Church family,
I would imagine that as Christians, we believe in prayer. We believe that it is something “good Christians do”. I am not sure of your background in this area, but I can say that in my upbringing, prayer was a part of my life. We prayed before meals, before bed, at the beginning of the day.
When I was a young child, most of my times in prayer involved my parents. They didn’t just assume I would learn. They taught me to pray by, well, praying. Even in their flawed humanity, they made the effort to pray with me and in my presence.
Why? My dad and mom believed that prayer was communing with God. It was not just an expression of needs, but it seemed to always include recognition of the greatness of God.
In his book, Transforming Prayer, Daniel Henderson reminds us of what should be our motivation to pray:
“In heaven, we will not confess, intercede, or engage in spiritual warfare. We will declare forever, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). It is good to get in practice for this forever expression while we are still here on earth. So we pray because God is worthy. But there is a second side to the motivational coin: I am needy. As I said earlier, prayerlessness is our declaration of independence from God. The heart of real prayer is, “Lord, I need you. I cannot do it on my own. I must seek you today.” These two motivational elements are seen in Psalm 40:16–17: “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified!’ But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.” ”
So why do you pray? Do you pray? Do you just come with your list of troubles and wants? Or do you approach God in prayer as the Almighty God, who is worthy of your praise?
Remember these two elements, God is worthy, and I am needy as you commune with God in prayer. Your Heavenly Father wants to hear more from you than just a “list of troubles and wants”. He wants your worship as well.
Walking with you,
Pastor Brian