Prayer is a VITAL part of our Christian life; it is our invitation to God asking Him to do something in our life. It is a time of fellowship where we spend time finding out what God wants for our life. It is also a time where we express praise, thanksgiving, worship, and appreciation for all the wonderful things God has done for us. If we don’t pray and invite God into those areas of our need, He won’t get involved. If we don’t spend time asking Him for His guidance, we will wander around in life without His knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, and wisdom. If we don’t take out time to express our appreciation for all the awesome things He has already done for us, He will stop helping us with our present and future.

As you know, in “The Power Courses” through the course called: “How To Get The Power Life,” we went through The Lord’s Prayer located in Matthew 6:9-13 and prayed each part of it so we could be born again into our heavenly Father’s family. And, we prayed it so we could become a citizen of His eternal Kingdom. Then we obeyed Romans 10:8-10 and learned how to confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raise Jesus from the dead. That gave us salvation and justification. Through salvation we were forgiven for all our past sins; through justification we were forgiven of all our present and future sins.

We are NOW learning how to pray The Lord’s prayer for each day’s issues; and, we are learning how to use it to grow in each stage of our life. Jesus told us to pray His prayer that we call “The Lord’s Prayer;” it is a daily prayer that contains the foundational aspects that address your basic needs for each day. Then you will need to pray other prayers for your specific needs of that day. However, if you start praying this prayer everyday, some unhelpful things can happen to this time of prayer. So, Jesus has and is helping you look at His prayer from four different perspectives. Jesus already took you through the first one for being born again. Now, He is ready to take you into three more.

In the four studies on the Lord’s prayer, Jesus to you through “How To Get The Power Life,” which is The Lord’s Prayer for becoming a Christian. It is presented in “The Power Courses.” In the next three, that are now being presented in “The Prayer Courses,” Jesus will take you through: “The Lord’s Prayer For New Christians,” “The Lord’s Prayer For Sinning Christians,” and “The Lord’s Prayer For Mature Christians.” Jesus helped you look at His prayer in “How To Get The Power Life” from one perspective so you could become a child of God. Now He is helping you look at it from three different perspectives so you can grow and mature into an adult child of God.

Then in the final study, “Talking With Your Heavenly Father,” you will be allowing Jesus to talk to you about your communication with your heavenly Father. Jesus will help you see some things about yourself, as He teaches you through the book of James. Jesus will use some prayers prayed by David and other great people of prayer in the Psalms. These are prayers you will need to pray to your heavenly Father AFTER you have prayed The Lord’s Prayer for that day. They will help you with specific issues you face in life. Jesus will help you with certain aspects of your character and attitudes; that will help you have a clearer path into having a conversation with God.

Prayers we pray over our dinner, prayers we memorize and pray all the time, and praying The Lord’s Prayer can become a habit that is prayed without any real meaning or feeling. If it can become just a ritual that you fulfill each day because you feel you are supposed to, then you will do it just to get it out of the way. Prayer is too vital for you to just do it as a ritual; it is all about a relationship with your heavenly Father. He is listening and responding to every word you speak. Ritual prayer is like a person talking to you while thinking about something else. They are distracted, uninterested in you, and just going through the motions. No one likes talking with people like that.

God doesn’t want you doing things JUST because He told you too. Jesus gave you His prayer as a matter of vital need. As you wake up in the morning, you are going to be facing some real issues that can hurt and misdirect you. You can make decisions that you will suffer from for the rest of your life, if you don’t get God’s guidance and help. You can go through your day and not FEEL the wonderful relationship you HAVE with your heavenly Father. You can either spend your day concentrating on all your problems, or, you can spend a lot of it praising and thanking God for all the awesome things He has already done for you.

Sometimes we pray prayers that are based on our own personal opinion. We haven’t consulted God, we don’t have all the facts, we have our mind made up, and we feel very strongly that this is really what we need in order to be happy or get a problem solved. Prayer helps you get God’s input during times when you are about to force your way into trying to get something that needs some improvement or change. You can count on the fact that if you do something, get something, or say something without God’s input, it WILL eventually turn out bad. ALL GOOD THINGS ONLY come through God; everything else comes from some other source.

Jesus will be taking you through four courses on prayer so as to help you learn to put your TOTAL faith in your heavenly Father. Jesus will be using “The Lord’s Prayer For New Christians,” “The Lord’s Prayer For Sinning Christians,” and “The Lord’s Prayer For Mature Christians” to give you three approaches to using His prayer for three major areas in your life. And, He will show you how you can make adjustments in the Lord’s prayer for other areas of your life. Jesus will be using “Talking With Your Heavenly Father” to give you prayers you will need to pray once you have finished “The Lord’s Prayer” for your day.

Through this study, Jesus leads you into a process of praying “The Lord’s Prayer” on a daily basis. Jesus shows you HOW to do what He told you to do; AND, He helps you do it through the prayer He gave you to pray. He teaches you how to use this great prayer He developed Himself; and, He shows you how to apply it to the life and spiritual growth of a new or untrained Christian. This starts the new or untrained Christian’s day off with great power and blessings. It is a general, foundational prayer that is to precede all the other prayers you pray that day.

EVERY Christian, new or old, makes mistakes, commits misdeeds of their body, and does things that the Holy Spirit is trying to help them address. In this study, Jesus helps you pray this daily prayer while approaching it during those times when you have sinned, failed, fallen short, or made a spiritual or relational mistake. He will take you through this general, foundational prayer that MUST precede all the other prayers you pray that day. He uses it to take care of any blockages you have between you and your heavenly Father. Sometimes God isn’t responding to your other prayers because He is waiting for you and Jesus to take care of this issue FIRST.

Jesus uses this study to serve two purposes; He uses it to help mature Christians pray this daily prayer so as to continue to grow. He also uses it to help those who are new or untrained Christians to grow into a mature, adult Christian. He does this to help you keep praying “The Lord’s Prayer” every day for the rest of your life.

In the previous studies, Jesus dealt with your relationship with God. In this study, Jesus helps you learn how to talk to your heavenly Father and Him talk to you. All of the things Jesus taught you through “The Lord’s Prayer” about your heavenly Father and the way He thinks and feels will help you move into this more specific study. As you move into “Talking With Your Heavenly Father,” Jesus will use those things you learned from the previous studies. This will help you be able to pray and get the results you need. If you know your heavenly Father and understand Him, you will talk with Him and listen to Him with great skill and effectiveness.

Prayer is the way for you to not only TALK TO your heavenly Father, it is also a way to LISTEN TO His answers and comments. Even though God doesn’t typically use words and sentences, He does use thoughts and feelings. If you could connect to the thoughts and feeling of another person, you wouldn’t need words. You would know what they were thinking and feeling by seeing what they see and feeling what they feel. This is a very powerful way of getting to know your heavenly Father. As you learn how to recognize the GENTLE thoughts and feelings that He puts in your mind and heart, you will start getting His guidance for your life.