No Ordinary Prayer

By David West

The Lord's Prayer is unequivocally the greatest prayer ever given to the believer! It is so much more than just words to repeat so that one can complete some ritual expectation. On the contrary, it is a square meal for the soul, containing every ingredient necessary for spiritual health. Monumental in all aspects, the Lord's Prayer is NO ORDINARY PRAYER! It is not about success in the eyes of man but about faithfulness to God on the believer's daily walk. A fresh contemplation of the prayer, the Christian is challenged to forego mere and often mindless repetition and to discover the Lord's words are a living text for purposeful life and worship. Dare to be different! Change the way you view the Lord's Prayer""forever! Discover its life-changing concepts! Apply its powerful insights as needed! Ready? Set? GO!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644163375

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No Ordinary Prayer

David L. West

Copyright © 2019 by David L. West

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Foreword

If you, like me, were raised in a devout Christian home environment where the Lord’s Prayer was learned and recited often at a very early age, then you might share my perception that yes, I know the Lord’s Prayer, and have all my life. However, this study by Rev. David West has challenged my understanding of the deeper meaning of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples. I always knew that prayer, word–for–word, but Rev. West has opened up the riches of what Jesus was imparting and establishing as He schooled those unknowing disciples about how to pray.

I first met David when he was about thirteen years of age and his voice had hardly changed to a man’s range, yet he was singing bass in his wonderful family group known as The Singing West Family from New Jersey. Since that time, upwards of fifty years ago, I have watched David grow up, surrender his young life to the call of God to ministry and pastor several churches. His knowledge of the Word is the result of his many years of diligent study.

Through fourteen well–organized and sequential chapters, David breaks into powerful and progressive principles that which the Lord’s Prayer sets forth. Then he ends each chapter with an applicable, modern–day language principle that is the essence of each point made by the prayer.

My hope is that the readers’ life is once again impacted by David’s careful revealing of the often obscured or overlooked truths of this glorious Lord’s Prayer as it has impacted my life.

Read, learn, and be inspired!

Neil Enloe

Introduction

I never saw it! Oh, it was there—right in front of me for more than 45 years. Yet, somehow, I missed it! I had read and recited our Lord’s Prayer thousands of times, but I had failed to grab hold of its power. Then I met Paul.

Concerned about his spiritual relationship with God, the family had asked me to visit him in a local hospital. Paul was terminal, and I was most willing to meet him and address his relationship with God in what appeared to be his final days.

He was receptive to my presence, and we chatted briefly about his family. Then I directed the conversation toward his preparedness for eternity. I had done this many times before and was confident I knew the course to take.

When I asked if he felt it would be a good thing to pray, he agreed. I thought I would do the usual thing, which for me was to pray for him, then tell the Lord that Paul and I were concerned about having peace with Him. Then I would utter some repentant phrases and encourage Paul to repeat them after me.

So much for my plans! Paul decided he would not wait for me to start praying. He bowed his head as much as was possible in his reclined position on the hospital bed, folded his hands on his chest, and started saying the Lord’s Prayer.

At first, I wasn’t sure where all this was going, and then something wonderful happened. Upon reaching the phrase, "and forgive us our trespasses," Paul suddenly stopped. He started to weep. It became apparent to me that our Lord was doing exactly that—forgiving!

I don’t recall his finishing the prayer. He smiled warmly and thanked me repeatedly for helping him have peace with God. He passed away not too many days after that occasion.

As I left the hospital that day, I left with a new understanding of the prayer Jesus taught us. By nature, I am not a person rutted in ritualism, but I have found myself presenting our Lord’s Prayer more frequently with new enthusiasm and deeper passion. It is not just a powerful and warming prayer, but it contains everything in it that I need to be a genuine and effective worshiper.

Indeed, it is the greatest prayer anyone could ever pray.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

As Presented in Matthew 6:9–13

"After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done

in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

and the glory, for ever. Amen."

(King James Version)

"This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom