Prayer:

The motive of God to pray is love… For man to hear God and obey… is relationship… God creates yet man is completed in that perfect love without knowing nor understanding any other love… for there is none…

There is no human selfish self-serving love in the Garden only the perfect love of God that binds Adam to Eve and both to God… here we see the trinity of creation to recreate in perfect love… as she is physically one with Adam and spiritually one with him it is in and with the perfect love of God creation was to continue… but they disobeyed before a child was born… so all children are removed from the perfect love and raised in selfish love… until Jesus… when born again transforms life back into the perfect love of God… in Jesus… and children are taught in words and loving example the perfect love of Jesus… by whom they will be saved.

The selfishness of Satan is not broached at this point until Eve is posed a question by another “Voice” Satan (Who do you hear today… this is the vital importance of praying and knowing the voice of God) The sly undermining begins with a question that congers an answer that is entrance into deception.  “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?” the fruit of that tree that is forbidden… if we eat it we shall die! “That’s not true; you will not die” Advice from a voice other than God! It is only when she disobeys and rebelliously eats of the fruit believing the lie… that the lust of the material blinds the perfect into the lie… and another love selfishly motivated enters the life of man. It is reflected in Eve giving the fruit to Adam to eat… a voice other than God only now selfishly human. (Just one lie determines the fate of mankind this is disobedience) Note: Selfishness that believes a lie offers it to another as if it were truth.

There is no truth without perfect love!                         

Man was created to know God and to hear God and obey God…This communication is… communion… or perfect unity between God and man… it is not a two way discussion… it is to hear… and to hear… only His voice and obey… (to understand is to review that the only time Jesus asks in His life with a plea for Himself… it is met with “Your will not mine” and this demonstrating to us… we in all appeals of self… are to yield to hearing and obeying) this is how God created us in our purpose… when sin repugnantly chose to rebelliously disobey in opposition to hear God and opened ourselves to hear another voice… man chose to believe a lie… that has both left a debt on our soul removed from all the love there is forever… with a payment of the fear of death and to face the loss of eternity with the sting of annihilation… The lust of the material is in opposition to obedience to our first love… who and what do we love?

The way back… To God… Has come into the world… a light that exposes death… and the father of lies… a love that overcomes death… Jesus to whom we can only approach through being drawn by the love of Our Father… brings to light the once unknown name of God… as “Savior”… who comes out of perfect love… to remove the sin that separates… sent by love to be that example (His/our sacrifice of life… “unless the seed falls to the ground and “Dies” to itself… Present your bodies as a living sacrifice… This is love Jesus laid down His life for us so we may lay down our lives for each other)  From the first… (The example of the twelve) and to all that hear His voice… “Follow Me” From here into eternity! Martyrdom is not an option… like Christ we who follow are living sacrifices… our lives are worthless without God… and Him directing our every step (By the Holy Spirit) therefore we are created to pray! (To hear know and obey) Without God we are caught up in another love that is based on a lie… knowing the difference is not the answer… Satan knows the difference… he is still in rebellion. We come into obedience to God removing ourselves from selfish rebellious disobedience and that is not a singular choice… it is choosing to live moment to moment day by day directed into obedience by God through hearing His voice in Prayer… guided by scripture… No longer driven by self we live in the Spirit of Jesus!

This is entrance into prayer anew… as in the garden… in Jesus and through Jesus… His very first step is in serving man… is the demonstration of “Led by the Holy Spirit into the prayer closet of the wilderness alone with the Father to fast and to pray!) We begin following here… in our closet… then joining together as in the upper room praying together… daily… here is our life following… the beginning of “Born again” is hearing… as we are called… faith comes by hearing… the voice of God!

To pray is the only way to relationship (“I am the way”) There is no other truth (“I am the truth” There is no truth without love) There is no other life (“I am the life”… life without Jesus is death) to hear God as Jesus heard His father… in all He… now we say and do…

Praying:

