Subject: Purpose of Prayer? |
Bible Note: Hi tgc, I believe you answered well. Remember the apostle Paul encourages Christians to keep up their fight of faith ‘while with every form of prayer they carry on prayer on every occasion in spirit.’ (Eph. 6:18) Every prayer, given either audibly or silently, has a point or purpose. Thus ther are various forms of prayer, for example, “intercessions,” in which the Christian prays in behalf of others, “offerings of thanks,” of asking blessings, prayers of “supplication” with regard to certain needs or problems. You mention the Lord's prayer. First we notice this is a model prayer to follow but not one to say repeatedly. We also notice that Jesus prays to the Father. That sounds reasonable to me that we would pray to our God who is Jesus' Father. Then what does Jesus pray for first of anything he could have prayed for? That his "name be sanctified, or made holy. Certainly then Jesus recognized the importance of God's name and was thus telling us the same. Do you believe that? Of course, God's name is Jehovah and our older Bible translations showed us in Ps 83:18. Just before his death Jesus prayed: “I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world . . . watch over them on account of your own name which you have given me . . . And I have made your name known to them and will make it known.”—John 17:6, 11, 26. We are not to believe that when Jesus said, “I have made your name known” or “manifest,” he referred to only the pronunciation of the divine name. His listeners were Jews who, reportedly with the exception of the high priest, did not know the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters making up the name. Then, how did Jesus, by more than pronouncing the name correctly, ‘make God’s name known’ to the apostles? Note the answer given by one noted Bible commentator: “The word name [in John 17] includes the attributes, or character of God. Jesus had made known his character, his law, his will, his plan of mercy. Or in other words, he had revealed God to them. The word name is often used to designate the person.”—Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels by Albert Barnes (1846). So, as Jesus ‘explained the Father’ by his own entire perfect life course on earth, he was really ‘making God’s name known.’ He demonstrated that he spoke with God’s full backing and authority. Jesus could therefore say: “He that has seen me has seen the Father also.” Certainly Jesus wasn't the Father but he was the Son of God so God’s “name” thus took on greater meaning to his early followers. Accordingly, an appreciation of it and the Personality that it stood for should be reflected in every aspect of our lives as Christians. MissJW |