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COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n By Lynn Torrance (from The Good News, August 1961)<\/p>\n MANY do not know what to pray about.\u00a0 We are often asked, “What can I pray about?”\u00a0 Some say, “I ask God to forgive, to guide and direct me.\u00a0 I ask God to bless the work, the ministers, and the Church.\u00a0 What else is there to pray about?”<\/p>\n Acknowledge God<\/strong><\/p>\n The Bible makes plain that the FIRST STEP in learning what to pray about is to realize WHOM we are praying to.<\/p>\n Did you take time today to get down on your knees and become acquainted, in prayer, with God?\u00a0 Or are you waiting for the right “feeling”? the right mood?\u00a0 Are you, day after day, “putting off” praying until tomorrow because you do not think of anything to pray about? — because you just don’t feel comfortable praying to God?<\/p>\n Notice what Jesus instructed His disciples to pray about when they asked him to teach them to pray.\u00a0 Jesus said — as quoted in archaic English in the King James Version, “When ye pray, say, OUR FATHER which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Luke 11:1-2).<\/p>\n We must first acknowledge the greatness of our HEAVENLY Father.\u00a0 Our faith increases when we realize that what He has promised He can and will perform!\u00a0 He is the God of Heaven — the Ruler of the whole universe.<\/p>\n Abraham strengthened his faith by giving glory to God.\u00a0 “He grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:20-21, R.S.V.).<\/p>\n David was a praying man.\u00a0 David constantly gave glory and praise to God.\u00a0 His last public prayer is given in the Bible and is an excellent example of how to give God Glory and Honor — of what to pray about, “BLESSED are thou, LORD God of Israel our FATHER, for ever and ever.\u00a0 Thine, O LORD is the GREATNESS, and the POWER, and the GLORY, and the VICTORY, and the MAJESTY; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the KINGDOM, O LORD, and thou art EXALTED as HEAD ABOVE ALL.\u00a0 Both RICHES and HONOR come from thee, and thou RULEST over all … In thy hand it is to make GREAT and to GIVE STRENGTH to all.\u00a0 And now therefore, our God, we THANK THEE, and PRAISE thy glorious name” (I Chron. 29:10-13).<\/p>\n Do you glorify the majesty, the power, and the wisdom of God in prayer?<\/p>\n After you have praised and honored God and hallowed His Holy name then you pray —<\/p>\n “Thy Will Be Done”<\/strong><\/p>\n Notice carefully that Christ next set us the example to pray: “Thy Kingdom come, THY WILL be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat. 6:10).<\/p>\n What IS God’s Will for this earth?\u00a0 We can know!\u00a0 God makes it clear in His Word what His Will is.<\/p>\n In Mat. 24:14 we read: “This gospel of the Kingdom SHALL be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.”\u00a0 This one verse teaches a great deal about HIS WILL.<\/p>\n HOW is this work of preaching and publishing the Gospel to all the world being done?\u00a0 It is through the “World Tomorrow” broadcast, the PLAIN TRUTH, the GOOD NEWS, the CORRESPONDENCE COURSE, the BOOKLETS, the advertising in READER’S DIGEST, the Letter Answering Department, the evangelistic campaigns, the baptizing tours, the local visiting teams, even through the Ambassador College ENVOY — and especially through EACH and EVERY minister of God.<\/p>\n Are you praying for the success and effectiveness of ALL THESE THINGS?\u00a0 It is GOD’S WILL that you do!<\/p>\n Pray for the “World Tomorrow” broadcast.\u00a0 Pray that each time it goes out over the air new people will be caused to listen to it.\u00a0 Pray that doors to reach each section of the world, not now being reached at this time, will be opened.<\/p>\n Pray that God will train and send out laborers to reap the harvest of interested listeners of the “World Tomorrow” broadcast (Mat. 9:38).\u00a0 Pray that God will send the right students to Ambassador College, men and women who have the ability and talents and the submissiveness that He can use in His Work. Don’t forget to pray that the students who are already in Ambassador College may bear more fruit.<\/p>\n Pray for the co-worker letters, that God will lay it on the hearts of the readers to support this WORK with their prayers, their tithes and their offerings.<\/p>\n And how long do you think it would take you to pray for each and every minister, carefully, diligently?\u00a0 Ask God to give them the power of His Holy Spirit, His knowledge, His wisdom, that He might use them as instruments through whom He nourishes the flock He has chosen.\u00a0 Ask God to use them to preach from the scripture the words that are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Tim. 3:16).