Hypocrites Love To Pray
Did you know that there is a right and a wrong way to pray? Just because your prayers might start with “Father” and end with “In the name of Jesus”, it doesn’t mean it’s godly. You can actually release the devil if you don’t know how to pray correctly. Prayer is powerful if done correctly. Remember that Jesus said, hypocrites love to pray. There is a right and a wrong way to pray.
If you do nothing but ask and beg God to remove your problems from your life, you’re praying wrong. Paul says that we should go to God with prayer and supplication. Unfortunately, too many believers are using prayer as supplication. If you don't understand the difference, that might be why you're frustrated not seeing your prayers answered. The Strong's Concordance defines supplication as, "a petition: - prayer request supplication."
This means that when we pray, we should make our requests be known to God at the very end of our prayer. Prayer isn't the time to sit there and complain about all of your problems. In fact, God hates complaining. You know that feeling you get when someone talks your ear off about all of their issues? Yeah, God is not a fan of complaining. The main reason why the Israelites could not inherit the Promised Land was that they kept complaining. If God were ever silent, it's probably because of how annoying we are when we pray (that was just a joke). The truth is, God doesn't need us complaining.
When we complain, we are giving glory to the devil. This is because there can be no gratitude, faith, thankfulness, or positivity whenever you complain. Have you ever heard that the same place that you worry from is also where you worship? Well, the same place that you complain from is the same place that you are grateful from.
There is no better place to find out how to properly pray than from the teachings of Jesus. This is how He tells us to pray.
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. Matthew 6:9-13
Step 1: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
Prayer should always begin with glorifying God. Jesus said that praising God strengthens you against the enemy (Psalm 8:2, Matthew 21:16). Every time you praise God for what He has done in the past and what He will do in the future you are strengthening yourself against the attacks of the devil.
David wrote in his Psalm
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5
There is a reason why David says to "forget not" the benefits of the Lord. It is human nature to forget things. Just a few days ago I forget that I had my car keys in my pocket and I was looking for them all over the place. If we are not making it a point to "forget not" the Lord's blessings in our life, we will inevitably forget them. Complaining becomes easier when you forget the good things in life. Every day we need to be making it a point to bless the Lord in our souls (minds, imaginations). It is also important to surround yourself with friends in the faith who encourage and uplift you.
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. 2 Peter 1:13
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. 2 Peter 3:1
Twice in Peter's epistles, he "stirs" up his readers by way of remembrance. The way you stir up your faith is by remembering the goodness of God. Are you alive and well today? Do you live with a roof over your head? Do you eat food enough to be alive? Do you have a good-paying job? Do you have friends and family members you can lean on? Do you have a relationship with Jesus? How are your kids doing? Are they healthy and alive? How's your marriage? Do you have a beautiful spouse? Got any animals? How many dogs and cats do you have? Are they alive and well today?
Do you see where I am getting at? If you can answer at least one of those questions with a good report, you are blessed. If you are a child of God, you are blessed. I don't need to know your current situation, you are blessed and anything that tells you differently is stupid. You're blessed in Jesus' Name.
When you start your prayers with praising God rather than complaining, by the time you're done the situation that you prayed about will look so small compared to what God has already done in your life.
Step 2: Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
When you pray, are you praying for your will to be done or for God's will to be done? If you aren’t meditating on God's Word day and night and if you are a hearer of the Word only and not a doer, chances are your mind isn’t renewed to the perfect will of God, and your intentions may not be God’s will for your life. We need to make sure that our own ambition isn't getting in the way of our prayers.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1-2
Presenting our lives as a living sacrifice means putting our flesh on the altar every single day. It's dying to yourself and living for Christ. This is the hardest thing the Christian can do because their entire life they've been ruled by their flesh. Their stomach tells them when to eat, their body tells them when to sleep. As humans, we are so in touch with our bodies anytime something is wrong or feeling off, we notice. Being self-aware can be a bad thing if it gets in the way of your sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
That verse also tells us that being a living sacrifice is our "reasonable service". This literally means that it is the least we can do. In other words, it is the bare minimum we can do in our Christian life and sadly, most Christians are not doing the bare minimum but expecting the maximum return in their life. Even Jesus had to humble His own flesh and will to God’s on the night of His crucifixion. He said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” We often forget that Jesus also had emotions, a physical body, and a free will just like the rest of us. The difference between us and Him is that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection were God’s will for sin and death to be defeated. We cannot relate Jesus’ punishment to sickness and death in our life being God’s will. God defeated all pain and sorrow therefore His Will was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross (it is finished).
