the importance of prayer
For a Christian prayer is extremely important. Let’s consider what Jesus told His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray in Matthew 6:9-15. “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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. For if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Father forgive your trespasses.” The first thing we notice is that the Greek word translated pray is a present tense command. It is both a command and in the present tense. The present tense in Greek is a continuous action tense. This is best understood in English as: Continuously pray! We are commanded to pray continually. This means we are to maintain a constant communication line with God the Father all day and all night. Yes, you can do it all night. If you do it all day your subconscious will maintain that same communication all night while you are sleeping.
When we pray we are to approach God the Father with reverence. He is God. He is the supreme being of the entire universe. God created this world. He created all the food we eat. He gave us much that we can enjoy everyday. God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross and be resurrected the third day to pay for our sins. God deserves our highest respect and we must approach Him very reverently. This attitude we need to maintain all day as we constantly keep an open line of communication with God.
Next it says, “Thy kingdom come.” We need to ask for God to bring about the second coming of the Savior. This is split into two occurrences. First Jesus will come and rapture the church. He will take us all to heaven in brand new bodies that will never die. Seven years later, after the tribulation period, He will return and set up His kingdom which will last for one-thousand years. We need to be continually keeping the thought of His return in our minds. Remembering that Jesus is going to come soon and take all of us home to be with Him will aid us to live for Him every day. When He comes to take us home we will never have to pass through death’s gate. Keeping this in mind all day will greatly help us to have an upbeat day.
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” God’s will is very important in our lives. We are to ask that His will be accomplished on earth just as it is in heaven. The best environment we can ask for is the environment that exists when God’s will is accomplished in the earth. We also need to know what God’s will is for us that day and at every moment of the day. Maintaining communication with God the Father will insure that the Holy Spirit can let us know when God wants us to do something, like telling someone about Jesus. God’s will for all of us is to tell others of the great salvation that Jesus provided with His death, burial, and resurrection. It is also very important to understand what God’s long term will for us is. Does God want to have us preach His Word, teach in a Sunday school class, sing in a church choir, or work in some specific industry. We will always be the happiest when we are in God’s perfect will for us. Praying all the time will help us to know what His perfect will is for our lives.
Praying all the time helps us to maintain fellowship with God the Father. God wants our fellowship, and He wants it all the time. One item we are to ask God for every day and expect to get is our daily needs. It says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Things like food, clothing, shelter, etc. are legitimate needs that we should ask God for every day, and we should do it at the beginning of the day. If we fail to ask God for our daily necessities then there is a chance God will not provide them. Failing to ask God for our daily needs is not only unwise it is a sin. It is a sin because we are here commanded to ask for them every single day, and God lovingly wants to provide them. Not asking God for them is a show of a lack of faith and a sin.
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” All day, every day we need to ask God the Father to forgive our sins or debts. It’s not that when we sin we lose our salvation. Our salvation is dependent on Jesus not on us. When we sin we lose fellowship with God the Father. If we do not ask for forgiveness then we stand to be chastised. All fathers chastise their children when they do wrong. They do so that the child will not repeat what they did wrong. God wants to have continual fellowship with us. When we sin and break that fellowship it upsets Him. God will chastise us to get us back into fellowship if we don’t ask forgiveness. God hates sin and can’t fellowship with someone living in sin. Maintaining a constant line of communication with God the Father helps us to quickly get forgiveness when we sin. We still have our old bodies of flesh. Our flesh is sinful. It is going to happen that we sin even when we don’t want to. So we are commanded to ask for forgiveness.
This forgiveness, though, is dependent upon our forgiving others. When others do wrong to us and they come and ask to be forgiven, we are to forgive them. A failure to do so will keep God the Father from forgiving us. This will bring chastisement. God has forgiven us of all our sins so that we can have eternal fellowship with Him. We should be willing to forgive those that wrong us. Maintaining prayer with God the Father all the time will help us to remember to forgive others and to ask for forgiveness when we sin. This is so important that at the end of the instructions on prayer Jesus gives says, “For if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Father forgive your trespasses.”
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Another vital reason to maintain a constant line of communication with God the Father is expressed here. During the day when a temptation confronts us we can immediately ask God the Father to aid us in overcoming that temptation. This helps us to defeat sin in our lives. God is very happy to help us defeat sin. By keeping our hearts and minds in communication with God at all times we will be able to get that help when it’s needed. We are also to ask God to deliver or protect us from evil. The word evil here can mean two things. First it refers to the evil one, the devil. We do not have the ability to defeat the devil ourselves. We must ask God for His help. When we ask God for His help the devil will run from us. James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Being in submission to God all day in prayer, asking for God’s help, and resisting the devil will cause him to run from you. Also, the word evil here refers to other sources of evil. So we also can ask God to deliver us from other forms of evil as well. All of this is a great aid to help us live a life that pleases God.
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.” Here is a very powerful statement as to why we should maintain constant fellowship with God. God is the owner of the coming kingdom. God is the source of all power and glory. If we wish to have victory in our Christian lives we must maintain constant fellowship with God. God doesn’t provide the aid we will need if we are out of fellowship with Him. Sin breaks our fellowship with God. By maintaining an open line of communication with God we can get forgiveness when needed. God has the power to help us defeat sin in our lives. God has the power and the resources to meet all of our daily needs. God is the source of our joy and peace. Maintaining constant fellowship with God is the only way of keeping our joy in the Lord and the peace which passes all understanding.
Remember, we are commanded to be in constant communication with God the Father. Failing to do so is a sin that we will need to ask for forgiveness of to regain His fellowship. Keeping this line open insures that we will have our daily needs met, that we will know what God’s will is for us that day and for our lives, and will insure the constant presence of the joy of the Lord and the peace that passes all understanding. We simply must maintain a constant line of prayer with God all day and all night every day of our lives. Also, don’t forget to forgive others that ask for forgiveness. As we maintain prayer with God we will also grow in our love for God and in our faith. Let’s keep praying all the time.