Stepping Stones For Victorius Christ Centered Living #16 Praying Jesus's Way

 In my life, I have observed people praying publicly, and many have done so with long flowing poetic words that sounded beautiful, but it sort of felt like these folks were trying to impress all the folks around them; however, based on Jesus teachings, this is not the kind of praying God expects. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus compares two folks who were praying. One was a religious leader who exemplified just what I mentioned. The other was a man who simply bowed his head, beat upon his chest, and cried out to God in a 7 word prayer: "God be merciful unto me a sinner"  Of the two prayers, Jesus said God heard only the short prayer.  Even the Lord's Prayer, which is shown above, is a very short prayer, but it is one about which Jesus said, "This is how you should pray."  In this Stepping Stones blog, I want to describe 5 S's upon which Jesus bases His praying:

1.S for Secret:  He tells us to go into our closets to pray: Matthew 6:6-7

• And what is done in secret will be rewarded
• It is during the secret prayers, in our "closets," that we can pour out our hearts, and spend all the time we want with our Lord.
• This will be some of your sweetest fellowship in life.

2. S for Short, like the 7 word prayer or the Lord's prayer.

3. S for  Simple :We already demonstrated two examples. Check this out.

• I will say, depending on the location of the Lord's prayer, and given the translation
• The Lord's prayer is only 66 (Sixty-Six) words.  It is very simple but powerful!
• It covers everything needed to pray according to God's will.

4. S  for Sincere:  

• Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed until He literally sweated blood.
• James tells us the effectual fervent prayer of that accomplishes much. James 5:16

5. S for Specific:

• The words of the Lord's Prayer are specific.
• The seven word prayer is very specific.
• In John 17, which is Jesus's longest recorded prayer, is specific.
• When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the prayer He prayed was specific.

Therefore, if you really want to do some rock-solid praying, and if you want to pray Jesus's way, finally, if you actually want God to hear, and answer, your prayer. Keep It Simple Saint. Make those prayers Secret, Short, Simple, Sincere and Specific. Then you will be stepping on out on Jesus's Stepping Stones For Victorious Christ-Centered Living. You will be getting your prayers answered according to God's will.

God Bless You.

SoJourner