The passage I am reading and studying this morning is in 1 Corinthians 14. Here Paul is writing of the differences of prophecy and speaking in tongues. I have heard of those that speak in tongues are engaging with God on a really personal level. They are so deep in worship that they are unintelligible to those around them. This passage helped me to understand the value and detriment of speaking in tongues.

“¹⁰There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none without meaning, ¹¹but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.” – 1 Corinthians 14:10-11 (ESV)

The speaking of tongues is meant for the communication between one and God. This is not to say that it is not worth listening to, but if I do not understand what is being said by one speaking, then there is no value in the words being spoken, to me. I remember speaking with a friend and she revealed to me that the first time she picked up God’s word and opened to read, despite being written in the language she is fluent in, she was unable to decipher what was written as it appeared to her to be written in a different language entirely. As such, the Word of God was of no use to her as she was unable to read for herself and study to gain even more knowledge.

“¹³Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” – 1 Corinthians 14:13-15 (ESV)

There is a distinct purpose for the speaking in tongues, and Paul writes that he is thankful to be able to speak in tongues. But, if the understanding of the words spoken are unintelligible, then they are of no use to the building up of those around me. It is my duty to bring the gospel to those around me in a way that they are able to understand and being built up.

I should be engaged in prayer for the same as noted in the verses above. I am responsible to the building up of others. I still should take the time and the action to commune with God whether in tongues or not, but I also have the responsibility to share with those around me in interpretation or in words they understand so they are built up and grow closer to God. By the way, when my friend understood and became a follower of Christ, she was able to read the Bible and has grown in her faith, being built up, every since.

When you speak, are you speaking to be heard or understood? Are you growing in faith and expecting others to grow and learn the same way you do? What if we prayed and spoke to build up others as opposed to being heard?

I am sure that much like me, there are times where you have encountered a situation where you had no idea of what to say. Whether one of heartache or jubilation, words have escaped you as you engage with others in the situation. Even in our prayer, we will find ourselves not knowing what to pray about.

“²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” – Romans 8:26 (ESV)

I am just to pray. Ask God to hear my prayer, and pray. Speak with Him to let Him know that I am here and am in need. Yes, He already knows, but as I was reminded in my study of the word “pray”, I need to ask Him to hear me, not for Him, but for me. I need to just sit down and continue to commune with God to maintain the relationship with Him.

In verse 26 above, Paul reminds me that the Holy Spirit will give me the words to say, if not out loud, at least so that God will hear. I am just to open up and begin speaking with God. I follow the example given to me by Jesus in Matthew 6. I start there with each prayer and the Holy Spirit will open my heart to let what needs to be communicated to God, to be communicated. I only need to pray and God will hear me and address that which I pray for.

So when I find myself in the situation where I don’t know what to say, I just need to engage and allow God to hear me and address the situation as He sees fit.

When you are sitting down to pray, what do you pray for? Do you avoid prayer because you don’t know what to say? What if you were to just pray anyway following the model give by Jesus and allow God to hear you?

I believe that too often, we ask to gather as opposed to learn.

“¹Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’” – Luke 11:1 (ESV)

This passage teaches the same model of prayer that is found in Matthew 6:9, except that here you see the disciples asking for the model of prayer. This full passage, Luke 11:1-13, is about asking and receiving. Jesus uses the simple ask for the model of prayer to teach of the importance of asking.

As I have mentioned a number of times, my career is corporate training and one of the things I make very clear is that it is important to ask questions that you need answers to. If you do not ask, you have very little if any chance at learning the answers. The key word in that last sentence is “learning”. There are ways of acquiring the learning that you are looking for such as seeking it out for yourself, recalling and applying things from the past, and asking to get answers from those that are in the position to know.

There are those that can teach us and it is a good idea to go to them when we find ourselves in need. Jesus is that one that can teach us and therefore we should seek answers from Him. Prayer is that way to ask and get answers. No, He may not tell you what it is you are wanting or needing to know, it may be that He just simply leads and guides you to where you can find the answers. His word is a great place to start looking before, during, and after asking. There we can find all of the answers, as God’s word is our manual to navigating our time in this world. But, it is important to remember that just looking in God’s word for the answers is not going to provide what we need, as you can see in the model prayer that Jesus has provided for us, in Luke and in Matthew, we have to ask for provision to learn and then work to apply them to the tasks of doing the work God has for us.

When you are seeking answers, where are you looking? Are you just looking or are you asking? What if we asked God for the answers and then allowed Him to guide us?

I struggle and will likely continue to struggle with the fact that I do for others and continue to, in some cases, do the work they were tasked with doing, only to not receive any acknowledgment or even a thank you. I am human and require to be at least acknowledged for the work I do.

“³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back.” – Luke 6:30 (ESV)

Jesus reminds me here that my job is to continue to give. To continue doing for others without the expectation of return. I have to be the “bigger” person and continue to be the example that He has given me.

This passage is titled “Love Your Enemies”, and as I do know that to be the actions I am to take, it is not easy. Jesus knows this to be true and that is why he has provided his guiding word. To love you enemies is also found in Matthew chapter 5. I even studied and wrote about the passage here titled, “Pray Even for Those Against You”. So this is something that God really wants me to be looking at in my life.