What appears to be a willful act of good or for that matter any intention… needs to be reexamined in light of God’s heart… From our creation thus is our purpose… to hear and obey… Scripture illuminates everything He would have us know but only in part…to that power of grace that He reveals between Him and His creation… in and through listening … which is prayer. It is Scripture that directs… through teaching but explicitly through example… demonstrating thus illuminates with clarity the power of prayer connecting us to Him… Praying is communion… prayer is the connection of man humbled before His creator to obey just as Jesus obeyed… as opposed to a conversation… Heart to heart. Our relationship is based on His will for us in all things and that is the purpose of our lives… obedience sustains our purpose… God speaks we listen and now we know what to obey. Not in our mind or of our methodology… it is communion: the joining of God to man created by Him on His behalf… one with God by His intent… His plan… His purpose for man from the beginning of creation… in what place man has with Him. “That we may be one” “As you are in me and I am in you” More much more than words! And nowhere more exemplified than in and through the entrance of Jesus as man and the personification of His life… as man as God… perfectly one… and… “His Prayer”… that we would… join Him… in that relationship…to be one as God is one… (as intended in the garden before the fall) and it has been a long fall with the appeal of many voices… lying to us… distracting us… this won’t hurt you… this feels good… you’ll love this… this won’t kill you!

This place in prayer… created by God therefore implemented… purposely caused and directed by God… it is not arbitrary to man nor to man’s thinking and especially not to man’s feelings… ideas… ideals or any of man’s weaknesses… all of which evolved in the decadent mind of man since the fall from grace. It is not a cry in our weakness… nor a disposition of our carnal or selfish personhood… it is now a heart cry of need in our finding the emptiness… that sin has enveloped us in remote isolated selfishness… separated from His love. In prayer is in Jesus… I in them… them in me… Not necessarily understood but often brought to our attention by hearing in another… something more (The voice of God). If it were of our weakness and not our inner most need of God himself we will not have relationship but attempt to engage God to be our assistant (Our personal Santa…a Genie granting wishes) whenever we have want. It is God who draws us into relationship to Jesus that we may “Follow” by means of hearing and obeying into communion is learned and given through Prayer. What is oneness… obedience to the will of God… which begins in prayer… which is given by God for us to obey to have relationship… no one… not one is saved… without prayer.

To need God is to give up on ourselves… realizing we’re empty of love in the throes of incomplete… an indescribable indefinable void… something is missing and it has gotten my attention… drawn by the love of God… the missing is the very approach to God… prayer seeks by faith and faith works by His love… thus how to proceed?

The description of which may be realized in seek… knock… ask. The destination is an invitation… God given… in His drawing of man’s heart… to Jesus.  Man cannot ask or knock or seek without an invitation this is the root of selfishness today we have been taught that we can of our own volition our selfish will enter into a relationship without being drawn… Drawn is an invitation to the heart by the love of the Father introducing love in its perfection… to man… Jesus. Without the love drawing us we have a reasonable facsimile… Religiosity… man cannot in our fallen state build a way into relationship with God… it is God who initiates… God draws us… to Jesus… where we come into prayer made aware of our need of Him… we hear… and begin obedience by following… then baptism in water… and baptism in the Holy Spirit.   

How do we get here is exceeded by now we are drawn here. To know we are without… to know we are not worthy… to feel our sinfulness… as Peter “Depart from me I am a sinful man” What’s missing?… repentance! To turn away from what we are to life in Christ Jesus… “Following” This and only this is entrance into transformation… complete change… as God enters our life we are or should be fleeing self. As the twelve… left everything… to follow. Death to the old so we can live in the new… what God created us for… before sin entered… To be complete… not to patch the void as… you cannot patch old wine skins. It is here the choice of faith to continue in this pursuit of “now connected”… becomes a choice to continue to pray or attempt to continue by other means… which will lead us back to prayer or we will find religiosity as the replacement… (Religiosity: a sentimentality of emotionalism to feel something other than God yet call it God or a return to the law or both… it is a look alike void of love…)

Prayer was the first line of communication since the creation of man… it simply is in hearing and obeying… it has not changed although man has developed his own intentions about how prayer works. A fault that is so wide spread in the universal body Church… that prayer is degenerated into absence of communion. An error especially in view of scripture that in the mind of man as it becomes a mental assent to God without relationship… it is in fact a relationship of man to reasonableness or thinking above the love of God… thus love becomes another teaching amid the myriad of lessons rather than the motive of all teaching… Jesus is “God so loved…” Thus prayer evolved into a platform of want… built on a tenuous… ask God… mostly for what I often can do… or we can do or do not want to do or apply in practical means of humble servitude. Please feed my neighbor… or not find solace in at all… Then there is prayer that becomes degenerated by not getting what I want. Many young people pray for loved ones and don’t get the answer they had hoped for and become disillusioned and despondent… grow up get saved and carry in the depths of our mind prayer don’t work… so we make little or no effort… because no one teaches us how to pray…

