Message #1 (of 20) from the PrayerPower radio series
"Praying John 17"

by Kaye Johns

If we examine our daily prayer lists, most of us would see that we pray for many "daily bread" concerns. That’s not bad, because Jesus taught us to pray that way. But His instruction in His model prayer was His earliest teaching on prayer, the basic fundamental things we should pray. He later gave His disciples tremendous promises attached to those prayers that are according to God’s will, to advance His kingdom and glorify the Father.

Sometimes it is hard to know how to pray for a daily need and be certain of God’s will. But one way to be sure that our prayers will advance His kingdom and bring glory to the Father is to follow the example of Jesus and others, like Paul. What did they ask?

If we look at the Lord’s prayer of Matthew 6 [Matt. 6:9-13], Jesus’s intercessory prayer of John 17, and four of Paul’s prayers [Eph. 1:15-23; 3:14-19; Col. 1:9-12; Phil. 1:9-11], we find 25 specific requests. Only one is for "daily bread." The others are all for spiritual needs, such as being filled with the knowledge of God’s will [Col. 1:9] or walking worthy of the Lord [Col. 1:10].

One way to come higher in our prayer life is to pray these prayers and other verses of Scripture as we intercede for others. It not only keeps our prayers from falling into routine patterns and phrases, but such prayers emphasize those things that can make an eternal difference in someone’s life.

Pray with me now -- Father, may Your Spirit lift our prayers out of the comfortable routine we often fall into, in Jesus’s name. Amen.

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