Prayer Is Not All Asking

Many of us have a false idea about prayer. If we think prayer is all about asking God for things, we have a very flawed understanding of prayer. In fact, prayer is talking with God about many things, and most of them do not involve asking for anything. Jesus made that clear to His disciples and the others He taught about prayer. One good example of a part of prayer that most people leave out is forgiving others. (Mark 11:25,26) Jesus made it very clear that if we do not forgive others as we pray, God will not wipe away our sins, Please, let me explain.

When we pray, we must make sure that our hearts are right with God and with other people. If we go to God with unconfessed sins in our heart, He will not hear those prayers. (Psalm 66:18) Therefore, we need to spend time confessing our sins as part of our prayer time. When we confess our specific sins, He will cleanse us. This is not talking about salvation from all of our sins that we receive when we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It is talking about the sins after our salvation that interrupt our relationship with God. They must be confessed regularly, or we are out of fellowship with the Lord. Then, we must confess when we have anything against another person, so God can cleanse us of that sin. When we do that, we are ready to go to that person and ask forgiveness, too. In addition to confession, prayer should always include praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He has done. Once we have done all of these things well, we are ready to start asking with a clean heart, right relationships, and the right mindset about the Lord.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Mark 12-14.