THE TRUE PRAYER

THE TRUE PRAYER

We have been living in this world for more than six thousand years. We have been facing presence of the counterfeit and the authentic at all time. And the prayer could not be left out of it! Unfortunately this is true. Being prayer the escape for the soul and nourishment to the human suffering, Satan uses his interferences here too. Since he got through religion, he has worked tirelessly to imprison the man.

One day I was leading a week of prayer, at the time of Holy Week, for my Haitian brothers. It was very good and I could practice French. The questioning one of them took me to a reflection that I had not yet had. He wanted to know "why is there church that pray more and other pray less? It seems that certain churches have more power in prayer than another." He said this referring to the prayer of the Pentecostal churches that differ from traditional ones.

I want to draw your attention to the prayer in itself. I want you to think from a supra denominational level. The false and true are in constantly appearing among us. There is a supra denominational division of right and wrong; using the Christian vision as measure. Biblically, we can analyze and look right; not based on churches or pastors; but the ethical and logical view of God. My starting point should not be my church or my pastor or pope; but the Word of God. For this, it is necessary two basic things: read the Bible and know the mother language.

Jesus had already called the attention of everyone on the right and wrong prayer. The Christian world today suffers the confusion that the vain philosophies brought to the churches. Biblical prayer is different from the unbiblical prayer in its detail. Christians of modernity have departed from biblical prayer and thought themselves of human prayer.

If we look into the Bible, we can see what it is, how it is, the biblical prayer. She is submissive to love and faith. It allows contract between man and God (see Ann's prayer in 1 Samuel 1). It is based on conditionality of both sides. She is selfless. And the biblical prayer should be soaked with confession and changing of solicitant's habits. All these and many other details can be seen in the prayers recorded in the Bible - Old and New Testaments.

Human prayer, or unbiblical, is totally different. it is quite the opposite. It is authoritative through faith. It is based on incoditionality. It imposes a moral obligation to God to respond the demand. It lets no alternative to God; sometimes, not even time. It is selfish. It has the claim of all things that the solicitant does. There is no one promise of changing bad habits. Jesus condemned this kind of prayer: "... when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites" (Matthew 6: 5). Satan has spread this kind of prayer in almost all churches.

How to pray? Jesus himself taught us in Matthew 6: 5-15. The didactic structure of the right prayer in the eyes of God's religion has to have: a) invocation of God, b) exaltation of God, c) submission to the will of God d) confession of sins to God e) conditional request to God  and f) validation of Jesus. Any prayer should not escape it. If it escape that, the destination is anyone else except God. Prayer that does not include changing of wrong habits is false. And to all true and biblical prayer, God has three possible responses to the requester: NO, YES and WAIT. With God's logic that Matthew 7: 7-11 can work. There are pastors and people who practice the imposition of prayer (SLAVISH PRAYER); the Devil is pleased with that type. There are also pastors and people who practice prayer of submission; God delights with. How are you praying my friend?