Teach us to pray

I have been receiving in the last few days a recurring request from several people asking for help in learning to pray. Something that seems so simple to us becomes complicated because we expect quick answers from God, according to our wishes and in accordance with our criteria of need. One of the main ingredients when cooking our time of Prayer is patience, which is also one of the fruits of the Spirit “Why are you downcast, my soul, And are you troubled within me? Wait on God; for I still have to praise him, my salvation and my God ”(Psalm 42.5).

The true need that every Christian has is to pray, that is a necessity, if we take into account that it is the only tool we have to be in contact with our Creator, there is no other way to maintain a relationship with Him, there is no another way in which we can communicate our feelings, anxieties, worries and although we know with all certainty that "Well, the word is not yet on my tongue, And behold, O Jehovah, you know it all" (Psalm 139.4), it is the only way we have to show our dependence on Him. It is true that God does not answer many of our prayers quickly and this is intended to maintain our perseverance in them.

In Ephesians chapter 6 Paul tells us about the armor of God and compares our weapons with the armor of a warrior, however, prayer is not included among them but at the end is mentioned as the atmosphere, well oxygenated, in which the Christian soldier must move. “Pray in the Spirit at all times, with requests and requests. Stay alert and persevere in prayer for all the saints ”(Ephesians 6.18).

When should we pray? The answer is blunt, at all times!

If we analyze our Christian life we will realize that the moment in which we pray the most is when tribulations come into our lives and how much this hurts us! But God sometimes has to allow us to go through our deserts so that we may seek Him with all our hearts. .

If we compare the quality and quantity of our prayers when we are in tribulation and when we are in bonanza, we will realize that there is a great difference. Prayer in good times should not be lacking because the only immutable thing is God, our situation can change in the blink of an eye, that is why we must not decline in our communion with Him.

There is in the word of God a whole series of details to take into account when praying, if we observe the prayer life of Jesus, we will realize that He was looking for a quiet hour, generally at night or early morning and also chose places quiet as deserts, a mountain, a garden or the edge of a beach.

His prayers were always correctly motivated and he prayed with sincerity and simplicity of heart because his communication was direct and only with the Father, he did not have to pray for others to see him as the Pharisees used to do (Mt 6.5-9) who did not pray to God, but they sought to be seen by men. This did not mean that Jesus did not pray in public when necessary, but that it demanded a disposition of the heart to do so, which they of course lacked.

When we are alone with God we can be ourselves, what could be in our life that is outside the knowledge of the Almighty? Our shame vanishes before his knowledge, our life is laid bare before his omniscience.

That is why our prayer must be focused and we must remove from ourselves the idle talk and repetition. God does not want to hear poetry repeated by us copying it to others, as if we were a record player repeating litanies over and over again. God wants to hear the poetry of our heart, the one that springs from our most intimate desires, from the most hidden areas of the spirit and our mind.

We do not have a dysfunctional Father, therefore our Father-Son relationship is a functional relationship, so we know that we can arrive confident before the throne of Grace.

If we search the model prayer that Christ showed us, not so that we repeat it as a litany, but so that we know how to address the Father, we will find several significant things:

Jesus begins the prayer with praise to God, asking that the great purposes of God come into our lives, his Kingdom in our hearts and on earth, he continues to ask for sustenance (and this includes material and spiritual sustenance) and forgiveness of our debts, which include our sins. He continues begging for protection for the future and ends with praise again.

This has been summarized by some with an acrostic taking the word HOUSE as follows:

C: Confession of sins . We know that sin separates us from God and becomes a hindrance for our prayers to ascend before the throne of God like pleasant incense. “If we affirm that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and do not have the truth. If we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we affirm that we have not sinned, we make him appear to be a liar and his word does not dwell in us ”1 John 1.8-10

A: Praise . Even though we are sure that he does not need it, God likes our praise because it is the only way we can show him how grateful we are for the things he has done in our life, the trust we have in him for what he will do and how much we recognize his attributes, which strengthens our relationship with a Father whom we know in a very intimate and personal way.

S: Supplications or requests . Our needs before the Father. What does he know in advance? We already know, but it is our way of showing our absolute dependence and trust in his wisdom and perfection to solve our problems.

A: Thanksgiving . It really is not that God needs us to be grateful for what he does in our life, it is we who need to acknowledge his magnificence and sovereignty.

There is nothing that escapes the control of God in the lives of His children, therefore, from our first breath to the last breath, we owe everything to Him, He is the force that moves us, He is everything in all .

Therefore, brothers, let us keep our atmosphere well oxygenated, let us pray at all times, we do not lose communion in good times because we do not know when the test will come. That these do not surprise us. Let us keep our lamps well stocked with oil and lit so that the light of prayer guides us on the path to eternity.