{"id":2379,"date":"2015-08-21T11:08:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T15:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=2379"},"modified":"2015-08-21T11:08:59","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T15:08:59","slug":"pauls-instructions-on-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/pauls-instructions-on-prayer.html","title":{"rendered":"Paul’s Instructions on Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior…\u00a0In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. (1 Timothy 2:1-3,8)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This is a blog about prayer, so it would behoove us to look into the Word to see what it says about how<\/em> to pray and why<\/em> we pray. We don’t make up our own rules when Jesus is Lord of our lives; we follow His instructions because His ways are higher than our ways \u2013 His thoughts superior to our own. Let’s break down some of Paul’s instructions here, and then have a go at prayer Paul’s way!<\/p>\n

HOW to Pray:<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask God to help those we take to Him in prayer.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Intercede on their behalf \u2013 whatever you know of their specific and current life situation, pray for God\u2019s intervention, aid, and protection.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Give thanks for them. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

WHO to pray for:<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kings (national leaders)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

All who are in authority (locally, nationally, and across the world)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

WHY we pray:<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So that we can live peaceful, quiet lives.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

So that we can live godly lives \u2013 becoming good people with good government with good media and good laws and good ethics, etc.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

So that we can live dignified lives. A dignified life is a life that is self-governed and fully provided for, independent of hand-outs. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

It pleases God our Savior when we pray, for He wants everyone to be saved and connected to the Truth. Our prayers make God\u2019s dream a reality. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

STANCE of Prayer<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lift holy hands when you pray. This body language expresses surrender to His greater will. Everything we are and have are His.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t come to God angry, leave your offenses, injustices,\u00a0 <\/span>and bitterness at His feet. He will deal with it. You forgive.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Come to Him free of controversy. Be a rumor-free, gossip-free, conspiracy theory-free, controversy-free\u00a0person of peace. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s your prayer list today. Now\u2026 go pray!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,7,4,25,3,1],"tags":[1309,1308,1304,1305,117,1307,1306],"class_list":["post-2379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-gods-dream","tag-godliness","tag-how-to-pray","tag-instructions-on-pray","tag-prayer-3","tag-praying-for-leaders","tag-praying-for-national-leaders"],"yoast_head":"\nPaul's Instructions on Prayer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/pauls-instructions-on-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul's Instructions on Prayer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. 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