Romans tells us that living for Jesus by renewing our minds will prove (make known) the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Can you confidently say that you know God's will for your life? Not a lot of people can say yes to that question.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:17 NKJV
We are instructed to know God's will for our life. When you are praying, you need to be sure that you are not placing your will above God's. This step is emphasizing humbling yourself to God and submitting your life completely to Him.
Step 3: Give us this day our daily bread.
Jesus didn’t ask God for daily bread. He expected it. He said, “give us our daily bread.” He was showing us how to expect from God like how a child expects food from their parents. If a child is out playing in the yard and becomes hungry, it’s going to come into the house and say, “mommy I’m hungry”. A good parent will feed that child.
Asking God for things means you don’t expect Him to do it in the first place so you need to ask. However, asking God to make a way for things to open up is different because you know He will provide but you know that He also uses people to make His will come to pass.
God always uses people to demonstrate His blessings. Think about it for a moment. You will never find money appear out of thin air. That would be counterfeit and God is a just God. He would never do that. The only way for money to appear in your life is through a person. God uses us to bless others. Praying that God sends laborers into your life would be a better prayer than asking God to give you more money.
King David understood this concept of expecting from the Lord. This is what he wrote in the Scriptures:
Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Psalm 118:25
He didn't ask God for prosperity, he expected it. Here is an analogy that might help you further understand this concept. When somebody dies, they will leave a will behind to disperse their possessions. Many children can expect to receive an inheritance when a parent dies. The Bible actually instructs parents to leave an inheritance behind for their children. So, let me rephrase that. A good parent will leave an inheritance behind for their children. As children, you can expect that in the future. You don't have to ask them for the inheritance after they pass. It will automatically be given to you as the will expresses.
In essence, the Word of God is God's will for His children, and not only did Jesus die to disperse that will but Jesus was also the executor of His own will. No one else in the world can ever say they've done that. In His Word (will) you will find every blessing that rightfully belongs to you as your inheritance. You do not need to ask for what is rightfully yours. It's yours! Claim it as yours! This isn't just applying to finances but everything. If you are struggling with healing, then get the Word open and find out what it says about the healing Jesus purchased and gave to you as your inheritance.
Step 4: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
This prayer was BC (Before Crucifixion). This was not a prayer on the New Covenant side of the cross. Just because the Gospels are in the “New Testament”, the New Covenant doesn’t start until Jesus died and rose again”. God has already forgiven all of our sins, past, present, and even future sins. He placed them all on Jesus and sacrificed Him to bury those sins forever and He raised us up with Jesus into a new life of righteousness, AMEN!
But, if you do not forgive others it’s because you don’t know how much you’ve been forgiven which means you probably aren’t born again (Read Matthew 18:21-35 for Jesus’ commentary on this).
Step 5: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Many people believe that this verse implies that God leads us into temptation, so we pray that He doesn’t do that to us. Wrong. James says that God can not (not will not) tempt us with evil neither can He be tempted. In fact, David said in the Psalms, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." We walk into temptation through our own decisions.
This is simply a request for guidance so that we can be delivered from evil. The Father would no more lead us into temptation than He would withhold our daily bread. But, as stated in James 4:2, “ye have not, because ye ask not.” Both “give us...our daily bread” and “lead us not into temptation” are simply requests for what has already been provided for us. This part of prayer serves as a reminder to us of God’s promised protection (Psalms 91:1-16) and gives us an opportunity to release our faith and appropriate what has already been provided.
Step 6: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
This prayer starts with praise (“hallowed be thy name,” Matthew 6:9) and ends with praise. This is how we are to pray. By starting and ending our prayers with praise, it keeps us from falling into complaining. It keeps us in faith.
When you go to God in prayer and all you do is complain, you are releasing the power of the devil in your life. You are so focused on all that’s wrong with your life and glorifying what Satan has done more than what God has done. That’s power pointed in the wrong direction.
Prayer is not your time to tell misinformed God about all of your problems. He knows them already. The way you become strengthened through prayer is by praising Him for all that He’s done and what He will do. After you have edified yourself in faith (praying in tongues is the best way to do that), then you are ready to rebuke the devil and claim that which is rightfully yours in Jesus’ Name!
Unlock the power of prayer in your life today by applying those simple but life-changing truths.
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