In prayer… in our prayer closet we will be led by the Spirit to pray together… where Jesus… in His loving presence… is in our midst… this establishes life as the twelve… together… to accomplish His will… now we as they…

Jesus is led by the Spirit to pray… before any action taken on His behalf toward man “Follow me” is Jesus following the Holy Spirit! Demonstrating relationship in hearing knowing and then doing as God purposes… This is clearly seen in who baptizes who… John submits obediently to selfless humility in Jesus… he was as are we created to humbly submit. Purpose in man begins in humility… the realization of our need of God… for we are nothing… it is when we believe we are something our selfishness (Self-love) competes with perfect love for control of our life…

Jesus leaves this life… to meet us in another place… do we see or even get a glimpse of prayer as the place to have communion that we may hear and act accordingly… to arrive at our destination to be with Him in His love forever… How? Our love is demonstrated by reflection in the path created for us in His purpose to be directed by His voice… “My sheep know my voice… and follow me here into eternal life!”

Prayer gives us access to God to hear and know His will and has provided us with the Holy Spirit to fulfill His direction and purpose He created us for… we are led as He was led…

This is the origin of prayer “God breathed life into man” and rather than having spoken man into creation Man has access to God in His entirety through listening… because he can do all things as instructed. Man is not spoken into being… man is of God’s breath… that what God speaks is the continuing of His will… as man hears and is the physical effort or extension of His will on Earth. (God/Spirit speaks to the spirit of man/physical to act in the material)  This is the life line of God’s voice to accomplish His will… we are created in His purpose… Noah fulfilled God’s purpose as a man… unknowingly for all mankind by listening and obeying… prayerful communion to accomplish God’s will… nothing’s changed except man today no longer having a prayer life that listens…

Although man continues to plunge and prod along with man-made concepts of prayer it is only because man has not taken the time to pray faithfully to hear and know the voice of God.

Armed with a hit and miss prayer life… the reliance on scripture has all but totality dismissed prayer as the essence of relationship to God… because it requires faith and faith alone to hear and know and accomplish Gods will and purpose for us. Fear of uncertainty is a lack of wisdom that prayer supply’s ( You pray for wisdom) and are blind… we don’t trade prayer for scripture… we acknowledge scripture defines prayer and is read in light of Prayer (Scripture does not save… Prayer saves and brings us into relationship so scripture has meaning) Accepting “sola” scripture man can willfully bring his own will to bear. How? Why? Because scripture read by selfish man leans on the decadent mind and deceitful heart therefore becomes loveless. One man leadership in Churches proves the point. He sent us two by two. Where is obedience? The only “Sola” is Jesus!

Sola Scriptura: is self-contradicting in that scripture never says it is the only way to know God and in view of Jesus He says believe in me… ergo “Faith comes by hearing…” hearing the voice of Jesus… our view is tainted by just how that happens… as defined by man not God.

Man makes scripture “Apostolic” emphatically “No” It was assembled by prayerful men in the Holy Spirit to be read not by the mind of man but through prayer… men with the mind of Christ. Was Noah… Abraham… Moses… David… in the flesh… were they selfishly accomplishing God’s will? Or were they men of prayer to such devotion to hear God and accomplish His will… hanging on every word… even in their sin of disobeying still coming back to Him and His will by falling on their faces in praying for forgiveness… we are in need of falling on our faces… and more so of forgiveness… Men are Apostolic because they are fallible… and humbly in need of forgiveness… Not reading forgiveness… but praying for it! This is relationship… seen in our need of God. You’re not forgiven because you read or know scripture your forgiven because you humbly pray for it… 

We are connected to God in two ways (remembering He created these ways/for our benefit) God spoke the material world into being…

