Prayer Page

Jesus praying at Gethsemane

~Psalm 23~

The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not want,
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his names sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:For though art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Though preparest a table before me
in the prescence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life: and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

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The Lord's Prayer is an excellent guideline to use in prayers,
it covers everything you need to remember when praying.
In Matthew 6:5-8 Jesus instructs his disciples
on the proper way to pray, telling them the following:

"And when thou prayest,
thou shall not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets,
that they be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet,and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward you openly.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions,
as the heathen do: for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them:
for your Father knoweth what things
ye have need of, before you ask Him."

~The Lord's Prayer~

"After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13

Please don't misinterpret this to mean
you should never pray in public,
I feel that it means you shouldn't do so
in a manner that is meant
to draw attention to yourself.
And I don't think we literally
need to go into our closet to pray either,
I feel this means you should take time every day
to go to the Lord in prayer
in a very personal and private manner.

Personally, I pray all day long,
it is a running dialogue I have with God.
Prayer doesn't have to be "formal" all the time,
sometimes when I pray I just talk to God.
Prayer is a very individual thing,
all that matters is that you do it in His name.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!


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Garden at Gethsemane
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~Prayer of Jabez~

1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.
His mother had named him Jabez, saying,
"I gave birth to him in pain."
Jabez cried out to the God of Israel,
"Oh, that you would bless me indeed
and enlarge my territory!
Let your hand be with me,
and oh that you would keep me from evil
so that I will be free from pain."
And God granted his request.
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There is nothing selfish about asking God to bless you!
In fact He wants to bless you! God has many blessings to bestow on us
if we would only ask Him for them.

Jabez started out hard in life,
his name means pain or to cause pain.
So imagine having to carry that name with you
first as a child and then as a man!

A blessing is not something we can get
for ourselves, it is a gift given by God.
Only God has the power to bestow supernatural favor upon us.
The word bless means to ask for or to impart supernatural power.

Jabez not only asked for this, he also left it entirely in God's hands
as to what the blessing would entail and how and when it would happen.
He never asked for a specific thing because he knew
God would know what his needs were.

When he asked God to expand his territory,
he was asking God to enlarge his opportunities
to make an impact for God. He desired to grow
even more in what God had entrusted to him so far.

When he said let your hand be with me,
Jabez is acknowledging the need for
God to work through him because he
knew he couldn't do it alone.
He was allowing God to use him,
knowing fully that God was in control.

Oh that you would keep me from evil,
so that I will be free from pain.
Notice that Jabez didn't ask God to stay
with him through the evil but to keep him from it.
This is about the fight with Satan;
as Jabez steps out in faith,
Satan will try to oppress and trick him.
Jabez is asking God to keep him from trouble
so he isn't tempted or fooled
into causing himself pain from making foolish choices.

This is a very powerful prayer, and it will really change your life!


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