your father. Do you turn to your earthly parent only when you feel bad, something happened, you need money? If so, then it is very sorry for him - there is no true sincere relationship between you, you just use it.
And if God is our heavenly Father, our Father, then we must turn to him every day. For a truly believing person, prayer is a vital necessity, giving strength, wisdom, filling the heart with love and reverence.
For most people, far from God and the church, who have never opened the gospel, prayer is like a spell that needs to be read in order for the wish to be fulfilled. This approach has nothing to do with Christianity! What is the “Prayer to Jesus Christ from corruption”, “Prayer for the sale of an apartment”? Such questions can now often be heard from different people, and they relate to a conversation with God as conspiracies, mantras, etc. And this is very sad.
What words should prayer contain?
Jesus Christ set an example for us. The Gospel records how disciples approached their Master and asked Him to teach them how to pray. Then Jesus spoke the well-known “Our Father”. But this is by no means a ready-made prayer that needs to be automatically repeated every day 40 times - this is an example that we should use. It is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 6, verses 9 through 13.
Example
Let’s analyze this prayer line by line and think about the meaning of the lines of the Holy Gospel (a modern translation of the Russian Bible Society is given):
Verse 9: "Pray like this: Our Father, who lives in heaven! Thy Name be holy."
- God is our heavenly Father, we glorify (sanctify) His name, thank Him for everything that we have.
10th verse: "May Your Kingdom come; May Your will be done on Earth, as in Heaven."
- We submit to the will of our Creator. This is especially important, because sometimes we ourselves do not know what we ask God. For example, you can pray: “God, give me a car,” but the Lord sees the future — in a car you will crash to death one year after buying it. Therefore, God does not give you a car, and you are disappointed that He did not answer your prayer, not even suspecting that your life has been saved. So, submit and humble yourself before the will of the Most High.
11th verse: "Give us our daily bread for this day."
- You can ask in prayer to resolve your problems. Praying to Jesus Christ for help in work, school, family life, and other matters is not at all condemned by God - this is your "daily bread."
Verse 12: "Forgive us all our debts, just as we forgive those who owe us."
- In prayer, forgive everyone who offended you and did you anything bad. Then God will also forgive your transgressions.
Verse 13: "And do not put us to trial, but deliver us from the villain. For Thine is the Kingdom and power and glory forever. Amen."
- Ask God for strength in the fight against sin, thank Him for everything.
That should be a real prayer. Jesus Christ hears your words!