Prayer – Daily Message

Armodoxy for Today

Daily Message – Prayer

We hear it all the time: I’ll pray for you. You’re in my prayers. Keep me in your prayers. Pray for better days. Pray for good health. Pray for safety from enemies.

Before teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus took a moment to teach them how not to pray. He said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Most of our ideas about prayer are compiled from different ideas we’ve heard throughout our lifetime, primarily along the lines that prayer is a conversation with God where we present Him with a list of our needs. In turn, we expect God to answer our prayers with a yes, no or maybe.

Clearly, Jesus tells us, that’s not what prayer is, since our “Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.”

If prayer is a conversation with God and not a monologue, nor a soliloquy, but a conversation, it is implied that talking and listening are involved. You see, God knows our needs, but perhaps we may not know our needs. Listening, as part of a conversation, allows to hear our request, to focus on them and find the solutions that are within our grasp.

For this reason, Jesus instructs us with a prayer that asks of God, and demands that we listen.

From Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says, “Pray then like this, “Our Father who is in heaven, may Your Name be holy, may Your Kingdom come, may 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. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever. Amen