The Lord’s Prayer

What occasions do we pray?

/ Henry Jiang / 2 Comments

Now my brothers and sisters, since we have gone over how we should pray and what we should pray about, let’s talk about  what occasions do we pray more deeply. As stated in previous posts, self-reliance is a sin and we must bring everything to God, through prayer. A very good place to look for prayers to God is the Psalms, since God has commanded us to speak in Psalms (Ephesians 5:19). Psalm has a variety of prayers, anything ranging from lament (eg. Psalm 22), praise (eg. Psalm 30), confession (eg. Psalm 51), help and protection (eg. Psalm 60), etc. If you are all drained out and don’t know what to pray about, I would highly suggest meditating over one of these Psalms to see what God wants us to pray about.

However, let’s go back to the topic of what occasions do we pray. I would like to bring out a parable Dolas, my very good friend from Nigeria, who has trusted in the Lord for all her life and bore many fruits, told me. At the end of the parable, I would like to add a portion of the parable in which my brother in Christ, Jeremy Yeung came up with which in some way completes the picture. Let’s imagine that we are a car. If we want to know more about how to operate this car, we refer to its user manual, in which case we are pointing to the Holy Bible. But the car needs to be constantly maintained, before it breaks down, gets rusty, overheats, etc. This is when we take it back to its maker for maintenance (take it to the Lord in Prayer). It is vital that we constantly take our car back to maintenance as there are so many problems that occur, and we are 100% sure that the maker is omnipotent and that He can fix anything. This is how important prayer is.

Last but not least, what happens when we feel worn out and drained out. For example, in some cases when we have read the manual over and over again (for very mature Christians, I’d say more mature than me in Scripture), and feel dried out, what do we do? We take the car out for a drive! This means going out, making disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

This is how Christian life should be in a nutshell. It’s that simple. No complications, no strings attached. What are we waiting for?

Your Will Be Done

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

My lovely brothers and sisters, after meditating on The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) from yesterday, have you learned anything new? Today, I would like to touch on a specific verse in the lord’s prayer, and talk about some misconceptions even some mature Christians have which lead to deception of Scripture. This is a very slippery slope as many have fallen into this trap, and this has generated false doctrines, such as the prosperity gospel. It is very upsetting that these brothers and sisters who begin with the will to follow Jesus but end up following worldly values, such as wealth or honour.

One of the most debated verses in the Bible is Matthew 7:7:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Christians have used this verse to argue against each other, some state that it should not be taken word for word as just stating this verse is taking it out of context as the audience of this passage has to be considered. This should not create any disunity in a church as it does not violate any primary doctrines. However, secondary doctrines may have different takes at this verse, in which I (I admit I am biased) believe that Scripture should be taken as is, and this verse is directed towards all of us. The condition that this verse must meet is that we are following how Jesus commanded us to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, especially Matthew 6:10

Your will be done

It is vital (and I cannot stress this any more further) that we are living to fulfill God’s will, and NOT our will. Any form of living for ourselves is self-idolatry and not bringing Glory to God, thus not living life to its sole purpose. Romans 4:7-8 states that

For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be careful when you are praying for things. Always ask yourself if what you are praying lines up with Scripture, and if you are not sure, pray for wisdom as wisdom is promised to us through Scripture:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5 (NIV 1984)

Only when we are praying for the right things (i.e. God’s Will), it will be given to you. This goes the same for passages such as Matthew 18:19. What we need to keep in mind is that God is always good (Psalm 136:1) and we must put our faith in Him as He knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). So my brothers and sisters, ask yourself what you are praying for, are you praying the right way? If not, do you know what you should pray for? If not, ask God for wisdom as it is promised to you through the Lord.

God Bless You All! Amen!

P.S. Don’t get me started on the discussion of Jeremiah 29:11 taken out of context. I understand I am biased but again, I hold the point of view that Scripture is written for everyone and honestly, if someone was to use that portion of Scripture for means of prosperity gospel (stating that God has plans for us to prosper in this world), they honestly lack foresight. I am not saying that this will not happen, but it is not guaranteed. However, God will keep His promise and we are guaranteed to prosper in Heaven if we follow Him.

How do we pray?

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

A common question I get asked from brothers and sisters who are new to their faith is: how do you pray? Some believe prayer is an every meal thing and people say prayers right before meals. Some people may believe prayer is a way to ask for things and receive blessings from God. Most of the answers actually lie right in the Bible, within a few verses.

“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 6:9-11 (NIV 1984)

Now let us look closely at this passage. Should we read out this passage and only pray this passage word by word in our prayer? No! We need to be able to bring to God all things in our minds through prayer. However, we should keep in mind this passage during our prayers, and it doesn’t hurt to bring this passage out every now and then. However, if we are just uttering these blind words without knowing what they mean, that is a sin because we are lying to God.

My brothers and sisters, I challenge you to meditate on God’s way of prayer and see if you understand anything. Shoot me any questions again with the contact form below. I will attempt to explain this passage line by line as it is one of the most important passages in Scripture. See if this changes your perspective on prayer.

Stay Blessed!

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