prayer.

Some interesting things came up when I googled the word 'prayer'. A lot of catholic "how-to" pray sites, a one-eight hundred number to call when you're in need of prayer, (which, if you think about it, might be scary) even a youtube video of President Obama using the word God *sarcastic gasp*. In my Beth Moore study, we recently learned about the story in the gospel of Luke where the disciples are learning about prayer. They ask, simply, "Lord, teach us how to pray." Luke 11:1 His answer is with the all too familiar Lord's prayer. "Father, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." Luke 11:2-4 (also from Matthew 6.)

I don't know about you, but a closer look at these words convicts me so much.

Forgive.
Forgive as He forgives? That section sticks out like a sore thumb in my view. Do we really forgive as much as He forgives us? I think not. Aphesis, Greek for forgiveness means "pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty." How hard it is for us to forgive and pretend like it never happened? I would say pretty darn hard.

Further into Luke we find a passage that digs that conviction even deeper, Jesus speaks to His disciples and says, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent' forgive him."

Faith.
The response His disciples gives makes me laugh, "Increase our faith!" I can just see their faces as He told them this. I love how open and honest they were about all the things they lacked. You can't hide anything in Jesus' presence. I wonder though, if the disciples knew how much Jesus would test their faith in the coming days. I truly don't believe that God simply 'gives' us faith, but he gives us reasons to be faithful. I've seen this displayed so much in my life. Trusting Him in hard times is the easiest way to learn what true faith looks like. In the very next part of Luke 17 Jesus goes on to talk about faith the size of a mustard seed. Just a hint of Christ's power could move a mountain. Amazing.

Yes, I know, the Lord's Prayer doesn't mention faith. (I got off on a rabbit trail. (: There's just so much to learn!) But I did find a connection between the two that was pretty profound, James 5:15 says, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." Well, looky there! All three of our words. Basically...Pray with faith the size at least the size of a mustard seed and forgive as I forgive you and I will raise you up, I will heal you... "Raise you up" literally means "to arouse from sleep." I think God's telling us it's time to wake up.

So, back to the main question. How do we pray? With faith, for one. Not just faith that God will give us the answer we're looking for, but faith that, basically, He'll do His will. Here's another way to pray. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Confidence. I had to put the entire definition in here.

"freedom in speaking,
unreservedness in speech,
openly, frankly,
without concealment,
without the use of figures and comparisons,
free and fearless confidence,
cheerful courage, boldness,
assurance."

That's a lot to describe one word. Does that describe what our prayer life is like? Open, frank, without comparing it to anyone else, with boldness, and cheerful courage. God really wants us to come to Him boldly, ask what we want, then have the faith to trust His hands.