What God Expects from Our Prayers?

Basic Principles of a Prayer and its nature - Jesus teaches in the Lord Prayer found in Matthew 6:6-13

Continuing on the “The Nature of a Prayer” that Jesus teaches in the “Lord’s Prayer”.


Also covered in my first blog were the five basic principles we must follow for prayer in (Matthew 6:6), Jesus then warned His disciples to avoid certain attitude and behavior while praying, like speaking repetitious words incoherently (babbling) spitting words without meaning repetitiously (Mat. 6:7). Given then assurance that God knows what they need before they ask (Mat. 6:8). These rules were given to show the simplicity of the "Lord's prayer" model he is about to give them. 

We can say that the Lord’s Prayer is the frame or outline to maintain or sustain the temple of our thoughts and meditations, which lifted to God through prayer. What Jesus said about the nature of prayer in Matthew 6:7-8?

To pray is to open our hearts to God.

God speaks to man through His Word. The man speaks to God through prayer and the link between them is meditation. (Thomas Manton, a Puritan preacher-writer, in one of his sermons said that God's Word feeds meditation and meditation feeds prayer referring on Isaac's meditation in the field, in Genesis 24:63).

The prayer itself is deeper than words. This occurs in the soul before being expressed in words, and dwell in it even after we stopped talking.

What God expects from us when we pray?

Let us go back into the Lord Prayer and see these initial expectations as we notice that He expect us to pray as Jesus said at the beginning of verse 9 -"When you pray," then the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are about His name, His kingdom and His will.

His name: “Our Father in Heaven” - He is our Heavenly Father, is our duty and privilege to sanctify his name. A privilege given to those who received and believe in His Son name, Jesus Christ (John 1:12). Able to invoke God as our Father gives another meaning to life and considerably enhances the qualification of a Christian. Sanctify the name of God in all we do. This means to not only get up and go to church worship on Sundays. But we must sanctify and honor His name in our homes, our workplaces, and in the sincerity of our own consciousness.

His Kingdom: "Thy kingdom come" - What does this expression means to you? To about two-thirds of the world's humanity means absolutely nothing. Why? That is because two-third of the world are whether not Christians, not of the same religion, and millions of people to say they don’t believe in God and have no religion. When the kingdom of God comes, it will have an effect on all members of humanity.

His will: Regarding God, this petition perhaps is the most difficult one for us: “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven.”

That third petition is what most Christians have difficulties in their prayers - That is, to pray that God's will be done in our own lives. We must pray like the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. – “Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Mat. 26:39)

Jesus said in Mat. 7:21 - "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven".

To sum up, let us notice, that the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer occupies a descending order of importance:

Same God in His essence and attributes: Holy Father.

Then; the demonstration of God in its kingdom and,

Finally, the subjugation of all to His will, within that realm. Heaven and Earth.

Again, that third point is to surrender of all to His will is what most Christians struggle in accepting.

We should commit in prayer like King David said in Psalm 40:8 –“ I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

The petition “I desire to do your will” is to let us do His will through our life, but in such way that not simply “WE DO IT”, but we do it happily and consciously and in a way that makes His will come to be ours.

Also in Psalm 143:10 - "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."

In John 7:17 Jesus said – “If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."

Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:27 – “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.”

Please come back to this blog as I will post the second part. Until then may God put His Blessings upon you as you seek His will. Let His word speaks to you.

Your Brother in Christ,

Moses Miranda
Christian Blogger

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