"And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'" Luke 11:1

A pattern for prayer is clear in the teaching and examples of the Bible. That pattern includes praise, thanksgiving, confession, and requests. All four of these do not have to be in every prayer ... but they should all be included in our prayer lives.

PRAISE ... because of who He is. Praising God exalts, honors, and glorifies Him, Psalm 34:1-3. It is a very important part of what our prayers should be. We are taught to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God." Hebrews 13:15. Helpful Biblical examples of praising God are Psalms 144 - 150. Many examples can be found in other Psalms and other books of the Bible.

THANKSGIVING ... because of what He has done. God gives us so much to be thankful for in our lives. He gives us gifts in response to our requests ... and often just because He loves us. "It is good to give thanks to the Lord.” Psalm 92:1. "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." Colossians 4:2. "In everything give thanks." 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Lack of thankfulness is a sin of the last days, 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

CONFESSION ... because of our sin. To confess is to acknowledge our sins to God. When we do that, He has promised to "forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. David outlined the great blessings of forgiveness in Psalm 32 ... and gave us a great example of confession in Psalm 51:1-13. Unconfessed sin hinders our fellowship with God.

REQUESTS ... because He loves us. It is God's desire to meet our needs and give us the desires of our hearts, Psalm 37:4. We are instructed to let our "requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6. However, sometimes we do not have because we do not ask ... or because we ask with bad motives, James 4:2,3. Spiritual needs are often much more important than physical needs. Examples of both types are found in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.

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Disciplemaking 1, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org. Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless noted.