“Consistent And Persistent Prayer!”

” Consistent And Persistent Prayer!”(Lk.11:1-8).
The Lord Jesus Christ was a praying person and he prefered praying in solitude. According to Luke, one day after he had finished praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus said to them what to say when they pray.
We note however that it is not mentioned anywhere that John taught his disciples how to pray. But it is likely that they prayed, whereas the disciples of Jesus were care-free.
On one occasion the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law said to Jesus, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus’ response was that the guests of the bridegroom do not fast when he is around. “But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast”(Lk.5:33-35). By this Jesus implied that prayer will be useful to his disciples when he is no longer with them.
We are few days away to the commemoration of the Lord’s Ascenssion to heaven. Ascenssion kind of reminds us that the bridegroom has been taken away and so it is time to reach him through prayer.
*The importance of what the Lord said we should say in the prayer is more in the pattern than in the dictum. The pattern requires consistency. Although it has become traditional to call it *”The Lords Prayer,” it is better suited to call it “The Disciples’ Prayer,”*
The content of the prayer does not consider a capitalist economy. The prayer is perhaps most appropriate in the morning before we engage the day. When we ask God to give us each day our daily bread, it raises in us the awareness that we are totally dependent on the God who provides.
Nevertheless, our dependency on God does not mean we fold our arms as if waiting for “Godot!” Far from it, we work for our daily bread as we depend on him who makes all things possible. God has no hands but ours, etc!
The food we eat today is from the harvest of the labours of months gone by.
Therefore, we should pray as if work does not matter and work as if prayer does not matter!
Christ died for love, paying the price for sins he did not commit, just so that the father should forgive us. So each time we ask for forgiveness, we must have of necessity forgiven those who wronged us. “What you radiate is what you atteact!”
As we step out for work, temptation attracts us in many shapes and forms. To be armed against temptation, we ask the father to lead us not into temptation.
By being consistent and persistent in prayer, God’s appropriate answer is assured.
Prayer of the week: Father provide for us daily and cover us with the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Welcome back to a new working day and week! Have a blessed day and week! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.