After 40 years on this earth prayer is finally starting to make sense. It made sense in one way all these years – yes I can talk with God. Yes God hears. I can thank God and ask God for things. I can pray praise to God, etc. I have understood those things as well as many others, like the relational aspect of prayer, but prayer is finally making sense.
Here is what I mean.
I haven’t connected prayer with reliance on God nearly enough. I haven’t connected this because I am too self-reliant. I lean into my own strength and not on God’s. I make decisions without consulting God. Maybe you do too. I know what to ask for. I have all the right words – but do I have the right heart?
What would our lives look like if we relied on God in all things? What would our prayers sound like if we approached life that way? Would anything change in how you pray? What if we decided we wouldn’t take one more step unless we are convinced God wants us to take that step?
It changes everything.
It is important that we rely on God in all things…that we lean into God and his power and understanding. There are too many things that I think I can handle that the reality is, I cannot. This has hindered my prayers for many years.
I am changing my prayer life and maybe you will along with me (if you haven’t figured this out already – you may be far ahead of me!). Prayer isn’t just about getting answers. Prayer is about relying fully on God, in all things. Every decision, even the ones that seem insignificant. Those matter too because it is about an attitude and view of God and self – that we are insufficient but God is fully able and willing to help.
I would love to hear about your prayer life and for you to share one lesson on prayer you have learned over the years that changed everything!
2 Responses
Matt I would lone to commit on this although you cut short the trinity and hew the trinity works and the empathy of the influence of the son of man interpits our longing inability to express our desirers of the prayer of the hart!
I came to realize some of this as well recently, thanks in part to something John Piper said about fasting. He said fasting is like an exclamation point on a prayer. It confused me some, until I was preaching on Nehemiah and came to see prayer as an act of dependence/reliance on God. So then, fasting is indeed an exclamation point – a way of saying, “I need you more than food, Lord!” So it’s not about convincing him to do something as much as drawing closer in our reliance on him. It is a kind of radical humility and trust. Of course, I think it is Biblical to see prayer as pleading to God and using language of persuasion even, but Jesus taught us that ultimately it is about reliance and trust, thus, “nevertheless, thy will be done.”