<\/p>\n Don’t pray these exact words.\u00a0 Jesus didn’t say: “Pray this.” He said “Pray thus!”\u00a0 Build upon and expand these suggestions. You can think of many other things to pray about when interceding for God’s ministers.<\/p>\n These are but a few examples, a small beginning of things to pray for.\u00a0 You can think of many others.<\/p>\n Praying for each phase of the work is important.\u00a0 In fact, the very existence of the work of God depends upon your prayers.<\/p>\n For example: When we pray that God lay it on the hearts of the people of this country to send tithes and offerings to support the cost of preaching and publishing this Gospel message to the entire world, it is His WILL to honor that prayer.\u00a0 He goes into action.\u00a0 He directly intervenes in the very lives of the people of this country and MAKES them send in more money than they would have otherwise.\u00a0 Thus, through daily prayer you add to the list in heaven of those you are helping to lead down the path that leads to eternal life.\u00a0 Your reward is certain.<\/p>\n PRAYER is YOUR ministry.\u00a0 Lack of prayer will keep you out of the Kingdom of God!\u00a0 God expects you to do your part.\u00a0 That is His will.<\/p>\n “Give Us Our Daily Bread”<\/strong><\/p>\n Did you know your DAILY BREAD is dual?<\/p>\n Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger” (John 6:35).\u00a0 Come to God through daily prayer and Bible study and He will supply your DAILY spiritual needs.\u00a0 You have more daily need of spiritual food than even of physical food — but God here promises you both, if you will only ask Him.<\/p>\n Why is it that some who know God wants to supply us daily with all our needs immediately begin to ask God for things that satisfy the lust of the flesh.\u00a0 Their prayers are usually very short and filled with I’s, me’s and mine’s.\u00a0 It’s “God give me this” and “God give me that.” “Ye ask,” retorts James, “and receive NOT, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:2).<\/p>\n “Forgive Us”<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus also said to ask God to “forgive us our trespasses [or debts], as we forgive our trespassers [or debtors]” (Mat. 6:12).<\/p>\n Have you asked God to forgive your every sin, your every shortcoming, your every weakness, your every stumbling — and those of others?\u00a0 Do we ALSO forgive our debtors — those who offend us?<\/p>\n We MUST forgive everyone who has stepped on our toes, everyone who has offended us, everyone who has wronged us in any way whatsoever.\u00a0 God forgives us only as we forgive others!\u00a0 Remember that forgiving means forgetting.\u00a0 Yet we know that in some local churches there are people who CANNOT BE FORGIVEN by God because they still REFUSE to forgive their brethren.\u00a0 Brethren, this must not continue!<\/p>\n And finally He said, “Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”<\/p>\n God tempts no man. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:13-14).\u00a0 Watch and pray that you be not drawn away by lusts and enter into temptation (Mat. 26:41).\u00a0 Watch, keep awake.\u00a0 When wrong thoughts begin to come into your mind, FLEE QUICKLY to God in prayer.\u00a0 Put your trust in Him.\u00a0 Or else God will allow you to stumble in temptation till you learn to put your whole life in God’s hands.<\/p>\n We are not to pray this sample prayer that Jesus gave — word for word.\u00a0 We are to use it as an outline for our daily prayers. Few realize that Jesus also gave innumerable OTHER DETAILS to pray about in His Word.\u00a0 These all MAGNIFY the main principles mentioned in His outline of prayer.\u00a0 They should all be fitted into the pattern Jesus gave the disciples.\u00a0 We are instructed to pray for those in authority (I Tim. 2:1-3), for our enemies, for those who persecute us (Mat. 5:44); for the brethren (Eph. 6:18); that we may escape the things to come (Luke 21:36); for the sick and afflicted (James 5:14-16); for your own requests (Phil. 4:6); for the ministry (II Thess. 3:1); and for the churches (Eph. 1:16; Col. 1:3; Philemon 4; I Thess. 1:2).<\/p>\n Pray for Ourselves?<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course!\u00a0 But not for ourselves only.\u00a0 If your prayers include others and theirs include you, think how many prayers are said ON YOUR BEHALF!\u00a0 But if you are selfish and pray only for yourself — and everyone else did the same — then ONLY YOU would be praying for yourself.<\/p>\n A student at Ambassador College discovered quite by accident the amazing principle that the Law of Love is a Living Law.\u00a0 He had tried to overcome a certain weakness but had failed again and again.