Bobby Walthour Jr. Ministries

"The Authenticity of Prayer"

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Prayer can be defined as merely talking to God, no matter what position or posture you choose. But just like talking to anyone, it should be a two-way communication. Generally, when prayer is mentioned, it has to do with communicating with God or in some cases your higher power, whoever or whatever that might be.

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For born again believers, we believe in praying to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus. Some may use the terminology, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, but let's not split hairs over that. Whatever you choose, let's just pray. He's LISTENING!

There's a lot to be said about prayer, but if you would allow me for just a moment to touch on one or two things. If I may?  Being that it's God whom we are praying to, I think it might be a good idea to reference the most original, authentic book ever written mentioning prayer. You guessed it, The Holy Bible.  Prayer is the most intimate form of communication and relationship with God anyone can have, as well as the greatest source of power that a believer can ever possess.

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Let's look at what most people call the Our Father Prayer, which is a Model of Prayer “Luke 11: 1-2” the disciple sent to the Lord teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples. Jesus said to them, when YOU PRAY “say our father who art in heaven, hallowed would be thy name, your Kingdom come, your will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.”

Then he went on to make the petition of the prayer for daily bread, for forgiveness of our sins, forgiving one another for their sins against us, guidance from temptation, and deliverance from evil, and he closed with a declaration of praise and adoration unto God, for he is The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory forever.

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The first thing that I would like to draw your attention to is who the prayer is addressed to, God our Heavenly Father and where he ultimately resides, Heaven, and then praise, honor, and glory “hallowed how would be your name,” your Kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.

This brings me to my second and final thought that I want to mention concerning prayer at this *time, and that is; prayer is not the twisting of God's arm, in order to try and get him to do what we want him to do, how and when we want him to do it. Nor is prayer trying to manipulate God, by making promises to him of things that we will or will not do again. He's God and he knows everything, he knows our thoughts before we think them, and even our heart, before we act on it, therefore there's no fooling him. No, not even pleading, begging, feeling sad, having a pity party, or crying.

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But in short, this is what prayer really is, Jesus himself taught us in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was preparing himself for what would be the most trying, and difficult time of his life, preparing himself for his own crucifixion. He saw the brutality, and the pain, and torture, he saw the whip that would rip open his flesh, the crown of thorns thrusted upon his head, nails that held his body to the rugged cross, ultimately out of all the pain, and the suffering he saw himself experiencing, the greatest would be bringing separated from his Heavenly Father. A pain so deep, that he cried out with a loud voice, “my God why have thou forsaken me!”

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For the first and only time ever, for a moment, The Father and The Son were no longer one because of “our sins” never again! As he looked into the Cup not wanting it to happen, the Bible said he prayed earnestly three times, with sweat falling from him in the form of blood saying Father let this Cup pass from me, but nevertheless not my will, but your WILL be done.

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He taught us the Authenticity of Prayer, that it is not trying to get God to do what we want him to do, but submitting and surrendering ourselves to what his Plan, Purpose and Will is for our life, even if it hurts, doesn’t make sense, or lines up with our own agenda. That my Brothers and Sisters is the Authenticity of what Prayer is, our alignment with God, and because of his obedience in alignment with the Father, God has given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God Of God Hallelujah!