Prayer I
Everyday I speak words to many different people: my husband and children, friends and aquaintances, supermarket clerks, telemarketers and even myself. But today I want to write about the words we speak to God - specifically petitions we bring to Him in prayer.
For some of us, asking for things from others is difficult. We are independent or we are shy. We can feel we are unworthy to be making such a request or, if we hold the opposite perspective, we can feel that we shouldn't need to ask as others should "just know" what we need since they should be spending their energies attending to us!
When it comes to praying our requests to God, our fear and/or pride can really get in the way. Here we are speaking to the Most High God who we are unworthy before. He is the one who does know what we need even before we ask. And it is before God that we are confronted most keenly by our independent spirit and pride when we must humbly come before Him and admit how needy we are.
But what does God want us to do when we pray? How does He want us to ask? Jesus tells a rather surprising story in Luke 18:2-5 . It's the story of the persistent widow who bothers an unbelieving, uncaring judge so much that he finally gives her the justice she has been pleading for. The woman didn't let fear of an unjust judge (that's what Scripture calls him see vs 6) keep her from stating her clear petition: "Grant me justice against my adversary" (vs. 3). Nor was she too proud to not admit her need. This woman was determined. She was persistent. And she is the one Jesus holds up to us as an example. In fact, the reason Jesus told the story was to show His disciples "that they should always pray and not give up" (vs.1).
So, here is my thought for today: when it comes to prayer, the exact words we pray aren't the main thing. The main thing is that we pray, that we ask, and that we keep asking until we receive God's answer.
For some of us, asking for things from others is difficult. We are independent or we are shy. We can feel we are unworthy to be making such a request or, if we hold the opposite perspective, we can feel that we shouldn't need to ask as others should "just know" what we need since they should be spending their energies attending to us!
When it comes to praying our requests to God, our fear and/or pride can really get in the way. Here we are speaking to the Most High God who we are unworthy before. He is the one who does know what we need even before we ask. And it is before God that we are confronted most keenly by our independent spirit and pride when we must humbly come before Him and admit how needy we are.
But what does God want us to do when we pray? How does He want us to ask? Jesus tells a rather surprising story in Luke 18:2-5 . It's the story of the persistent widow who bothers an unbelieving, uncaring judge so much that he finally gives her the justice she has been pleading for. The woman didn't let fear of an unjust judge (that's what Scripture calls him see vs 6) keep her from stating her clear petition: "Grant me justice against my adversary" (vs. 3). Nor was she too proud to not admit her need. This woman was determined. She was persistent. And she is the one Jesus holds up to us as an example. In fact, the reason Jesus told the story was to show His disciples "that they should always pray and not give up" (vs.1).
So, here is my thought for today: when it comes to prayer, the exact words we pray aren't the main thing. The main thing is that we pray, that we ask, and that we keep asking until we receive God's answer.
Comments
Post a Comment