\u00a0 He felt miserable and dejected.<\/p>\n A friend revealed that he too was having trouble overcoming the very same temptation.\u00a0 This student felt so miserable himself that he hastened to go and pray EARNESTLY for his friend.\u00a0 He said, “Oh, God, don’t let my friend be as weak and rotten as I am.\u00a0 Strengthen him, take this temptation from him.”<\/p>\n This student was amazed to discover that after having prayed for his friend, his own overpowering weakness left him!\u00a0 It was suddenly as if this temptation no longer existed.<\/p>\n This student learned that when one has some sin he is unable to overcome, if he will pray for all others who have, or even might have the same weakness, the God of Love rewards him for praying for His OTHER children.<\/p>\n Try it.\u00a0 Pray for all the men and women in the Church who have, or who even might have — the same overpowering temptation you have and see for yourself that God will reward you for showing Love to His OTHER children by strengthening you.\u00a0 He can and will remove your temptation from you.<\/p>\n Remember, if you pray for others, and all the others pray for you and others, think how much more help you have than if you alone prayed for just your problem.<\/p>\n Therefore pray that God will imbue us all with His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).\u00a0 Ask God for the gift of repentance so all can overcome sin.\u00a0 Ask God for wisdom (James 1:5), power, understanding, and knowledge.<\/p>\n Pray that God will implant in His people the DESIRE to study and pray until all are filled with the Spirit of God, with understanding and a true sense of values.<\/p>\n When you read the Bible and don’t understand a verse — that is something to pray about.\u00a0 If you are falling short of obeying His instruction — that is something to pray about.\u00a0 For some of you there are almost as many things to pray about as there are verses in the Bible!<\/p>\n Don’t just limit the things you pray about to the points mentioned in this article.\u00a0 Ask God to show you what else HE wants YOU to pray for.\u00a0 HE will show you IN HIS WORD many other things to pray about.<\/p>\n Whatever you do don’t let your prayer become a mere ritual, a vain repetition.\u00a0 Be diligent.\u00a0 Be persistent.\u00a0 Prayer and Bible Study must be first in your life, or you are putting something else before God.\u00a0 We receive what we ask of God “because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (I John 3:22).<\/p>\n Prayer has to become heartfelt — full of thanksgiving, praise and joy.\u00a0 It should be a spontaneous and natural talking to God. The more you pray, the more you will understand how to pray.<\/p>\n God KNOWS that many of you faithful brethren are praying.\u00a0 He also KNOWS that others have not prayed as they should.<\/p>\n God’s ministers have said, “YOU ARE CONVERTED TO THE DEGREE THAT YOU PRAY FOR GOD’S WORK!”<\/p>\n If you have been PUTTING OFF prayer until tomorrow DO something now.\u00a0 Force yourself to begin to study and pray.\u00a0 Don’t put off your own salvation!<\/p>\n Some articles of possibly related interest may include:<\/em><\/p>\n A Short Article on Faith<\/a> A subject that could fill many books. COGwriter By Lynn Torrance (from The Good News, August 1961) Is it wrong to pray for oneself?\u00a0 about how to make “ends meet”? about how to overcome?\u00a0 Just what should one pray about? MANY do not know what to pray about.\u00a0 We are often asked, “What can I pray about?”\u00a0 Some say, “I ask God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctrine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16017"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17622,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16017\/revisions\/17622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Is it wrong to pray for oneself?\u00a0 about how to make “ends meet”? about how to overcome?\u00a0 Just what should one pray about?<\/h2>\n
\nWhat Should I Pray About?<\/a> An old article by Lynn Torrance on prayer.
\nImportance of Fasting <\/a>An old article by Herbert W. Armstrong<\/a> on this subject.
\nWhat is the Meaning of Life?<\/a> Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally?
\nJust What Do You Mean — Repentance?<\/a> Do you know what repentance is? Have you truly repented? Repented of what? Herbert W. Armstrong<\/a> wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.
\nJust What Do You Mean Conversion?<\/a> Many think that they are converted Christians. But are they? Would you like to know more about conversion. Herbert W. Armstrong<\/a> wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"