Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Prayer: The King and His Disciples
Scripture: Luke 11:1; Matthew 6:7
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Now in the last message we talked about how the wise men brought the King and Living God the gift of frankincense and this is symbolic of them bringing their prayers to the Lord. Now let's look at how Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. Now this may sound simple but for many in the Kingdom, it is completely misunderstood.
Luke 11:1: And it came to pass that as He was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
So in reading this Jesus had to teach prayer to the disciples. How many of us have been taught how to pray? Well what we see today is a far cry from what Jesus taught. Now before He goes into the prayer He tells them what not to do. Matthew 6:7: "But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before you ask Him." Now the first thing here is not the use of vain repetitions. In Exodus 30 the incense would burn from morning to evening and be burned again in the evening so the prayer was continuously renewed. What is known as the Lord's prayer is simply an example of how we should pray. Jesus did not want us to use that prayer in the sense of vain repetition. He wanted to teach us what we should ask for. Now in the Matthew 6 scripture we see Jesus tell the disciples that the Father already knows what you need.
The Lord's Prayer and many call it The Model Prayer is an example. Now it is obvious to us that the disciple desprately wanted to know how to pray in Luke 11:1. So Jesus teaches them. It amazes me that for years I recited and I know many other have and did not ever really be taught what it meant and what am I asking God for. The key is Jesus taught and we as Kingdom citizens need to do more teaching on prayer so that we can understand exactly what to pray for. The prayers of the saints for the most part is about getting something from God for themselves and not asking God for what is best for us and what we can do for Him.
See the disciples began to understand that in the Old Testament prayer was not actually a thing that was regularly offered up by the individual to God in a fashion that reflected the heart of the individual. Prayer back then was through the high priest of the Temple. Today we still see people going to a priest and confessing their sins for forgiveness and asking the priest to pray for them. But why would you have to go to another man for forgiveness and prayer when you have been given the right to go behind the veil yourself and to the throne and make you request known yourself? Religion has made some in the church think that the only person who has a true connection to God is the pastor or priest when in actuality everyone in the church (Body of Christ) has the same access to the throne.
In the next message we will look at the great request in prayer and how it impacts the culture of the Kingdom.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
