“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, 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. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’” Matthew 6:9-13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I tell you to pray without ceasing. I tell you always to pray. Jesus prayed and the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. There are many references to prayer and I reveal to you the words of many prayers of people throughout the Bible. I share with you prayers of Abraham, Hagar, Abraham’s servant, Isaac, and Jacob. Prayers of Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, Samuel, David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and other kings. Prayers of Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Daniel, Nehemiah, Job, and various prophets. And prayers of Zechariah, Mary, Jesus, Paul, and many others from the least to the greatest.
Prayer is very important. Very important. Why? It is the way you communicate with Me in a personal way.
Today I am beginning a new series of Life Lessons, it is the series, “LORD, Teach Us to Pray,” and the first Life Lesson is “What is prayer?” And that is where I am going to begin teaching you how to pray, you have to first know what it is to enjoy it as it was meant to be. It all started in a garden, walking together in the breezy time of the day. So let us begin to grow a garden of prayer in your heart, a garden enclosed, a secret place where we can meet face-to-face.
Prayer, simply put, is to know Me and the One I sent, Jesus Christ, in a personal, intimate way and all that entails. And My Son defined that as eternal life. “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3.
Prayer consists of three aspects: Fellowship, Partnership, and Stewardship, proceeding in that sequence throughout the day. And you should understand this from the pattern for prayer that My Son gave His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray. So let us begin there.
“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” And here begins fellowship. This begins when you first awaken in the morning, the greeting and the conversation. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:20-21. You are seated with Me in Jesus. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6. And you are coming to Me in Spirit and in truth with Jesus as your Great High Priest, good Shepherd and brother. I am His Father and your Father since you are in Him and when you received Him, you received the authority to be My children. Prayers come through Him but you talk directly with Me by My Spirit in you.
And this is where you cling to Me in love for you know My Name, and I reveal more and more of My Name to you as I did to Moses. “Because he has set his love on Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.” Psalm 91:14. And I share My Name with you, just as I did with Jesus. “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” John 17:11.
It is in fellowship that you ask Me questions and I answer them and I ask you questions and you answer them. It is here we share our thoughts, dreams, and very nature. Here is the place of answers, of revelation, of impartation, of bonding and union. Worship and adoration, praise and honor belong here. It is a holy sanctuary. Sanctify Me in your heart. It is you as My dwelling place, you as a temple of the Holy Spirit and that temple is holy. “For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” 1 Corinthians 3:17. It is a place of awesome wonders. It is where you touch the holy and the holy touches you. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” Revelation 4:8. “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” Revelation 4:11. I bring you to My holy mountain, Zion, and make you joyful in My house of prayer. Fellowship is a time of joy, the joy of a bridegroom with his bride. The joy of family union.
There is much more to talk about in fellowship, but let us move on to the next aspect, “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” This is partnership. This is getting Kingdom business done on earth. This is where your prayer goes out to every person, land, and nation as My Spirit directs. Here is where you intercede with My Son as directed in the Spirit. I do nothing without first revealing it to My prophets. Why? It is you who must speak out My plan into the earth so I can perform it. Here you are sending out My Word to deliver, save, heal, and bless. You are stopping storms, devastations, evil schemes of the devil against lives, stopping crimes, murders, insurrections, and wars. You can turn around governments and kingdoms if you will only take the time in prayer as I direct. You can stop earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes.
It is in partnership that you fulfill the promise of Jesus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14. Here is partnership in prayer. You intercede and Jesus performs the work in and through you.
Will you take the time? Intercessory prayer is powerful. It was the intercession of Moses that kept Me from destroying the people of Israel for their blatant sins of idolatry. I pardoned them more than ten times because of his intercession. And that was even why I parted the Red Sea. Moses cried out to Me in reverence as the people cried at him in irreverence.
Jesus called the disciples to be with Him (fellowship) and to send them out to preach and cast out demons (partnership). “And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons.” Mark 3:13-15. “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” Matthew 10:1. And he told them, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8.
And next, “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This is the stewardship aspect of prayer. Stewardship is about managing your life; it involves managing your heavenly account responsibly. It is here I teach you how to profit and the way you should go. The parable about the Master giving talents to his servants applies to this aspect of prayer.
I have blessed you in Christ Jesus with ALL spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. This is the account that Jesus spoke of, that moths and rust cannot corrode and thieves cannot break in and steal. It is your heavenly account that Paul mentioned in the law of giving and receiving. And Peter spoke of your heavenly account also. In this account there is healing, health, provision, protection, deliverance, wisdom, redemption, sanctification, righteousness, understanding, counsel, fortitude, strength, prosperity, and all you need for the life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance. In this account there is all sufficiency for you and an abundance for every good work. In it is all you need for life and godliness. It is unlimited, for I have given you the Kingdom. You can never exhaust it. As you use it and bless others as well, I put in a hundredfold interest.
And it is here in stewardship that you tithe, both spiritually of your spiritual gifts and physically of the finances, time, and gifts I give you to sow into My Work on earth. And both of these tithes are paid into the partnership account. You can think of each aspect of prayer as an account you are sowing into and giving out of. You sow into the fellowship account by spending time in communication (receiving back revelation, knowledge and impartation), worship, praise, and thanksgiving with Me. You sow into the partnership account with your tithes and offerings, whether they be spiritual or physical, intercessory prayer, praying in the spirit, and by giving of yourself to the work at hand that I point out to you and lead you to by My Spirit and by your good Shepherd. But all done in communication with Me. Unceasing prayer is the key to guidance and victory, to harvest and abundant life to the maximum.
Stewardship is of your own life and the gifts, talents, and spiritual blessings I have endowed to you. It is up to you to withdraw what is needed and manifest it into your life and world. I supplied it by grace and you take it by faith. In prayer I show you how to manage and expend your account. Lavishly. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” Ephesians 1:7-8. Do not be like the servant who buried his talent.
And in in stewardship, petition is made for things needed. It is here you come with confidence to My throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to supply the need right when you need it by making your withdrawals with Me. Hebrews 4:14-16. It is here you cast all your cares on Me because I care for you. It is here that Philippians 4 is fulfilled, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.
And how does the pattern of prayer given by Jesus close? Back to the worship of fellowship, “For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.” For that is what it is all about. And I share all that with you in Jesus. And that closes the day of unceasing prayer. And it starts again when you wake up. Each morning My mercies are new. I have something amazing and new to show you every day, and more than one thing, I fill your days with good things.
I love you. Come to Me and learn how to pray My way and you will find great joy, great revelation, and a whole new aspect of life. Isn’t it time you started to find the way back to Eden? Jesus has opened it.