A Help For Prayer (The New City Catechism #9)

 One of the most helpful discoveries I made years ago for my prayer life is to pray Scripture. When we do this, we know we are praying in line with God’s moral will for us.

 On the one hand this means allowing all I read in the Bible to lead me to pray. On the other hand this means praying certain passages often because they are so helpful. A passage I turn to at least a couple times a week as I pray for self and others is the Ten Commandments. Since they are a summary of God’s moral will for us, they also are a great guide for prayer.  If you try this, allow the Ten Commandments to fuel praise, offering of petition, confession of sin, and thanksgiving.

 This is especially seen in the first three commandments that address keeping God as a priority and also revering him as we should. Here are those commandments:

#1 (Exodus 20:3): “You shall have no other gods before me.”

 #2 (Exodus 20:4-6): “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

#3 (Exodus 20:7): “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

 Yet, what more specifically do these first three commandments demand of us?  We find help to answer this in the ninth question and answer of The New City Catechism: “What does God require in the first, second, and third commandments? Answer: First, that we know and trust God as the only true and living God. Second, that we avoid all idolatry and do not worship God improperly. Third, that we treat God’s name with fear and reverence, honoring also his Word and works.” 

One of the benefits of memorizing The New City Catechism is that in doing so you also learn the Ten Commandments and gain help in understanding what they demand. This is both a guide for knowing the will of God and praying the will of God.

Joyfully Living And Praying The Will Of God With You,

Tom