THE PRAYER OF JACOB: A MODEL PRAYER
«But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind» (James 1:6).
IN THE BIBLE we find more than one model prayer. Of course, there is the Lord’s Prayer, made by Jesus Himself; that is the model prayer par excellence. But there are also others, made by great characters of the Bible; among them is the prayer we are going to talk about today, made by the patriarch Jacob when he was about to meet his brother, against whom he had committed a serious offense. The prayer says:
«O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude’ » (Genesis 32:9-12).
Let us take a look at the four parts of this prayer:
- Exalt the greatness of the Lord, acknowledging Him as the God of his ancestors, who did great things through them.
- Recognize our own unworthiness because of the sin committed: «I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant.» unworthiness makes us undeserving of God’s faithfulness but He nonetheless bestows it on us, because He is greater than we are.
- Express in g concrete way what we need: «Deliver me from the hand of my brother . . . Esau.» Why? «For I fear him.» There is nothing that we cannot tell our God, and there is nothing that He is not willing to forgive us. You can approach Him with full confidence, knowing that He listens to you and accepts you.
4, Finally, with reverence, express full confidence and gratitude for all the blessings received from God: «For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well.»‘
We find in these words all that constitutes the essence of a prayer. Let us learn from them what we need to adjust so that our communication with God is better.
#WomensDevotional
#RadioJovenAdventista
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Take From: Daily Devotions for Women’s 2020
«One Day at a Time»
From: Patricia Muñoz Bertozzi
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Alejandra Zavala
Radio Joven Adventista
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