The Perfect Prayer


Prayer has been an integral part of my life since May 15, 1976, when I received Jesus Christ into my heart as Savior and Lord.  So I have had 38 years of prayer experience, and have heard others pray for 37 years as well.  I once read through the Bible - Old Testament and New - and highlighted every prayer.

As I read the Bible I was struck by the notion that there is no prayer which is too big for God to answer, and that as a result we have the authority and responsibility to pray the biggest prayers we can pray so that no one gets left out of God's answers to our prayers.

I have also noticed painfully that God does not always answer our prayers in the way that we want Him to, or that we expect Him to answer.  But that never seems to deter most folks from praying for what they want the way they want it.

Eventually I realized that if I asked our heavenly Father to do whatever needed to be done in my life and everyone else's lives, and not to dictate the method or means by which He should answer, that I could count on His goodness and love and wisdom and righteousness to move Him to do what was right.

Somewhere along my path of life I came across the prayer in Hebrews 13:20-21.  I was struck by the notion that this prayer is the perfect prayer for every creature in every circumstance.   It is focused on doing God's will, leaves Him plenty of 'elbow room' to answer as He sees fit, and makes His pleasure the ultimate goal of the prayer:

Heb 13:20  And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting testament,
Heb 13:21  Fit youall in all goodness, that youall may do his will; doing in youall/us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.

You may notice that I have used the second person plural English word 'youall' and 'us' to make clear that the prayer is a community prayer, not a personal prayer.

You may also notice, as I did, that the prayer is focused on doing God's will, not our own will as Jesus exemplified in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, "Not My will, but Thy will be done, Father."

You may also notice that the One Who answers prayer gets all the glory, not the one doing the praying!

Therefore I consider this prayer to be the perfect prayer for every situation and creature, and STRONGLY urge everyone to begin with this prayer, and let the Holy Spirit focus it more clearly as He sees fit in ways that you may not have even imagined !

Eph 3:20  Now to the One who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working within/among us— to Him be glory in the church and in the Messiah Jesus to all generations, forever and ever! Amen.