I am only a man that is trying to live my kingdom purpose and can only seek the guidance from God in my life. I am grateful for the opportunity that He has given me to do His work. I have to remember the words from this passage and especially verses 35 and 36.

“³⁵But love you enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting noting in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. ³⁶Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” – Luke 6:35-36 (ESV)

You see, I am to be giving and loving with all I come in contact with. I am to bring the word of God to all, regardless of their relationship or treatment to me. I have to remember that they truly may not know and it is my role to educate them and most importantly pray for and love them.

When you look at the way you are treated, how do you react to those that are against you? Are you willing and able to continue giving in spite of what you may have returned to you? What if you simply loved those against you, praying and giving to them without the expectation of reciprocation?

Question this morning. Have you fallen asleep while reading or doing some other sedentary activity? I know that I have, on a great number of occasions. I lie down in bed to sleep for the night and take on reading only to find myself 20 minutes later on the same page. It seems as though my brain has just given up and disconnected to allow for rest.

This morning I was led to the passage in Matthew 26 of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. He knew that His time was about at hand and was taking this opportunity to pray to God, His Father, about the very action and to ask what could be done. With Him He took Peter, James, and John. He asked them to stay behind and keep watch as He went on a bit further to pray in private to God.

“³⁸Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’” – Matthew 26:38 (ESV)

Notice even the word was to keep “watch” and not just wait. They were to be doing work and not just waiting for Jesus return. And when He did return, what did He find, but the men asleep. And so, He coached them to again keep “watch and pray”.

“⁴¹Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Matthew 26:41 (ESV)

And Jesus went back to pray more. And returned to find them asleep once again. This time He left them alone and went again to pray. And upon His return, they were sleeping once again and this time as Jesus had completed His prayer time, he gave them additional coaching as the four of them moved on.

“⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.’” – Matthew 26:45-46 (ESV)

What I am seeing here is that Jesus was letting the disciples know that there is a time for rest and a time for action. While He was praying to the Father, they were given the opportunity to do the same. No doubt they were tired from the journey and work they were doing with Jesus. He was able to stay with it and pray, and therefore the disciples should have been able to as well.

I believe that we all have good intentions and want to do everything for God. I know that I do. The thing is that I am human and will wear down. But, I have to remember that there is a time for rest and a time for work. Now is the time for work. Sometimes that work may simply be preparing and asking for guidance from God and that may be the most important work of all. It is in that work that we should dedicate our time to Him and take rest when He makes it possible once our work is done. Pray now, rest later.

When you are praying, what is your focus on the action of praying? Are you finding yourself drifting off into a period of rest? What if we treated prayer as action and preparation for more physical work later and took rest when we are done?

“³⁷Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” – Matthew 9:37-38 (ESV)

How often have I indicated that there was work to be done only to walk away without taking any action, to often for sure. It is easy for me to see and know that there is action that needs to be taken. I have looked at those instances and justified my inaction for them not being my responsibility, but are they really not mine?

I have a responsibility to the work that God has laid out for me in this world. I have to take action where action is needed. If it is not my role to do the work I see, then it is my role to ensure that the work is done by those that have the capacity to do it. In the event that there is no one that is assigned or that has the ability to do the work, then it is mine to do and then the discussion as to who will be responsible should come after. I should not just be avoiding the work because, “it is not my job”.

In this passage, Jesus was being followed by the disciples and the people alike. There was work to be done in bringing the people to Him for their salvation. The disciples knew that there was work to be done, however with Jesus right there, they were waiting for Him to do the work. Jesus took the opportunity to teach rather than rebuke. In the verses above He is telling the disciples that they are tasked with work, at minimum to find those to go and preach the gospel to the people, but as they were already there, they should be willing to do the work themselves.

Too often I wait to go. My prayer to and conversation with God should not be solely to discuss what should be done, but how and where I can take action. I should be asking to be sent to do the work of God in the world today. I should be going and not just sending others.

What actions do you take when there is work to be done? Are you quicker to tell others or to take action yourself? What if we prayed to be sent to do the work of God as opposed to asking for the work to be done?

My personality is one where I analyze things prior to doing them. It might take me a minute to act on something because I have the need to see as many angle as possible and be sure that I am thorough in my approach. With this personality, the idea of praying with structure appeals to me greatly.

“⁹Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹Give us this day our daily bread, ¹²and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’” – Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

As a good number know, this is known as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Jesus gives us this model of how to pray. Yes, He gives us a structure to follow as we pray so as to not miss anything of importance in our conversations with God. I have an outline to follow and that outline allows me to see things from many angles so that my prayer is thorough.

You see, I, as I am sure a good number of us, will wander in my prayer and/or only ask for things. Prayer is much more than that for sure. “The Lord’s Prayer” gives me the items that should highlight my time with God. My conversations with God should always include the structure given to us by Jesus.

Elements of prayer include, God’s glorification, acknowledgment of His will in our lives, thanks for the provision for our needs, repentance, and deliverance. These are the basics that we should be engaged with in our conversations with God. It is not all that we can talk to Him about, they are just the basics. Everything else falls into the requests, wants, and desires.

