Praying

By Charlotte Riegel –

How do you pray? Do you talk to God as if He is the Big Daddy in the Sky, holding a switch and just waiting for you to step out of line? Do you pray to God as if He is the heavenly Santa, giving you everything you ask for if you’ve been nice? When you receive a ‘lump of coal’ in your stocking of life, do you grumble, complain, and pout, “It’s not fair!” Do you pray to God as if He is a close friend, sitting in the chair beside you, or walking along the road of life with you? Is He someone you can chat with for a long time? Can you spend time with God in silence just enjoying each other’s presence?

Our prayers often reveal superstitions, or preconceived/subconscious notions we have about God. Do you fall asleep while praying, like the disciples who could not watch with Jesus during his time of agony prior to the crucifixion? Do you argue with God while praying, like Jonah or Job did? Perhaps read the stories of these two men to be reminded of God’s responses.

The disciples watched Jesus pray and asked Him to teach them how to pray. His model prayer in Luke 11:1-13 encourages us to acknowledge God as holy and honored and to ask for our daily sustenance. We are challenged to recognize that God’s forgiveness of our sins is directly connected to our forgiveness of others. Are you holding a grudge against someone? According to God’s Word, your relationship with Him is contingent on your relationship to others here on earth.

In this model prayer we are told to ‘ask’, ‘seek’, and ‘knock’, and keep on doing so. When we choose not to, what does this indicate concerning our view of God, or the view we have of ourselves?

Jesus prayed with confidence based on His relationship with His heavenly Father. Yet He also said, “Thy will be done” because he understood God the Father comprehended the bigger picture to which He was submitting.

When life seems confusing or troublesome, remember you are only a small piece of a much bigger picture. Determine to fulfill your role in the Kingdom even if you do not see the bigger picture because you trust the ONE who does.

“Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come;
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need.
Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One” (Matthew 6:9-13 GNT).