Prayer is Power

Matthew 6: 5 – 13 (NIV): And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. '

God created you for his pleasure. What he desires from you is a relationship – a friendship (Micah 6:8). You cannot have a true friendship with someone if you never speak to him. Prayer, then, is how we speak to God. He speaks to us through his Word and we speak to him in prayer. He wants us to pray in private because that means we're really focused on him.

Now, Jesus gives us the model prayer. All of our prayers should be modeled after this basic outline because it shows how to pray with a proper attitude. I like to think of the acrostic POWER to help me remember how we should pray:

P is for Praise. Jesus puts it right at the top for a reason. When we begin our prayers by praising God – stating that he is holy, set apart, worthy of praise – we infuse our prayers with power by recognizing who God truly is.

O is for Obey. When we ask for God's will to be done on earth, I like to think of this as a prayer to do our part. In other words, it's a prayer of commitment to trust and obey God in all things. We cannot please him without faith, and true faith will always lead to obedience.

W is for Wrongs. Here we are asking God to forgive us of our sins and mistakes. As we pray, we recall where we have failed him and ask for forgiveness. As our part in this, we also forgive those who have sinned against us. Jesus said we must do this. Jesus also showed us to ask God for the power to overcome evil and the temptation to sin.

E is for Entreat. This means to ask. Jesus tells us to ask for our basic needs every single day. We ask today and we ask again tomorrow. This keeps us in prayer and keeps us from taking God for granted or becoming apathetic. We also pray for others, just as Jesus did.

R is for Remember. Jesus doesn't mention being thankful in this model, but Paul adds it in Philippians 4: 6-7. This is when we thank God for his goodness to us and remember to thank him for answering past prayers.