How should I pray? What should I say? There are many times that these questions are
voiced by Christians, new and old. There
are even jokes poking fun at us Lutherans that, if asked to pray, we’ll request
pen, paper, and a moment to compose our thoughts, and then read a prayer we
have written.
Psalm 25 is an example of how to pray. As a forgiven child of God our heart begins
to desire the things of God. The Spirit
works in us to align our heart with God’s heart so that we begin to ask for
things beyond health and blessings for the sick and those we love. (Not that there is anything wrong with asking
for those thing as well!)
The prayer begins, “To you, O LORD, I lift up my
soul.” In this brief sentence we find
that we pray to the LORD. This is important. We don’t pray generically to a god who is out
there. We pray to the Great I AM, who
reveals Himself in the Word as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and even the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. All prayer begins with the One
to whom we pray.
It is to this God – the LORD – that we “lift up” our
soul. The word translated “soul” by all
four of the translations I checked is nephesh. This is a word with rich meaning. When God created Adam this is the word that
was used. God breathed the breath of
life into Adam’s nostrils and he became a living nephesh. Saying, “To you, O
LORD, I lift up my nephesh,” is akin to Jesus’ statement on
the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” We are entrusting our very life to the LORD. This is very significant as the LORD is the
one who makes each of us a living being, and we in faith, trust the very
essence of ourselves (our life) back to Him.
Having entrusted our very selves into the LORD’s care, standing before
Him in faith, what do we pray about?
·
Forgiveness – “Remember
not the sins of my youth.”
·
Deliverance from our past
sins – “let me not be put to shame.”
·
Right Doctrine – “Make me
know your ways.” “Lead me in your truth
and teach me.”
·
God’s name – “For your
name’s sake, O LORD ….”
·
God’s will – “All the
paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness.”
·
God’s kingdom – “Redeem
Israel, O LORD.”
Interestingly, these are pretty much the
exact same things that Jesus teaches us to pray about in the Lord’s
Prayer! We pray about these things
because we, forgiven and cleansed in Jesus’ blood, have been given a new life. In a sense we are new nephesh. Jesus has breathed
the breath of life on us, filled us with the Holy Spirit and raised us from the
death of our sins to newness of life.
Learning to pray has everything to do with
listening to God, being transformed by His Word and the grace he gives us in
it. It is such a privilege, so let’s
pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and
ever. Amen
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