Before the Cross: The 5 Prayer PrinciplesSample

A lot of us are afraid to pray because we never know how to do it, what to say, afraid we will do it wrong, or just feel silly sitting there. This is why God gave us His Word. Jesus Himself told us how we should pray and modeled it for us. There are 5 prayer principles that Jesus talks about when it comes to prayer from Matthew 6:9-15. Here is the 5th and last one: ### Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From The Evil One Lastly, we should pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us including leading us away from temptation, delivering us from evil (1 Corinthians 10:13). We can be confident in knowing that God will deliver us from the evil one, and take that same confidence to face whatever it is the day is going to bring us, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The last thing I would want you to do is to become legalistic and pray in a way that we go through this list, checking off each section, and being confident we had a "successful" prayer. There is tremendous freedom He gives us when it comes to praying. You could pray all throughout the day, when waking up, before bedtime, while driving to work, walking in the park, while reading Scripture, taking a shower, or while eating dinner. What's going to be more important in this is the matter of your heart. Matthew 6:7 shows us the heart is more important than the words. Obviously, words are important, but they are not the point. Give God glory and honor by making Him first, praying for His will to be done, declaring your dependency on Him by asking for provision and leading each day, humble yourself with the Gospel, and entrust the Holy Spirit to empower you and lead you including making a way out of temptation. I'd like to encourage you to consider praying. Praying much more than you already do, if you do at all. I am guilty of this as well, but if I tell God I know the power of prayer, and then I do not pray, then I really don't know the power of prayer. If I don't make prayer a priority in my life, I don't value it. If I can't spend time with my Creator, then how in the world will I be about His will and develop a deeper relationship with Him? Let's all take this time to be refreshed in the power of prayer and to follow the guidelines that Jesus has provided for us. Let us pray.