1. He took that which He created by speaking into being… matter and…
2. He breathed His Spirit of His being into man… ergo we are Material and Spiritual… Made of Him… and of Him personally… Thus we have man as a dual being created for and by God for God’s purpose. The control was given to the spirit… but with it choice to leave the spirit which gives relationship to perfect love yet… neither knowing nor experiencing the alternative of a selfish self-serving love in the image of the fallen angel… Satan. Sin directs and leads to his world ruled by selfishness… contrary as how and where and why God created us in and of Himself (God is love) to be selfless sacrifices. This basis of love as opposed to selfish self-serving evil in the image of Satan… the love of God in the Garden… was perfect a selfless sacrifice of God and both were in God… the process of which was lost by sin and brought by love and bought through Jesus… in His sacrifice… in His life and death. Our concept today is blind to the original purpose of man now found in Jesus… How do we live… selfishly as we were born in sin or born again into a life living as and for Jesus… Him leading the way… by His Spirit in us… follow me is obedience…
3. The depository of His spirit is not as one might conceive in our material being but rather in our spiritual man within… The planned target of God’s breath is… our soul… to define our soul is that place in us subject to God to Have personal relationship. His love therefore is for the reflection of His love “His Image” within man… constant with His will. Yet… to give man this ability to know and respond to Him. He has given man within His material being choice to confine man’s life to God… thus knowing God in and by His perfect love enacted by obedience. Jesus is perfectly obedient… To lead us back to our place before the fall Thus “Follow me”… teaching us verbally and by living example… we in order to “follow… into eternity” must obey. Obey what? Knowing and hearing His voice as they did in the garden and as Jesus hears every word of “Our” Father.

Note: We obey because we want to… we are drawn to Jesus… and desire to be in His love and arrive in eternity… doing whatever is planned along the way… willfully…

2. Choice makes way to give man opportunity to love as God through the Holy Spirit or follow the path of the fallen angel… here… God making man less than angels but having a place to exceed our relationship to Him… above angels. No place is given nor can we ever fathom this love for man than in God coming to us as a man. Thus Him taking man’s place by example to demonstrate by His own life restoration into eternity… this redefined by the chosen twelve to be martyrs… as was Jesus.

3. We are the result of His Heart thus His works (handy work) seen as creation/created made by Him-for Him-for His purpose… we are nothing without Him. We can do nothing without Him… save die… what we do or can do without Him is to defy Him… being in opposition to Him and His purpose for us… this is the way of carnal or selfish men.

1. We are creatures confined by existence (every parameter of our being adjunct to His will) To God spiritual and the world material (created to encapsulate the spirit surrounded by the material yet led)… for us to exist in. We are His material creation made to function connected by His love in the Spiritual image of our being… And this… before the fall from the Grace… as we selfishly unconnected by a rebellious choice. Severed from the direct and/or directed love of God… The condition of relationship in faith reveals He walked with us… and returned to walk with us in Christ Jesus. And delivered us from eternal death by His selfless sacrifice.

1. We are pronounced by Him to be “Made in His image” Extension of-reflection of-essence of (Love/as beloved) In Him-of Him-but; nowhere more respondent than as part of His existence/plan (As love… one in the same) His idea/ideal-physical stature/enabled by His Spirit/Breath/essence-being as His intent. We were made to be like Him. And in this fashion He comes into the world.

1. Responding to Him by no other means but obedience-thus in being… ergo acting according to His will-this centered/on hinged by choice-(enters the heart of love/intent/by means of/acts/according to His will). Love reflects love by its response to act in love by loving… ergo obedience. “Love one another as I love” Love is in God… obedience… obvious by Satan’s fall and Eve’s fall choosing disobedience. This one detail of freedom to choose is the essence of motive… Why God creates/acts/is by choice… love can be selfless as one choice and selfish as the alternative to God who is love. Love responds to love/as sameness thus perfect (Selfless/sacrifice in that it has an alternative/other choice) love does not have to respond therefore it is a willful act or choice. It responds in reflection of perfect as perfect. Perfect love is the basis of humility and it responds accordingly but it is not a demand- it/we have choice… acting in response (enactment/reproduction/reflection/sameness) for there is but one “Perfect love” who enters His creation in part through this breath/spirit/love. Thus created out of perfect love the whole is intact, connected by the core quintessence (Motive) love (Perfect without malicious selfless and sacrificial). We were created to be like Him now in Jesus we end our born in life experience for a born again opportunity to follow… born again we “Follow” Him (ending rebellion with obedience) Him in all we do… Loving as He… as our path to heaven (to be with Him forever) gives opportunity to invite others to join us in our pilgrimage… as He gives us utterance.

Henceforth “I will spit you out of my mouth is a choice neither for nor against… it is purely selfish to reject the given for or against.

