Skip to main content

LEARNING TO PRAY

(Mark 9: 33-37; Matthew 7: 7-11—Preacher: Ps Paw Liang)

What is prayer to you and how is your prayer life? Some people learnt to pray through hard way—when they come to the end of their rope. They ask or beg God to perfect miracles. Sometimes God answers and we say prayer changes things. Sometimes God won’t just answer as what we ask, instead He uses prayers to change us. So don’t keep up a life of prayer unless we prepare to change.
Pray with a Humble Heart: 
First we need to come with a right heart, right attitude. Mark 9, Jesus reminds us to be like a child. The disciples are disputing who is the greatest. Jesus points them to a child to teach them a lesson of humility. Like a little child who admires and trust their Father. We need to have this sense of awe and reverence to God, our Father. We depend on Him and are in need of His mercy! We shouldn’t come with a demanding spirit. Instead, we need to be aware of all these wild ambitions and motives (our flaws and sinful nature). Such a disposition will help us to see our need of God’s mercy. And Jesus also reminds us, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God. Without such a humility, we will not make room for God in our live and prayer is useless if we approach God with a haughty and demanding spirit.

Pray with a Submissive Trust: 
One of the purposes of prayer is to bring our heart to trust in God’s wisdom, not in our own. Mat 7:11 “though you are evil, know how to give good gift to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give goods gifts to those who ask him!” Our knowledge of God will help. We know He is mighty, loving, and good. God knows all things and will only give what will be good for us, may be not in the instant moment but for our life. God cares not only for our immediate needs that He has the whole picture in mind.  

Prayer with authority: 
We need to come to God with confidence and hope. Matthew 7: 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. In this prayer, we call upon the will of the Father upon the earth. We are not so much speaking to God, but speaking for God. Jesus often used this prayer to calm the storm, ‘Quiet, be still!’ (Mar 4:39), to heal the lepers, the lepers and in Mar 9 to command the impure spirit to leave the boy. In Luke 9, Jesus delegated this prayer of commands to his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:1-2). We often do not have confident to pray with authority. Yet for some churches this is the most abused and misused prayers. In the great commission, Jesus also send us with His authority (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:5,8, John 20:21-23). We need discernment so that we know how to pray with confidence. Discernment is a gift from God to see what’s actually going on and to know what needs to be done in the given situation. We are able to understand the spirit of people.

Praying is receiving His grace: 
Nothing can make our prayers worthy to be heard. And no method can qualify us for access to God. We can only RECEIVE. Only GRACE can do—through the saving work of Christ; that’s why we pray ‘in Jesus’ name.’ It’s not a formula for prayer, but a confession of faith that we consciously trusting in Christ for our salvation and acceptance by the Father.

Prayer with humility helps us to see God’s mercy and greatness. With confidence and hope help us to be aware of His presence that God will hear  and answer our prayers. With discernment we call upon His will to happen yet we’re always mindful that only by His grace, our prayers are worthy to be heard. Only by His grace we have access to the Father through Jesus Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elok Rupa vs Elok Hati

oleh: Pdt. Dr. The Paw Liang  Seandainya Musa tidak cantik….. Tuhan mendengar seruan dan tangisan bangsa Israel di Mesir. Tuhan berbelas kasihan dan memutuskan untuk menghentikan penderitaan mereka. IA merencanakan dan mempersiapkan rencananya, Musa dipakai untuk melepaskan bangsaNya. Apakah Musa dipilih dari sekian banyak bayi laki-laki yang lahir atau kah memang sudah direncanakan oleh Tuhan sebelum Musa lahir bahwa pemimpin ini akan lahir dari suku Lewi, dari keluarga Amran dan Yokhebed. Ketika Musa lahir, Alkitab mencatat, “Ketika dilihatnya, bahwa anak itu cantik, disembunyikannya tiga bulan lamanya. (Kel 2:2). Harun, abang Musa lahir sebelum Firaun mengeluarkan dekrit untuk membunuh bayi-bayi laki-laki Ibrani. Harun tiga tahun lebih tua dari Musa, adakah bayi lain yang lahir di antara mereka berdua? Tidak ada kepastian dalam hal ini. Namun sepertinya ada penekanan, “ketika dilihatnya, bahwa anak itu cantik …” tidak tega orang tuanya membunuhnya, maka disembunyikanlah bayi ini t
3 comments
Read more
DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘ Do you want to get well?’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘G et up! Pick up your mat and walk. ’” ‭‭John‬ ‭5:6, 8‬ ‭NIV Do you want to get well? Jesus cares! He sees each and everyone of us. He cares to know us. He saw the crippled at the pool of Bethesda! He knew his struggle! And He sees you and me—He sees our struggles! His mercy comes to us even before we come and cry out to Him! He asked, ‘Do you want to get well?’ His grace heals far better than our human cures! Certainly much better than the cure of the pool of Bethesda! Do you want to get well? God wants to, not just cancel our sins! But, in the words of Charles Wesley, He also wants to “break the power of cancelled sin.” What are some power of cancelled sin that still crippling you? Do you want to get well—physically, emotionally, and spiritually? Jesus says, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and wal
Post a Comment
Read more
Cuma itu yang bisa saya lakukan, hanya kehadiran saja Saya jadi teringat: Musa meminta kepada Tuhan, " if your presence (kehadiran) does not go with us, do not send us from here " ( jika Engkau sendiri tidak membimbing kami, janganlah menyuruh kami pergi dari tempat ini" (Kel 33:15) Kesibukan hidup menjadikan " kehadiran" menjadi sesuatu yg sulit kita berikan kepada orang lain, keluarga ( suami, istri, anak-anak, cucu2, atau orang tua) dan bahkan kepada Allah. Ironis, sama seperti Musa kita merindukan kehadiran Allah (hadiratNya) - kehadiran Roh Nya. Namun, apakah kita juga hadir di hadapanNya?  Ketika kita beribadah, baik sendiri maupun bersama-sama di gereja, apakah kita hadir di hadiratNya? secara jiwa, raga, hati, dan akal  budi? (Mar 12:30). Di hadapan orang-orang yang kita kasih? Ketika secara fisik kita hadir pun, perlu kita cek apakah Jiwa dan hati kita juga hadir di sana? Fenomena sekarang, ketika fisik sudah
1 comment
Read more