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"Never stop praying"
(1 Thessalonians 5:17, CSB)
1 Thessalonians 5:17 is a great verse to memorize because it is very short. :) ...but it is also very practical. We are implored to never stop praying. Prayer is one of those spiritual disciplines that we should always want more of and will spend our whole life doing. Prayer has many models, and I came across this model when I was reading and thought it was so good! Maybe you can use it one day this week too.
Address: How God is Addressed
We begin our prayers by ascribing to God the glory due His name! Jesus models this in His prayer when He tells us how to pray. Jesus tells us to start our prayers with, "Our Father in Heaven..." There are many names that we can ascribe to God. We can start our prayers with the Hebrew Names of God. We can start our prayers with different addresses from scripture. To start our prayers off with a reminder of who we are praying to gives us confidence and assurance that prayer is powerful because our God is powerful.
Describe: Details Describing the Situation
It is always incredible to think that an all-knowing God cares and wants us to describe situations to Him. God delights in us, His children, telling Him about things He already knows about. What an amazing God we pray to!
Confess: Confession of Sin and Guilt
In prayer, we must confess our sin and guilt before God. This is the constant reminder of how much we need God's grace and mercy in our lives. This is where we can daily receive the grace of God over our lives. Confession of sin and guilt reminds us of our glorious salvation, where Jesus paid the price for our sins and made a relationship with God possible. Confession grows our relationship with God and reminds us of His grace over and in our lives.
Request: Appeals for Help
Here is where we get to present our requests to God and ask for His intervention. This looks like prayers for ourselves, our friends, our family, etc. We get to come humbly before the God of the universe and make appeals for help. What an incredible blessing!
Praise: Words of Thanks and Adoration to God
Finally, we get to say thanks for the prayer requests that have been answered. We get to say thanks for the common grace that God gives us so graciously. We get to say thanks for the many blessings that He has given us. We also get to give Him praise for who He is, what He has done in our lives, and what He continues to do in our lives.
Prayer is an amazing ongoing conversation that we get to have with the God of the universe. May this new model of prayer encourage and bless you as much as it has me!
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