As was stated in part #2, we need to pray for several reasons. The most important is self reflection. But why? First, we need to remember that once we are baptized, we do not belong to the world anymore. We have been grafted into the "family" of Israel.
This Israel is not the country on the map, but the spiritual Israel that is heavenly. The Israel who Yashua is the leader, and we follow him. We are born into the family when we are baptized and that baptism is the remitting of sin. Remittance is the letting go of, or the setting free of something. In this case it is meaning if the son sets you free, you are free indeed.
Baptism shows that we are freed from something. And that something is the carnal man, through death, burial, and resurrection. This internal reflection that prayer brings, is a shadow of the baptism. We are committed to following Paul who followed Yashua. Paul knew that Prayer brought change, and that change is also reflected in baptism.
But to see what prayer can do, we also need to see what prayer HAS done. If we need to wash the dishes, we remember from past dish washings that we need soap, water, and a scrub brush. We know what is needed to clean the plate. We dont forget it. We know that when we pray, we need to examine ourselves to present ourselves worthy/clean before the Father. This means we remember our past person and what we did to get away from it. We humble ourselves and ask forgiveness, then we petition the Almighty for blessings. With a humble heart, he will hear us.
That is the reason it is a command. We are commanded, IF we call ourselves part of the family of YAHVAH, to pray not just to ask for things, but to humble ourselves, and reflect. To see what we did that day to offend the Almighty, and stop doing it. Each day we find something that we do that might not be pleasing to YAHVAH and we change it, and don't do it again.
This is our road closer to perfection. And the road is riddled with obstacles but we are able to get over them with prayer. To see what has has done, we look to our past. Lots of things we use to do we no longer do because of prayer. Because we remembered to stop doing the things we once did because we know that it is not pleasing to the Almighty.
In part #4, we will take a look at the many prayers in the bible and see what they were used for, and WHO they were for.
Thank you for reading this post, and if you want, please feel free to upvote, and let me know what this post meant to you in the comments!
:D
(reallifeanswers.org)