Prayer

Today was centered around the topic of prayer for me. It has been a subject that I have been tossing around in my head for quite some time. What is prayer really all about? I mean, I know what prayer does, i think i know what prayer consists of (that is the action part) but what does it all mean to me, my soul and my life.

Is prayer only an event that begins with a "Dear God" etc or can it be somthing continuous - a life that breathes prayer to God. I think that is what I want prayer to be for me. Prayer should be a constant searching for God's will in every situation with the end result that God's will for my life becomes my will. I want the desires of my heart to be the desires that God has for me.

In saying that, prayer should still involve time set aside to focus of the areas of my life or others lives that need specific prayer or that concern me. It is inevitable the the will of God is not always going to strike the exact direction that I want to take so it is vital that I dialogue with God or commune with him to understand those faults in the desires of my heart.

One of the things that has been bugging me about the Lords prayer is the way that so many people I have talked to recently have viewed the prayer as the best way that we can pray because that is how Jesus prayed. Firstly, as our senior pastor kindly pointed out on Sunday, Jesus would have never prayed this prayer for him self as the "forgive us our sins" doesn't particuarliy resound with the perception that the bible portrays of Jesus as sin-less. However, the Lord's prayer does provide us with an excellent structure as to how we could pray.

1. Our father who is in heaven hallowed be they name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven = pray that gods will work through you and others to do Gods will
2. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us = pretty literal, pray for forgiveness for the things that you have done wrong (but you will only be forgiven if you forgive others first)
3. Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil = we know that as followers of God, we will be hated by the world (as the world hated Jesus) so we pray that God will protect us and those that do his work on earth from evil and the things in life that tempt us to do wrong.
4. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever = praise God for his awesome power and for the great things he has done in you life and the lives of others around you.

(NB: this is based on my perception of the bible and is what i currently percieve the lords prayer to mean)

Our church is currently looking at prayer and how it should be reflected in our lives. Tash (who leads a worship band with me) and I got together today to write a version of The Lords Prayer for our congregation. Its interesting the way that God is working through us to create music that can speak (hopefully) directly to the hearts of the youth we serve. I must say I really love working with Tash, I don't know where the words she writes (this was an abstraction of the lords prayer, not a direct transcription) come from, but they seriously rock ass and I know they have to come from God. (No tash i didnt put that there coz i know your gonna read it soon)