God will allow me to have beyond the basics. It is not that He does not want for me to have them, it is just He knows how those things will impact my relationship with Him. It is okay for me to add those items into my prayer, but they are just that, add-ins. I should be starting with the structure and the basics and then with time left over, my other requests are added.

Prayer is the conversation between me and God. That conversation is to grow closer in our relationship and allow God to work in my life to fulfill my purpose for Him. Having structure to the conversation makes sure that I am staying on task and cover the things that are important in the eyes of God and that, frankly, should be important in my eyes as well.

What does your prayer and prayer time look like? Are you just winging it each and every time you talk with God? What if you were to add the structure of “The Lord’s Prayer” to make sure that you cover all of the important items?

“⁵And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁷And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” – Matthew 6:5 & 7 (ESV)

I want to be careful in that it is the motives of those praying that Jesus is calling out here, not the prayer itself. I am sure that most of us have seen those that are praying loud and proud for all to see on the street and in other venues. They are loud and boisterous and pray for the longest time just to give the impression that they are somehow more holy than others and that their words alone will garner them some recognition.

I have been asked to pray in public before and have fallen to the idea that I have to somehow be eloquent and wordy. I have found myself going on and repeating things to God just to speak longer that somehow that might make the prayer even better.

⁶But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ⁸…for you Father knows what you need before you ask him.” – Matthew 6:6 & 8b (ESV)

This is the type of relationship that should be had with Christ. That personal intimate relationship. Saying, in private, only that which needs to be said. Speaking with God, knowing that I have His full attention and that He is hanging on every word. It is a conversation between He and I, and that is where is the focus.

This is not to say that we should not be praying in public. On the contrary. I should take every opportunity to pray and speak with God. But, I also must remember the relationship and that the prayer is intimate and between He and I. I should be saying what should be said and no more or less. I should be lifting others up to Him and leaving it at that. No need to go on and on so that I will be considered something more than I am. It has been recognized that I have a relationship with God and that has prompted others to ask me to continue that work in public. The message should be the same, only others are able to hear.

When you pray, are you doing so to impress others or to speak with God? Are you looking to lift yourself up to a higher standing? What if we were to simply have a conversation with God in private or in public when asked to do so?

This morning I was led to the passage in Matthew 5 titled “Love Your Enemies”. I know this is a difficult one to undertake, especially when our enemies do not give us a reason to love them. I have studied this passage a number of times and the most impactful time was back in 2018 when I was reminded to show God’s love even when I may not feel the need to do so.

“⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” – Matthew 5:44 (ESV)

You see that I may not like those that are against me, and frankly I do not necessarily have to. I am to love them and by love that means to show them love regardless of what they do or how they treat others. My showing of love is in the form of, at minimum, prayer for them. I have written on the subject “Remember to Pray for Others Intentionally”, and this morning I am taking that to the next level by remembering to pray for others intentionally, even those that are against me.

I have mentioned my mission a number of times in my writing and again here: “Improve lives through growth and learning as an example of Christ’s love”. Praying for others, even those that are against me is doing just that. As I pray for others I am looking to improve their lives. Jesus himself said the passage above and therefor praying for others is the example of Christ’s love being shown to all.

This is a simple concept to be taken. I encourage to read and study the full passage of Matthew 5:43-48 to understand the whole of loving your enemies, but I will say this, it is easy to love those that are kind and gentle and that reciprocate. Where it is difficult is finding it in yourself to love those that are against you. Jesus is not referring to the emotion of love for all, but the action of love. I have to remember to demonstrate love to any and all I interact.

What love are you showing to those around you? Are you focused only on those that reciprocate? What if you were to pray for those against you as a demonstration of love for all?

This morning as I sat down to pray, I was sure to include all for me. I thanked God for His glory. I prayed His will done. I asked for His provision. I asked for forgiveness. It was an all about me prayer.

“⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ‘May they be secure who love you!’” – Psalm 122:6 (ESV)

Notice the prayer indicated in this Psalm. The prayer is for others and not for me. I have to remember that when praying, others are in need just as I am. As a Christian, it is my responsibility to intercede for others with God. I am to be the conduit that gives others a line to the Lord. I am to be there for my brothers and sisters so that they are not out there going it alone.

Don’t get me wrong, I have to pray for myself and all that I mentioned at the beginning of this writing. I have to be conscious of who God is, what He does, and how I can honor Him. But there is a time for that and then there is the time for my intercession for those in need, that may or may not know they are in need. When was the last time I stopped what I was doing to pray for/with someone in the moment? When was the last time I was intentional in my lifting up of others?

“⁸For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’” – Psalm 122:8 (ESV)

I have to be better at praying for those in need. I may not know exactly what their need is, but as is written in Psalm, I can pray for peace within them. I can lift them up to God to at least let them know that there are those that care for them in all aspects of there lives.

When was the last time you prayed for someone else? Are you so focused on your needs that others are getting missed in the process? What if you were to make it a point to pray for others intentionally?