Come, follow Jesus!
(the real Jesus)
ONLINE EDITION
The Gospel
in simple terms
for nonbelievers
and new believers
view/save as PDF
also available as a
paperback book
Home
Jesus said, "Come, follow me."
How can you follow Jesus?
"But I'm a sinful person, not fit to be a follower of Jesus!"
Your new life as a follower of Jesus
Find fellowship with other followers of Jesus
Your prayer life
Know your Bible
Your service to God
"Jezebel" in the churches
"If we deliberately keep on sinning . . ."
Why believe the Bible?
Who is Jesus?
What did Jesus teach?
What is life really all about
Angels and demons
Gray areas, mysteries and religious authorities
What Jesus revealed about life after death
'But my relatives won't like it if I follow Jesus!'
Watching for Christ's return
How I came to follow Jesus: the testimony of David A. Reed
Why this book?
Dedication, copyright, ISBN & Scripture references
Contact
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online edition of the book by David A. Reed The Gospel in simple terms for nonbelievers and new believers. How to become a follower of Jesus Christ, and live as Jesus commanded Home | Jesus said, "Come, follow me." | How can you follow Jesus? | "But I'm a sinful person, not fit to be a follower of Jesus!" | Your new life as a follower of Jesus | Find fellowship with other followers of Jesus | Your prayer life | Know your Bible | Your service to God | "Jezebel" in the churches | "If we deliberately keep on sinning . . ." | Why believe the Bible? | Who is Jesus? | What did Jesus teach? | What is life really all about | Angels and demons | Gray areas, mysteries and religious authorities | What Jesus revealed about life after death | 'But my relatives won't like it if I follow Jesus!' | Watching for Christ's return | How I came to follow Jesus: the testimony of David A. Reed | Why this book? | Dedication, copyright, ISBN & Scripture references < PREVIOUS — NEXT > When we first embrace the Gospel message, we do it by putting faith in Jesus Christ and repenting of our sins—telling God in prayer that we are sorry for our sins and that we are now committing ourselves to follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, recognizing in our prayer that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead to give us everlasting life. But that sinner’s prayer is only the beginning of a Christian’s prayer life. Prayer should soon become a regular activity, as we grow in faith, trust and obedience. Long before there was such a thing as a Jewish synagogue or a Christian church, there were faithful men who walked with God in a close personal relationship. They trusted, they obeyed and they prayed. They lived long before God revealed himself more fully through Jesus, but we can still learn about prayer from their examples. Enoch was a great-grandson of a great-grandson of Adam. “Enoch walked with God.” —Genesis 5:22, 24 Noah was the one God called to build an “Noah walked with God.” —Genesis 6:9 God is called in the Old Testament the “Hearer of prayer.”: “Hearer of prayer, to Thee all flesh cometh.” —Psalm 65:2 Young’s Literal Translation Yes, “all flesh”—everyone—is invited to come to God in prayer. The Apostle Paul told a pagan Greek audience that God is not far off from each one of us: “He made from one blood every nation
of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed
seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord,
if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from
each one of us.” —Acts
So, God hears the prayers of all sorts of people. He is not far off from each one of us. We don’t need to go to a special place to pray. Nor do we need to assume any special posture. The Bible tells us that believers in the true God prayed in all sorts of positions and under all sorts of circumstances. King Solomon was leading a public assembly when “Solomon prayed this prayer to the LORD, kneeling in front of the altar with his
arms raised toward heaven.” —1
Kings The elderly servant of the prophet Abraham was standing by a well when he had his camels kneel down to drink, but the Bible doesn’t tell us what position the servant was in when he then prayed to God, and God answered his prayer. (Gen. 24:11-15) Hannah, a woman in a troubled polygamous marriage, prayed silently to God while weeping bitterly in a public place, moving her lips but not making any sound: “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. . . . Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.’ ‘Not so, my lord,’ Hannah replied, ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.’” —1 Samuel 1:10-15 NIV Nehemiah was one of the Jews living in foreign captivity, working as cup bearer for the king of the Medo-Persian empire, when he cried and fasted and prayed to God over several days before asking the king for permission to return and rebuild The Bible is full of many other examples demonstrating that you can pray to God in all sorts of circumstances, publicly or privately, silently or aloud. And the Bible also offers examples of what men and women of faith said in their prayers. Many of the psalms in the Bible book of Psalms are actually prayers to God. Consider for example this passage from Psalm 40: “LORD, do not hold back your mercy from me; let your love and truth always protect me. Troubles have surrounded me; there are too many to count. My sins have caught me so that I cannot see a way to escape. I have more sins than hairs on my head, and I have lost my courage. Please, LORD, save me. Hurry, LORD, to help me.” —Psalm 40:11-13 NCV Jesus included in his teaching some instructions on how to pray—and how not to pray. He said that we should not pray for show, to impress other people who may be looking on or listening: “‘When you pray,
you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.
Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.’” —Matthew
6:5 Showy prayers like that have their reward only in the admiration of other people, but have no reward from God. Rather, Jesus taught that most of our prayer life should be a private thing between ourselves and God: “‘But you, when you pray, enter into
your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in
secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.’” —Matthew
6:6 Pagan idol worshipers commonly repeated repetitious prayers to their false gods. Jesus taught that we should not do that. The true God already knows our thoughts and our needs, even before we open our mouths: “’In praying, don’t
use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be
heard for their much speaking. Therefore don’t be
like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.’” —Matthew 6:7-8 When Jesus finished praying in a certain place, one of his followers asked him to teach them how to pray. In response, Jesus gave this model prayer as an example: “He said to them, ‘When you pray, say, “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”’” —Luke 11:2-4 Moreover, shortly before he was arrested, Jesus told his disciples to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name: “‘You didn’t choose me,
but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that
your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name,
he may give it to you.’ . . . “‘In that day
you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask
of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked
nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full. I have spoken these things to
you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to
you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my
name; and I don’t say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have
believed that I came forth from God.’” —John
We can also learn from Jesus’ own prayers that he prayed to his Father in heaven, as recorded in the Gospels. Sometimes Jesus went off to be alone in prayer: “he went up into the mountain by himself to pray” —Matthew 14:23 Other times he spoke a brief prayer out loud in the midst of a crowd of people: “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” —Matthew 11:25-26 NIV The longest prayer of Christ recorded in the Scriptures is found in John chapter 17 where he prays for his disciples and for those who would become his followers in the future. In the “He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.’ . . . Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.’” —Matthew 26:39. 42 If we are struggling with unanswered prayer, the above passage can help us. Jesus wished the “cup” he was facing to pass away, but yielded his will to his heavenly Father’s will. He prayed for the cup to pass away, but he ended up drinking it, because that was the Father’s will. The Apostle Paul also experienced unanswered prayer. He wrote, “that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in
the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted
excessively. Concerning
this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my
weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.” So, the answer to Paul’s prayer was No. But the Lord helped him to understand why it had to be that way. Like children with limited understanding, we may pray for things that we think best, but our heavenly Father sees aspects of our situation that we don’t see and he knows what is really best in the long run. We can also learn something else from the above passage: Paul was praying to Jesus. He wrote, “I begged the Lord,” who answered him concerning “my power,” and then Paul expressed contentment that “the power of Christ” rested on him. So the Lord who said “my power” was Christ. Just as Paul spoke to Christ in prayer, we can do the same. Besides addressing prayer to “our Father,” we can also speak to Jesus. Paul wrote that believers “call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.” When the disciple Stephen was being stoned to death for his Christian witness, he called out in prayer to Jesus: “They stoned Stephen as he called
out, saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ He kneeled down, and cried
with a loud voice, ‘Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!’ When he had said
this, he fell asleep.” —Acts
Do you feel inadequate to come up with the right things to say in prayer? Don’t worry about it. Even when you don’t know how to pray as you should, the Holy Spirit will help you out: “the Spirit helps us in
our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” —Romans So, the burden is not on us to come up with the right words, or the right formula, in our prayers. God cares about us and knows what we need even before we ask. Jesus said, “your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.” —Matthew 6:8 And he added, “‘Ask, and it will be given you.
Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened
for you. For
everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him
who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will
give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a
serpent? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is
in heaven give good things to those who ask him! ’” —Matthew 7:7-11 Luke’s account emphasizes that we need to persist in prayer, and to keep on asking: “‘I tell you, keep asking,
and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.’” —Luke 11:9 Luke also tells us that “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” —Luke 18:1 New Living Translation You may benefit from reading that story or parable for yourself in the eighteenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel. Our relationship with God as followers of his Son involves our heartfelt trust, our faithful obedience, our active service, and our fervent prayer. We listen to God as we prayerfully read his written Word. And we pray as we face life’s challenges and as we go about our daily activities. Many Christians start each day with a time of prayer, or end each day that way. But we can also fill our day with prayer, silently giving thanks and asking for guidance as the need may be, throughout the day. The Apostle Paul urges us to “pray continually” —1 Thessalonians 5:17 |