1. There is a small insight into our place in our organic structure to realize the simplicity of the need to hear. In the womb one of if not the very first stimuli a baby becomes aware of… is the mothers heart beat and then the mother’s voice. Familiarity… security… connection… love… Maybe our realization of this process may help us in our relationship to God. To hear and know His heart beat… to be familiar with Him… to trust… to connect as in communion… to know His love… and hear His voice confirming our existence… a child of our Father. We are called…

4. Knock… Seek… ask… Again to read this is to know that whenever man attempts and/or initiates in any way invoking God in mind heart or vocally… it is conceived and granted by God… as if we appear that man can without God making a way for us to reach Him than we must realize… when man sinned all mankind was separated from God forever… unless God opens that door for us to meet with Him… which is so personal to God that He comes Himself as a man. Thus inquiry is an invitation to meet Jesus… designed by Him for man’s sake… a desire outside of selfish is to knock… to seek… to ask… the motive is the perfect love of God missing in man.

5. The meeting therefore is prearranged. We can agree or we can enter with an agenda. What we have here… is seen in what appears to be a total misunderstanding of man in His asking and God responding to the deaf “You who have ears” the very contention of what is said and what is heard. Introducing our want negates our need and we are content to try to make some reasonable acceptance placating our minds with what He says. Obedience or man-made contrivance… do we arbitrarily know or tell God what is needed… can we… or do we know His purpose? “I know your need before you ask”

6. Man arranges the meeting in an effort to make a request which appears to be reasonable but is answered by God in His loving mercy with the hope that our heart will give way to our desires and find His desires for us sufficient. “Seek ye first…” is a small insight in the area of requests before our knowing His will… while we ask mostly out of turn… to know God is realization of who does the talking and who does the listening. Humility begins and/or ends here…

The example of motive speaks. Just as the twelve learned on their journey… they followed… and are we aware that they were seeking the kingdom… First…“Lord where shall we go… you have the words of eternal life” thus their prayer life is not mentioned… because it is irrelevant to the prayer life of Jesus at this point. Before He is slain… He instructs Peter to gather them to pray… where the presence of Jesus is explicit “He appears”

It is here prayer is revealed to man… repeating His basic teaching… “Pray for the laborers…” This expresses His priority… 1. Pray… 2. His laborers 3. His harvest

7. Even Jesus is led!… By listening… Do we ever realize or suppose… He is teaching by example… He is led by God of the Holy Spirit through praying. Listening to every word of our father. Simply because they were asked to follow… wrong motives are soon found out… the uninvited are scattered with the truth explained as parabolic… “This is my body… this is my blood…” Objectively can man ask God anything and expect an answer.  Our lack of humility and our denial of self-subjugation “Pick up your cross… deny yourself… daily… DAILY!” Has become like most scripture something we say but do not live.

8. We must now see that the twelve were emulating His instruction on prayer first by praying in their own prayer closets as they observed Him praying at night and going off on His own away from them to pray… this gave a great insight into how powerful prayer was in the upper room them praying together (remember Jesus instructed them to go there and pray) They were in one accord or perfect unity because they were prayed up… obedient servants before they gathered. Here is prayer… Jesus said follow me to the twelve and they obeyed and followed… He spoke they heard and obeyed… save one. They were in prayer from the start…

9. The turning point is in listening… who has ears… todays theology is the content of parables is rendered examinable as a mental assent… Praying has given way as archaic to an intellectual approach to scripture… ignoring “…knowledge puffs up a person with pride but love builds up” Human understanding is much confused because the mercy Jesus brings gives opportunity for correction “Go and sin no more” which observed logically is excusable… not so… this is not you or I addressing the woman in question… this is God speaking. Understanding but the source is not the mind… we are inherent with sinful thought… it is the mind of God… the mind of Christ we need through death to self… death to our selfish ambition… our self-appraisal… our unaware contempt for God by rising to the occasion without consent… and there it is in Christ… it is the “in” Jesus not of ourselves or our thinking no matter how well it appears… 

Now we can approach the thus far unquestionable request of the twelve… in light of motive and God addressing their asking…

“Teach us to pray”

10. What is both memorable in every act of teaching about and repeated as the optimal… prayer goes without introspection of the will of God… what appears to be a great teaching on prayer

(It is but contrary to our obvious thinking)

which now needs to be seen in light of God not just accepting mans need to pray without relationship… we believe let’s say what Jesus said how wrong can it be… so we have come to believe rote is both reasonably acceptable and is sanctified by God. Repetition is formula instead of the presence of God man cuts just short of enduring and is satisfied with some kind of reminder made real by repetition… Because Jesus taught us these words without our seeing and knowing His will we subject our understanding in error of our motive… which should be His. Not as we make it… But as He makes it and reveals it!

