Popular Christian Thoughts on Prayer: Part 2

Last time I suggested that prayer is not to be centered on us. Prayer is to be centered on God. And if we learn to focus our prayers on God, he uses our prayers to give to us. Maybe not what we want – at the moment. But certainly what God wants - and in the long run it is way better than we want in the moment. 

So, how do we focus on God in our prayer life?

We focus on God in our prayer life by knowing God in life. The foundation of prayer is knowing God. Prayer begins with the knowledge of God, and prayer grows as our knowledge of God grows. By knowing God better and better, our prayers will be shaped more and more by him and his ways. When our prayers are shaped by him and his ways we will be more and more receptive to him, which means we will receive from him what he wants us to have, which is the
purpose of prayer. We get an indication of how this works as we peruse Psalm 139. God knows everything.

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  Psalm 139:1-6

According to this passage, in our prayers, we can’t tell God anything new, so why pray? In life’s circumstances, God already knows everything. He knows the future – and every possibility in the future. 

What meaningful thing can we talk with him about that actually matters? 

There are two ways to answer this question. To the human mind, there is nothing meaningful we can pray about. Prayer is an interruption for God. “Nice to hear from you kid, but next time don’t call me, I’ll call you.” But to the biblical mind, we can pray about anything and everything. When people begin dating and fall in love, a common comment is, “We talk about everything, hour after hour.” “He’s so easy to talk to. She’s so interesting, I could talk to her all day.”

Notice that the text doesn’t say that God knows about us, it says that he knows us. This is amazing. 

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Sympathize is a compound word. It means he suffers with us, he is tempted and tested in every way as we are. Jesus knows our every hardship as well – actually better – that we know it ourselves. And he actually crawls into the darkness and takes our suffering upon himself.

Hebrews 5:2 tells us that he is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. As Jesus suffers with us, he does not throw up his hands in disgust when we struggle in our hardships, saying, “Come on – don’t be such a whimp!” Rather, he is gentle. Even when we are ignorant and wayward. 

Here is the point relative to prayer. When we mess up – and mess up bad - Jesus reaches out to us and enters into our mess. He knows all about it!! Then – when we come to our senses and come to him in prayer – he receives us. Calmly. Restrained. Gently. In John 6:37 Jesus tells us that “whoever comes to me – in prayer – I will never cast out (of my presence). We must realize, if he intimately knows us – and still loves and accepts us – we are free to get
lost in fellowship with him. That’s God’s desire for our prayers. If we are mad – God knows all about it. Talk with him about it. If we are hurt – God knows all about it. Talk with him about it. If we are afraid – God knows all about your fear. Talk with him about it. If you are caught up in some besetting sin or even in a sinful bondage – God knows all about that too. Talk with him about it. He understands everything – from our temptations, to our pain, to our excitements, to our doubts. He desires for us to talk with him about everything.

Here is the key:

Talking with God like this may not change our physical circumstance, but it will change us and in that vein – it will change the way we enter into our circumstance because it won’t change a thing about the way he feels about us.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6-7 

As we spend quality and quantity time with God – he forms our thoughts, changes our desires, and draws us to himself. The greatest gift we can ever receive from God - is God. Prayer is the way God gives us what he wants us to have. And his greatest desire for us is that we have him.