Lord, teach us to pray

Lord, teach us to pray

This Sunday, we were privileged at CDC to have brother Paul Lim speak on the text Luke 11:1-13 on the topic “Lord, teach us to pray”.

The passage chronicles the great Lord’s prayer in the Lord’s response to his disciples who asked him “Lord, teach us to pray”. In this passage, the Lord also gave the example of a friend obtaining his request because of his persistence and the heart of the Father who always delights in giving good things to His children.

Basically, prayer is the lifeline of every Christian to God, and without prayer, the spirit dies, and God becomes no longer real in one’s life. The very life of Jesus was a perfect model of prayer, doing nothing on His own without consulting the Father.

Brother Paul shared how the Lord’s prayer actually teaches us how to overcome the seven deadly sins known to men.

To the sin of Wrath, we are told to pray “as we forgive those who trespass against us” as a condition for our own forgiveness

To the sins of Lust and Avarice, we are told to pray “lead us not into temptation”

To the sins of Envy and Gluttony, we are told to pray “Give us this day our daily bread”, to ask God to fulfill our daily basic needs and be content with that.

To the sin of Sloth, we are told to pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done”, acknowledging our partnership with God in faithfully advancing his kingdom on earth

To the sin of Pride, we are to pray “Deliver us from evil”, acknowledging our dependence on God to save us instead of depending on our own strength.

Speaking from personal testimony, brother Paul shared with us the importance of always having an awareness of God in all our waking moments. Muslims pray 5 times a day, Jews pray 3 times a day, but Christians pray all the time! Brother Paul’s favorite prayer in particular is Lord, renew my mind, asking God to make our minds new every morning, every day, with His wisdom and grace and peace. In particular, he shared one instance when a major problem faced his Goodyear company, and while engineers from Europe and the US could not resolve the problem after months, Paul was able to do it in 1 day because the Lord was with him. We are encouraged to constantly depend on God for strength as we face any and every problem!

May the Lord give us the wisdom and discipline to pray as Jesus taught us, praying the Lord’s prayer, praying to God for all our needs, and being aware of God through all our waking moments.

God bless, Jason