The reasonability of their asking is in the dangling thread that John’s disciples asked John how to pray in some way makes asking… as it were in the will of God. Why? Is because John’s disciples of which John and Andrew were affiliated insures God’s will? “John’s disciples ask therefore we can?” Can and was there asking Jesus how to pray out of context or in and of fleshly desires no matter how it may appear? Remember: God… here in Jesus knows their need.

Jesus love for John the baptizer and His summation of Him as a prophet may speak more directly to this than may have previously been considered.

1. John is created simply to precede and announce the way of the coming of Jesus.
2. They are not the same (John and Jesus other than what people say) in their methods… Johns disciples “fast” while The disciples of Christ do not presently fast while “The Bridegroom” is with them…”
3. “I assure you that John the Baptist is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John.”
4. John performed no miracles. He was designated and purposed for God to introduce Jesus.

This may or may not give insight to the dynamic of the essence of prayer until we observe prayer in light of the Holy Spirit which no way diminishes this God given wisdom but expands it’s meaning to shed light on our prayer life. John’s disciples were given to the law under the old covenant…what John taught was under the law… even teaching prayer… Jesus brings prayer to a completely different place and that is prayer as it was in the beginning in the garden. This concept of prayer is now seen in Jesus as communion with “Our” Father… The correction in the instruction of Jesus… Where God is… who God is… and us in being drawn into a wholly new context of the meaning of prayer…

The conditions are quite clear… Remember “They asked” Jesus than instructs the basis of prayer…

“This, then, is how you should pray”: “Our Father in heaven”: (“Our” Jesus includes us… He is ours…we are His…as we are made one with Jesus and everyone that prays… further Jesus now tells us He… God…is their/our Father an insight into relationship that had not existed to this point and now we are the children of God as is He…and forever and always we will refer to Him personally and together as Father)

May your holy name be honored; (We honor and give glory and praise to Him on the throne) (Note: The Jews did not know His name… they are instructed “now” because we do know His name… “Salvation… God with us” Jesus)

Mat 6:10  thy Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

(I am here before you and you ask me to pray… I am with you… the Kingdom has come indeed… Jesus is by name ”God with us” now present in their hearing) (The Kingdom is in you… it is come in and through me to deposit in you)

Mat 6:11  Give us today the food we need… “Our daily bread”

(“I am the bread of life!” all the sustenance we will ever need… Jesus is our provision)

Mat 6:12  Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. (There is no mention of the word love… because Jesus reiterates you will fail but I will forgive you if you are humble… to stay in my love you will humbly forgive as you’ve been forgiven) our response is humble obedience (obedience is an act of love) as instructed to hearts of men who are willing and desirous…

Mat 6:13  Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us from the test and safe from the Evil One.’

(This is why we need to pray and pray without ceasing… praying continually thus staying in His presence keeps us from the test)(Faith is exercised in prayer)

Mat 6:14  “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. (Please! Note: the imperative is repeated… we will humble ourselves under any and all circumstances  and “Forgive”)

Mat 6:15  But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done. It is more than the act of forgiving… it is in the motive gained through our intent in Humility… we approach God humbled before Him or we are arrogant in our attitude that we have equal footing… as did Judas and His father Satan…

They asked Jesus to teach them to pray… The only asking we should ever have is in obedience to His instruction “Speak when you are spoken to” Humility in our need of Jesus… is our need to exist… before our creator… by the feeding on the life giving “Manna” from heaven our “Daily bread of life” we need not ask as the twelve did… He is not only here with us… He is in us. Our bread fills us! So much taught about our “Privilege” to ask… forgetting He came to us not in our asking… but in His plan to answer our need… Faith which works by love is the silent reminder of our place before God…

The question never asked… Is this the object of God… How and why God wants us to pray and His means to teach prayer… is answered in… how Jesus prayed… this is the perfect example…  

