How can I teach someone to pray?
score:5
In Acts 4, after being arrested and subsequently released by the Council of Pharisees, Peter and John lead "their friends" in prayer:
24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Several things can be noted from this prayer.
- They immediately address God as "Sovereign Lord". They acknowledge his power and knowledge, but most importantly his status as King over his people.
- They go on to praise God for his works of creation ("heaven and earth and the sea")
- They quote Scripture in the prayer - scripture that they use to reinforce their later plea
- They reason with God. They say "you yourself say, why did the Gentiles rage? Look! They're raging now, they raged against Jesus! Show your power, protect us, enable us to keep preaching your word"
- It's gospel-centric. At the core of their prayer is "your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed."
- Their goal is not physical well-being, but the proclamation of the gospel. They say "look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word will all boldness." They don't ask for protection - all they care about is preaching the word of God.
- It was a pretty darn good prayer. The Holy Spirit shook the place! It was an edifying prayer - the Holy Spirit filled them and they continued in their goal to preach the word of God.
I expounded on this on because I find it a very good prayer, but there are plenty of others. It's a good rule of thumb, in my opinion, to take the prayers of the saints as templates. Peter and John were apostles - they asked Jesus how to pray - and they learned well!
Our church's Assistant Pastor preached a series on prayers of the bible once. Here's some of the passages he preached on:
- Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom: 1 Kings 3:1-15
- David's Prayer of Gratitude: 2 Samuel 7:18-28
- David's Prayer of Thanks: 1 Chronicles 29:10-22
- A Prayer for a Church Oppressed by Heresy: Colossians 1:9-14
- Part 1 & Part 2 of A Prayer For Boldness: Acts 4:24-31
- On Prayer itself: Phil. 4:6-7
Upvote:4
Many of the Psalms are simple expressions of prayer. They exhibit a wide range of emotions, including despair, anguish, pain, hope, rejoicing, faith, anger, and worship. Our relationship with God should allow us to voice these emotions much like the psalmists did.
Of course, the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 is an obvious pattern, but also David's prayer in 2 Samuel 7 and Jesus' own prayer in John 17.
More post
- 📝 Does Jesus's name lose authority in other languages? (Catholic)
- 📝 Seeking full text of St. John Chrysostom's homily "On the Cemetery's Name and the Cross"
- 📝 Can a priest add his own prayers to the Mass after the dismissal?
- 📝 Why does the Christian doctrine seem so far from the Bible?
- 📝 How is the New Covenant consistent with Deuteronomy 4:2?
- 📝 Why did Aquinas place so much credence in Aristotle?
- 📝 Can someone tell more about this artwork of Jesus Christ?
- 📝 Who is Mammon whom Jesus warned of in Sermon of the Mount?
- 📝 Where did people who lived in Jesus's time go to when they died?
- 📝 Who was the first Church Father to argue for executing heretics?
- 📝 Why do (some) Anglican vicars use 'sing-songy' voices?
- 📝 When was the first man created?
- 📝 Did Arminius believe Adam's actual guilt was imputed against all humanity?
- 📝 Seeming paradox arising from idea of eternal life
- 📝 Is Any New Testament Book Undisputed In Its Authorship?
- 📝 How do Roman Catholics explain their change in Eschatology?
- 📝 According to Christianity, is only the Christian faith a gift from God?
- 📝 If Jesus ascended to heaven as Michael the angel why is he still called a man?
- 📝 What is that passage in the Bible where Peter hopes that all will be saved?
- 📝 What did Jesus say about the end times?
- 📝 Is it given by God in human nature to be a creator too?
- 📝 Complete list of versification differences in the Tanakh
- 📝 Why did the reformers include the book of Hebrews in the canon?
- 📝 What is meant by the 'Confirmation' concerning the receiving of Holy Spirit in Acts 8:5-19?
- 📝 Saints in Heaven?
- 📝 What is a Council?
- 📝 What is the controversy/issue surrounding Jerusalem as Israel's capital?
- 📝 How can one judge how accurate a given Bible translation is?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for only Men being created in the image of God?
- 📝 When was the third heaven where God dwells created
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How can I teach someone to pray?
- 📝 How is it that someone who lived thousands of years ago can "represent" me?
- 📝 How can I be sure someone I know is going to Heaven?
- 📝 How can Pharisees turn someone from God if His grace is irresistible?
- 📝 Can one take up the cross of someone who is suffering from illnesses and carry them like Simon of Cyrene and pray that to God?
- 📝 How can I love someone that I do not truly know or understand?
- 📝 If the Ten Commandments say “thou shalt not kill” how can a Christian fight in a war?
- 📝 How can the Son not know what the Father knows?
- 📝 How can the sun be created after day and night?
- 📝 How can we trust the Bible after it has been translated to another language?
- 📝 How can one overcome lustful desires?
- 📝 How could Jacob wrestle with God if no one can see God and live?
- 📝 How can I tell the difference between the Moral law and other laws in the old testament?
- 📝 How can a loving God make a deal with the devil?
- 📝 How can a Wholly Good God Deliberately Create Evil?
- 📝 How can things considered bad when done by humans become good when God does them?
- 📝 According to believers in the inexorable damnation of the unreached, how is God not unfair for letting someone be born in unreachable conditions?
- 📝 How is it that an unchanging and omniscient God can have "regret" as He did in Gen 6:7?
- 📝 How can Heaven exist if we know that people in Hell will suffer?
- 📝 How can Protestants authoritatively declare something wrong or heretical under Sola Scriptura?
- 📝 Can we pray from any position?
- 📝 If the Holy Spirit is God, and God can not be in the presence of sin, then how can the Holy Spirit dwell in me a sinner?
- 📝 If Jesus is "God's Only Son" then how can we all be God's children?
- 📝 If jealousy is sin, how can God be jealous?
- 📝 According to Catholic doctrine, how can an angel be a saint?
- 📝 When the Bible says "forever," how can we tell it really means forever?
- 📝 How can we be sure our specific Christian confession is true, when every other Christian group claims that it's not?
- 📝 How can women be forbidden to speak and yet prophesy and speak in tongues?
- 📝 How can a Pope be chosen from outside the conclave?
- 📝 How much can holy water be diluted?