Language Studies

Greek Thoughts

PROSEUCHOMAI* - Part 12 - εχηγεομαι (Strong's #1834)
To pray

Please note that all Biblical quotes, in this and all other lessons posted to Greek Thoughts, are from The Literal English Translation of the Bible produced by BTE Ministries - The Bible Translation and Exegesis Institute of America.

We are continuing with our study of the word προσεὺχομαι (Strong's #4336, pronounced prō'sūk-ō-mī**), which means "to pray." It is a word compounded from the preposition πρὸς (Strong's #4314, pronounced prōs**) meaning "to" or "toward," and the word εὔχομαι (Strong's #2172, pronounced ū' kō-mī**) meaning "to wish, to desire." The combination of these two words gives us an understanding of prayer; that it is a simple expression of one's desires to God. However, this general description is not as clear cut as it appears to be; since it is necessary to biblically define the kind of desires that, when expressed to God in prayer, He guarantees to answer. This has been the focus of several parts of this study and we continue with it this week.

In the first nine parts of this study, we have learned that:

*God's answer to prayer is only guaranteed when the desire underlying a believer's prayer is for God's will to be done (1 John 5:14-15).

*those praying to fulfill their own hedonistic desires would not receive an answer (James 4:1-4).

*a double-minded person - one who asks God for wisdom but does not ask in faith- will not have his prayers answered (James 1:5-8).

We next turned our attention from the teachings of the Lord's disciples to His own teaching on προσεὺχομαι, finding that:

*Jesus' promise of response to prayer is reserved for those who pray in His name—desiring that His plan and purposes be done (John 14:12-14).

*God only guarantees an answer to prayer when that prayer is expressed under the influence of God's Spirit and His Word, thereby causing it to be in accordance with the words of Christ (John 15:7).

*Jesus expressed His desire in prayer ("…if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me"), but He concluded in acquiescence to the Father's will ("…nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."), as recorded in Matthew 26:36-43.

In recent weeks, we have been studying the Lord's teaching on prayer from Matthew 6:5-14. In verses 5,6, Jesus taught on the place for prayer, giving us the understanding that prayer is not for others to see, but is rather for a private time of communication with our Father in heaven. In verses 7,8, He presents prayer as being an expression of submission to the Father's will regarding every person and circumstance about which we pray.

Last week we began a consideration of the principles of prayer as taught by Jesus, still taking the sixth chapter of Matthew, but looking specifically at verses 9-13.

Matthew 6:9-13: The Principles of Prayer

9)

In this way therefore you pray (προσεὺχομαι); Our Father, the One in the heavens, sanctify Your name;

The first principle of prayer is found in the phrase, "Our Father, the One in the Heavens." Because the phrase "the One in the heavens" modifies the term Father, we learn that the entire phrase "Our Father, the One in the heavens" is not an opening line used to announce an official prayer. It is, instead, an acknowledgement of the One to whom we pray; as well as being a summons to meditate on His nature. We studied a great example of this from Acts 4:23-30. The text tells us that the disciples had been threatened by the religious authorities and were told to stop preaching in the name of Jesus; the response of the disciples was to focus on the nature and being of the Father; and in so doing, their circumstances were brought into proper focus.

This week, we are taking the second principle of prayer from Matthew 6:9. Our focus is now on the prayer request to be made after acknowledging and meditating on the One to whom we pray: We are to ask the Father to sanctify His name. The Greek word translated "sanctify" is ἁγιὰζω (Strong's #37, pronounced hä gē ädz' ō**), which means "to separate, to set apart." When we pray for the Lord's name to be "set apart," we are asking for the Lord to use all we do during the day to honor His name apart from all other names. This prayer parallels that which Jesus spoke in John 14:13, "And whatever you should ask in My name, this I will do, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son." From this we understand that we are not only to pray in His name; but that when we function "in" the name of the Lord, we move in representation of His purposes and plan, because we are functioning under the auspices of His name. Therefore, Jesus' promise of response to prayer is reserved for those who pray in His name—desiring that His plan and purposes be done.

These verses show us that answered prayer is dependent first on recognizing and addressing God for who He is, and then on praying that all we do will be done in representation of the Lord as we go in His name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Next week, we will continue to examine Jesus' teaching as we study the third principle of prayer from Matthew 6:9-13.

*PROSEUCHOMAI is the English font spelling of the Greek word προσεὺχομαι.

**English pronunciation guide for Greek words: āle; ăm; ärm; ēve; ĕnd; īce; ǐll; ōld; ǒdd; ūse; ŭp

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