1. Is it a question “Teach us to pray… as John the Baptist’s disciples asked him to pray” asked in the reasonableness of the carnal man answered in God’s mercy as to what is the correct way to pray and what to pray? Do we ask God how to pray or can we now see prayer is not only of His design it is the first and only step into unity with Him… Communion in how we were created… before sin entered.
2. We have observed prayer in… The response of Jesus to everyone… we no longer need to ask what we need… Jesus has told us what we need…
3. The basis of all prayer finds a new insight since Pentecost… a review of the Prayer of Jesus… in revelation of The Holy Spirit

“This, then, is how you should pray”: This opening line is the door to our instruction Who do you ask? Is clarified and qualified by… Who can instruct these words to God but God…  you have asked in your idea that you can ask as others have asked… so here is my credentials my identity… let me introduce you to… “Our Father”… Jesus is man… He came as man… one of us… Son of God… yet God. He alone declares God as the Father to whom all pray. This is instruction: To be obeyed: not in what you ask but in whom you ask… Inclusion/unity/oneness/relations/family are a given in prayer. We who are called have chosen to follow Him… are not just citizens of the Earth we are the children of God. The beginning of the outline of His new covenant is revealed “Relationship” realizes their following Him… not in “Why” but in who… He walked with us in the Garden… now He came to walk with us as a man… to teach us how to walk with Him… as He walked… As is His relationship to His/Our Father… Perfect love…is now to us His family who has faith in Him… to follow.  As He is… in humility to God is as are we… This opening line to prayer unites us all in His love. Declaring prayer is the first step into relationship and an act of our faith as family members… in His perfect unity.

“Who is in Heaven” … May your holy name be honored… We give honor and blessings and praise to you… “Let all that is within us bless His holy name!” Jesus is your name! for every believer… Jesus is God!

“Thy Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. “The kingdom of God has come to you” “I”have brought it to you… for you… “The Kingdom of God is in you” “I am the light of the world and have shared the light of my love… Now you are light ” I will give you my Spirit… You have asked me to teach you to pray I am the answer to all prayer… There is no other truth… no other way… no other life… but to follow… you who have ears…

Give us today the food we need… “Our daily bread” I am the bread of life! I am the bread you seek… all prayers are answered in hearing me… I am your provision… I provide… “My sheep (Those that faithfully follow) know my voice and do my will… (If I am not enough you will hear other voices and eat from another table and drink from another cup)

“Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us” Who can talk about forgiveness or grant it… but God! Our flesh still rebels and too often rants against you… forgive us… You have taken our sin upon you… Humbled by our freedom to be in your love… (We love even our enemies do good to them and pray for them “Forgive them they know not what they do” as you have) We recognize what they have done to you and are ready to share in your suffering for us “Unless we suffer with you we shall not be glorified with you” “This is love: Jesus gave His life for us that we may lay down our lives for each other” we forgive those who offend us… as an act of love… so be it!

“Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us from the test and safe from the Evil One” We are sometimes fickle… The lusts of the world temp us… keep us from these desires as you chastise our flesh… let these trials draw us closer to you for what you have endured… deliver us from evil and open our eyes to the snares of Satan… have mercy on us… guide us into a life that delivers us from the ways of the world… If our eyes deceive us… May we blind ourselves… rather than leave you…help us to live as the brethren of Philadelphia and be kept from the test… and that you may put our enemies at our feet.

We know what man has asked and been answered… now hear what God asks…

Here is the simplicity of prayer that Jesus instructed and expects us to follow…

“Pray for the Laborers” This is the Lord’s prayer… as He still prays…

Here is the foundation of all prayers as instructed then and now for every Christian… until He returns. We intercede for the family of God. Why? Jesus is the perfect prayer… answering our need… He completes His work on the cross and gives mankind opportunity to connect to Him now and forever… He returns to heaven and does not rest… He is the lamb of God humble before Our Father to pray for us His beloved moment to moment… can you hear our place following in Prayer… interceding for those like ourselves to be one…

Now let us review the cause of God through the teaching of Jesus on when to pray and how        

1. We need to understand Spiritual maturity at some point (There are many learned but information does not make one mature) and it all begins… in praying and in our hearing and knowing: Jesus! The results of which are…
2. The Knowing the difference and participation in our prayer closet and praying together… We do both… you cannot have one without the other… We are together (One in the Spirit) with all who pray in our prayer closet… and when we pray together He is in our midst… Spiritual maturity begins when we know and can see by the leading of the Holy Spirit our every choice to be either selfishly carnal or what God has purposed for us… weather it’s to our comfort or discomfort even unto martyrdom…
3. Jesus teaches us to pray in our prayer closet (close the door) in a very quiet place removed from the noises of the world to be alone without distraction or disturbance to hear the voice of God.

