As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
What is prayer and why does it seem our prayers never are answered when Jesus prayed always in the Father's Will and was answered, even on the cross when He cried out, "My God My God why have You forsaken me?"
This blog will provide you four prayers to study. The first is the Lord's Prayer, and you will notice in this prayer which Jesus said to pray in this manner, that He speaks in the collective, of us, we and our.
Remember on the cross Jesus was MY and ME, and focused on His God and personal of YOU.
Matthew the Apostle chapter 6
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Hannah the mother of Samuel the Judge, spoke of herself humbly as God's handmaid, but in the first person of I.
I Samuel chapter 9
And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
King David in his confession and profession of the 23rd Psalm, is all first person and God is his also not a congregation.
King David Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
The last prayer is a petition, a confession of wrongs by the Prophet Daniel for a nation. In the confession, Daniel uses our and we, but he also uses I and me. This is an intercessory prayer for national sins, but in all of these prayers of focus from the individual, to the congregation, there is a common thread which Christ taught in every thing there are the verbs which invoke God to ACTION.
Christ uses the words FORGIVE, LEAD, DELIVER in the Lord's Prayer and in His prayer from the cross, He uses the action verb FORSAKEN.
Daniel the Prophet chapter 9
O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O LORD, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O LORD, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
Hannah uses LOOK, REMEMBER, FORGIVE in invoking action from God and in return, she promises in WILL and GIVE, to answer God's actions for her.
King David again utilizes action verbs in MAKEST, RESTOREST, PREPAREST, and in all the caring God is accomplishing , David is WALKING and NOT FEARING, in trusting God's Promises.
God is mindful of prayers as they are the interaction of the individual and the collective to Him. Those yearnings to Him though come in actions prayed for from God. They also are actions undertaken by the individual and group to trust God and be mindful of all He promises to do. This is not to tempt God by walking into traffic, but it is the Faith that God will always see you through the best outcome, but we have to be responsible in not engaging in sin or stupidity which places us in jeopardy.
We move ahead in Faith that God is leading and already there, having promised to care for us, and trusting in Faith that the answer to our prayers to Him is in the future and not in the past of doubt which we left behind before we prayed.
Daniel the Prophet speaks of action in HEAR, FORGIVE, HEARKEN, DEFER NOT, in asking God to move in every situation, because Daniel believed God's Promise. Believing God, in trusting that He sent Christ is the foundation of all prayer for that belief establishes you in God's eyes as RIGHTEOUS. You believe God, so God hears you in your belief in asking Him to do solve things for you.
Study these four prayers as models for your prayers, to always be action prayers. God already knew Jesus was on the cross, so Jesus was not wasting time rehearsing His predicament. Christ in the Lord's Prayer knew that the Father already knew we have needs, so He invoked God to action to provide in all areas, Spiritual and temporal.
Hannah knew she was barren as God did. She was not whining about why, but came to God with how she had Faith He would solve this, and she would return His Gift to Him.
King David was a military man and a keeper of the flocks from predators. His confession was God always protecting him and providing for him, as life is dangerous.
Daniel the Prophet, took responsibility for a nation which was in rebellion by admitting they were in the wrong, asked God to hear for his trusting God's Promise which made him right with God, and then invoked God to action, and God took action.
When you go to a restaurant you do not tell the waiter or waitress, "Well I am here, you know I am hungry, it has been a long day, I didn't want to cook, I have the money to pay and I see all this food", as doing that you are not going to get anything as the staff knows all that already. That though is what most people do in prayers at God. When you are in a restaurant you order what you came there for, and it comes. Just like the Centurion with Jesus. You are not ordering God to do things, but in prayer you focus on invoking God to action by praying action words, as He already knows the problem and has the solution if you would just ask for Him to solve the problem as you believe He Will.
This is another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
Nuff Said
agtG
