New Wine

Proper Prayer Structure

I've been asked this question by several people as of late, and I will preface this by saying; in my own personal opinion a majority of the churches fail to teach this one principle of a Christians life. Churches seem to tell their members to pray and pray often, repent and repent often, but "how to pray" seems to get lost in the day to day teachings.

The disciples of Jesus had this very question as well, and we see that Jesus Himself answered this in the writings of Luke 11:1-4.

Luke 11

¹ THEN HE was praying in a certain place; and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, [just] as John taught his disciples.

² And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven.

³ Give us daily our bread [food for the morrow].

⁴ 'And forgive us our sins, for also we ourselves forgive every [one] being indebted to us; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil [or, the evil [one]].'"

Amplified

So first of all we see that Jesus tells us right here there is a basic structure of prayer. We start by acknowledging God as our Father, which to me is letting God know first of all that you are His child, in as He created you. You are also acknowledging Him also as higher than you, children are to submit to their parents. He is the highest of all parents. This in my opinion is a great place to inject praise to Him, "Holy be Thy name" -OR- "Wonderful Creator of all the universe".

Now, because Jesus has departed from this world to be our intercessor to the Father, we who have accepted Him as our savior who died for us and resurrected to pay for the debt of our sins, we invoke His name: "Our Father Who is in heaven, Holy Father, in the name of Jesus,". We do this because of what John wrote in chapter 14:13-14

John 14

¹³ And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

¹⁴ If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

King James Version

This is further personified by the following scripture in which John tells us we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. As we see here in 1 John 2:1-3

1 John 2

¹ My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

² And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

³ And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

King James Version

So once we have the basic opening of our prayer to ensure that we have tuned in properly to God Almighty, we then can make our requests to the Father thru Jesus, whom is sitting on the right side of God Almighty. See Mark 11:22-24 for an example of this.

Mark 11

²² And Jesus, replying, said to them, Have faith in God [constantly].

²³ Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him.

²⁴ For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

Amplified

Philippians 4:6-7 tells us that our prayers should contain supplication with thanksgiving.

Philippians 4

⁶ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

⁷ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

King James Version

So just what is "supplication"?

Supplication

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: The act of supplicating; humble and earnest prayer, as in worship.

Definition: A humble petition; an earnest request; an entreaty.

Definition: A religious solemnity observed in consequence of some military success, and also, in times of distress and danger, to avert the anger of the gods.

New Wine Application Dictionary

So if I was to sum this up I would write a prayer like this:

Father in heaven, Holy Father without sin, in the mighty name of Jesus, I ask that You oh merciful and gracious Father, continue to put Your mighty hedge of protection around my family in these troubling times. Father, we submit our lives to You o'wonderful God, in Jesus name. We thank You Father, for Your blessings upon our lives, in the name of Jesus, You supply us with more than we need, because Your word Father says You will multiply upon Your children. Father we just want to take the time to truly thank You for everything that You do for us, in Jesus Name, Amen.

This is for men and women alike, but my fellow brothers out there it is impairitive that you become the spiritual leader of your households and part of that is becoming a prayer warrior.

Structure of a Prayer