The Bible Shows Us Things To Pray
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
A great way to learn how to pray is to look at the things the Bible says about things. In this introduction, the writer of Hebrews talks about how God has spoken.
- Thank you, God, for speaking to your people throughout history. Thank you for reaching out to us.
- Thank you for sending Jesus to speak to us now.
We first learn to pray as children and it’s a rule to do — before you eat or before you go to bed. Then, if we continue, it may turn into a weekly or a daily ask. It could be genuine and sincere, but still pretty self-directed. Give me this. Help me with this. Make this happen.
A great maturing stepping-stone in prayer is to simply sit and acknowledge God for who He is. This is a great passage to use for this. If I tell my wife she’s beautiful or my kids that they are smart, they are struck by the revelation. They already know it’s true. But in my telling, I’m building my relationship with them and reinforcing my union with them as husband/father.
So don’t be afraid to tell God who He is.
- Jesus, you are the heir of all things
- You have created the world
- You are the radiance of the glory of God, Jesus!
- Lord, you hold everything in the universe together!
You get the idea. These things, if we don’t know what else to pray, are true and honorable and perfect.
Jesus truly is superior to every single thing in the spiritual realm. The audience that was receiving this letter was really into angels. They had given plenty of them names and had sectioned them off into various topics. This angel did this and this angel did that. They believed that there were so many of them involved in human affairs from day to day that you couldn’t stick a spear up into the air with out getting close to poking one.
But Jesus. He’s superior to the angels as much as a son is superior to a messenger. The guy that delivers my newspapers is awesome. I care about him and pray for him when I hear him drive by with his stereo blasting at 4am.
But he’s not one of my kids.
Jesus is as superior to the angels as the Son of God is superior to God’s messengers.
Praise Him, even tell Him so. He already knows it, but you’ll be better for saying it.