The Effectual Prayer Life Of A Believer.
The Believer’s Prayer Must Be Kingdom-Focused
This is how you should pray: ‘Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.”Matthew 6:9-15.
Throughout the entire earthly ministry of Jesus Christ took every opportunity to reveal the Father’s will; this included the prayer lives of believers. ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name . There has to be, in our lives, the firm foundation of praying from the strength of a living relationship with the Father, through our union with Jesus Christ.
Jesus directs the believer to “Our Father in heaven.” Prayer is therefore not simply an attempt to obtain something from Almighty God; it is communion with the Father. When we enter into prayer, it is imperative to gain the revelation that we are never approaching the Father as strangers, unknown to Him; we also need to know that we are approaching our Heavenly Father who already knows what is needed. He is aware of our every circumstance and situation.
This provides our prayer life a solid, rock-solid foundation of confidence, relationship, and trust rather than fear or empty repetition. Jesus did not teach His disciples to pray merely for their personal needs. He taught them first to seek the Father, His Name, His Kingdom, and His will. Prayer therefore brings the believer into alignment with the purposes of God and places the Kingdom at the centre of his or her desires.
Hallowed be Your name.”Jesus’ admonishment for believers was to instruct us that before we ask for our personal provision, He teaches that the Father’s Name must be honoured. The believer’s first concern in prayer is that Almighty God Himself would be glorified. This is a revelation that goes very often over our heads as it were, and we fail to understand that Prayer is therefore not centred solely upon our self-interest, but upon the character, Name, and purposes of the Father.
Jesus instruction was: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”This is the heart of kingdom prayer. The believer is taught to ask that the rule and purposes of the Father would be established on earth. To pray “Your Kingdom come” is to ask that Almighty God’s authority, His righteousness, His truth, and His ultimate will and purposes would be manifested in the lives of people and circumstances.
This is why Jesus went further when He said: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We must understand that Jesus joins the coming of the Kingdom with the prayer: Kingdom prayer is surrendered prayer.
We must understand that in prayer we are not seeking to bring Father’s will into agreement with our own; rather, we are to seek to bring our own heart and desires into agreement with the will of the Father. Prayer must therefore become a place where the believer submits every earthly circumstance to the Father’s heavenly authority.