“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6 NLT)
Why do you pray? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to use God to get your way, asking God to help you understand or carry out His way, or something else? What about Jesus, why did He pray? Is it only about reward or is there something much more meaningful and appealing involved?
What is prayer? Is it little more than wishful thinking? A rub on Aladdin’s lamp? A spin of the wheel of fortune? Or is it, in some mysterious and unexplainable way, a lifeline to the heart of our Father in heaven?
What you understand and believe about prayer is going to be a major motivator in whether you actually pray, and to what end. J.I. Packer wrote: “The prayer of a Christian is not an attempt to force God’s hand, but a humble acknowledgement of helplessness and dependence.”
The rubber meets the proverbial road when we start asking these questions in a very personal way. In my mind and heart there has to be more to prayer than obligation or responsibility. On some levels you can think of it like sex in marriage. At first its pure bliss, it would take a major act of God to keep you apart. But, over time, it can take on an air of obligation or responsibility. It’s no longer “get to,” for some it’s more “have to.”
“How are those things even related?” you may be asking. Admittedly, I’m not the sharpest pencil in the box, but as I understand prayer and sex the goal of each is intimacy for the purpose of growing a meaningful and fruitful relationship. That’s part of the tragedy that sex is so misunderstood and distorted by those who want to use it for their own pleasure and gain.
Prayer is about our relationship with God, not getting answers or chalking up brownie points with Him. Are your prayers resulting in greater intimacy with your Father, or greater frustration because you’re not getting that for which you’re asking? Sometimes our prayers are acts of desperation and dependency, which is fine, but if that’s all they are we’ll never learn to hear His voice.
If prayer is only us speaking to Him, while valuable, it’s destined for emptiness and disappointment. Prayer is a conversation that results in greater intimacy with God or on many levels it’s a waste of effort. If we have no expectation of hearing God’s voice and following His directives, we may be talking to ourselves.
While reading Scripture is a valuable way to hear the Lord’s voice, if that’s the only time He speaks it’s like reading a bedtime story to your child, but never speaking with them as their mom or dad. Prayer is the joining of two hearts, two minds, two spirits in an effort to find oneness and to a large degree, wholeness in our relationship.
God is our Father before He’s anything else, yes, even before He’s our Savior. We have a Savior because we have a Father who loves us; otherwise, He would have never allowed His Son to die in our place.
Let’s look at this further in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 