Note: If you were invited to speak to God… you would not have to be alone in a quiet place for God to hear you… or you could pray in the quietness of your mind… this is about a quiet place to focus… on Him… all you bring is yourself with no agendas no need of lists… none of your concerns of or for the world or its citizens… or your family… friends… coworkers anyone or any of their needs… you who have ears! Listen to the still small voice…

4. The Prayer closet: What is it? When do we enter alone time with God? How long do we wait to hear Him? What is our focus on?
5. We start at the beginning… Getting into the prayer closet… we have obeyed thus far… this is where we start. Just as Jesus started in His prayer closet designed by God for Him led by the Holy Spirit to be alone in the wilderness. (Note: The Son of God prays and fasts forty days and nights… if you question how long it takes to hear clearly) You are instructed to pray in your prayer closet… led by the Holy Spirit as you yield to obey… the choice is always yours… how much do you desire to hear God!
6. The Issue at hand is first us… how do we prepare… what does God expect… that will allow us to hear His voice?
7. We return to obedience in where is our heart? Thus you will find these basics as entrance into prayer and the condition of our sincerity to have relationship… it is in no way… rules or law… it is the humility of our heart… to desire to hear… a deep desire to know God… for our need of Him (Ask yourself do I need God! Now how much do I need Him?) we must know He wants us in prayer and is making clear to us how to approach Him without the trappings of our carnal man. Here is the way to hear…
8. We begin as instructed: “Our Father” He is no longer unknown… We are His children we approach Him in Jesus as loving family (God so loves us) awake… Jesus is God! It is not the words it is who we are listening to… prayer is an attitude of the heart which starts with putting every thought… goal… want… feeling… aside… it is a heart cry! Empty of self… what do we come to Him with?
9. Homage: is the grace rising in us… for only the Holy Spirit in us can praise God! And thus prayer begins led by the spirit totality removed from the carnal man… We can only present ourselves in sacrifice…it is the Holy Spirit that connects to God… Here worship… honor… praise… have meaning beyond our mind and we defer… to the Mind of Christ… Grace meets grace and we become less… as Jesus becomes more… Prayer is that process… accordingly we die to self… more and more in our faith in Him
10. We begin from our heart in thankfulness: “Giving Thanks in all things always”

What we acknowledge is… God is always there… He awaits our ears to hear and our hearts to bear witness… Thankfulness can begin in thankfulness for material provision of God… then become the witness of the Holy Spirit to thank God in our chastisement… in our trials… in spiritual attacks… in provision both material and spiritual and always for Him being there. We rejoice in thankfulness until it becomes a way of life in our inner most man as a continuous attitude… Thankfulness always in all thing on all occasions leads us into praying without ceasing… as we give place to the Spirit in us… we are so delighted to be with Him it takes precedent over everything… can you say Amen!… ears to hear. 

1. We are always forgiving: we are in and of our flesh… until we meet Jesus face to face… it is only in death the entire flesh is removed… and we rise into the New Jerusalem… our sinfulness exists as we wrangle with our selfish rebellious flesh… Forgiveness is the way of humility before God in our absolute need of Him… Forgiveness brings forgiveness… it begins as obedience from what we do until it become in view of the need of others… to removing their every obstacle to God’s love… thus healing… reestablishing His unity… until we have insight that although we did not create our sin at birth… we have been separated from Him and we in our need have been forgiven at the hand of great mercy but paid for at a great price… Jesus! We stand in the gap of forgiveness… hence prayer…
2. No prayer is directed to or from God except by His Spirit. If five thousand or even five million pray… God hears only one voice that of the Holy Spirit… are we subordinate to the holy Spirit… We have the faith… are we humbly submitted… can we or will die to our self-enough to hear?
3. The tide of darkness ensues growing each day… the hour is late… will you pray?

Without ceasing is the call… to endure until the end… our hearts united… will we meet… will you be there… together with all the Saints gathered from the ends of the Earth… In the New Jerusalem with The love of Jesus filling us and surrounding us perfectly making us one with Him in all the love there is forever!  Bless you!

Eight thousand ninety five words for the Holy Spirit to say… I love you!