A Message for A Prayer Vigil

A Message for A Prayer Vigil                                                         Kelly Durant    August 8, 2026

You have seen how the rabbis pray in Israel with their face against the wall, and how they move back and forth when they repeat their phrases.  A certain rabbi noticed the man next to him repeating, "I want to be with my people, I want to be with my people!" He stopped him and said, "What are you saying, you are here with your people!" Then the man began to pray again, "I want to be with my people in Miami Beach!" In the end, we learn that when we pray, we must express specifically what it is that we want! 

Often when I pray, I try to focus on the prayer model Jesus gave us. We often repeat the Lord’s prayer but I think we must internalize it and make it real in our lives personally. Here I will expound on what I find is import to recognize when we pray. 

To begin with Jesus said John 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. We must always pray in Jesus’ name, amen!

Here is an important detail, God already knows what you and I need, so if that is the case, why do we pray and petition Him? For one Jesus does not want us to repeat mantras or repetitious phrases as a prayer because by doing that we are not even focusing in on what we are saying. He warns of this in Matthew 6: 8 Be you not therefore like unto them (the hypocrites that pray vain repetitions): for your Father knoweth what things you have need of, before ye ask him.

Here is a deeper reflection on Jesus’ prayer Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Let’s start with that. God our Father Creator, the one who formed us in the womb, resides in the heavenly realm and He wants us to be reminded to reflect on that beautiful unseen realm where He reigns. God is in heaven and we are not there yet, He wants us by prayer to let our minds drift far away from the problems we experience on earth.

He also wants His name “hallowed” or regarded as sacred. When we speak of God, He wants us to be reminded that He is holy, and hallowed means to honor Him as Holy. It is a reminder that He is Holy and we are not, so we must approach Him with reverence, even with fear and trembling as it was with Isaiah and the prophets, giving glory, honor, and praise to Him.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Jesus will return after the gospel is preached in all the world to all nations. Those that repent and convert to love God and Jesus start living right now in a heavenly way. This implies that Christians with their love, peace, and Holy Spirit, are in essence bringing the “kingdom of Heaven” down on earth. But to have a heavenly system on earth, we must be in obedience to God’s will, serving. loving, praising, and obeying as the angels do in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread. The prayer now has shifted from being focused on God to being focused on us! God is very interested in seeing our needs supplied. To not be in poverty and starvation, food is at the top of the priority list for most of us. If we ask God to supply our daily food, then this implies we must then give thanks to Him for supplying it! 

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. These “debts” can be referred to as offenses, so now God wants us to focus on others and our relationship with them. Have we wronged or offended someone? When someone almost hit your car, did you curse at them, or did you remember that you also in the past have almost hit someone? The implied here is forgiveness. How can we be deserving of forgiveness if we will not forgive? We all make mistakes and God wants us to not be revengeful but rather merciful. 

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Does God lead us into temptation? Temptation is always there like a fly trying to get into your house, but we are the ones who open the door or not. James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man. The idea here is that we should be vigilant and pray without ceasing counting on God to keep evil away from getting close to us. We should pray always for protection provided by the Holy Spirit so we have discernment and do not fall into the traps our Adversary would like to put us in. All it takes is one slip up, one night of drunkenness, of lust, of cheating or harming a person and your whole life could be set on a path to absolute ruin. 

Satan in particular targets the righteous, the prayer warriors, the ones who are doing God’s will as best they can. It’s like the guy that went duck hunting and he fired his shotgun in the sky at a flock of ducks and dozens fell down. He told his companion, “Run bag the live ones, don’t let them get away! Leave the dead ones ‘til later, we already got them!” When Satan owns a soul, he no longer has to tempt them, they already get twisted in all directions from sin and are a dead soul. The live ones, are us the Christians who have eternal life, Satan wants to wound us and capture us so we leave our obedience to God.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. When we hear how God owns “the Kingdom” it refers to the only valid, true, worthy kingdom there is! All the kingships, empires, thrones, governments, and dictatorships that have ever existed are all as ashes in God’s perspective. No kingdom of man lasts forever, not even for a 1,000 years! But God’s Kingdom will last for all eternity! His power is absolute (He created all things!) and He is outside our world that decays and falls apart. God’s Kingdom is forever!

I often pray for people I know who are going through hard times. Here is an important point: 

Job 42:10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

In other words, when our prayers are focused on others, not just on our needs, then God honors that as a worthy virtue, He rewards unselfishness and a loving concern for others.

Prayer is about relationship! Our Creator wants us to spend time with Him, honoring Him, remembering how majestic He is! He also is concerned for us and hears our prayers for supply, for healing from sickness, and for repentance and forgiveness. He hears us when we pray for others, He wants us to put their troubles into His hands, so when the healing comes, when the answers come, we know it was His working, His miracles, that came through in a way we as humans could not possibly answer.