Week Three // How Do I Pray?
The content of our prayers matters to God, but perhaps what influences their composition more than anything else is the inner posture of our hearts. With this in mind, let us consider four general themes of how we can pray in a way that aligns with scripture: We should pray with humility, expectancy, always, and with thanksgiving. Today, may these four principles be our guide.
With thanksgiving.
Let us not forget to pray in thanksgiving. God is faithful and full of everlasting love. If you have a hard time believing this today, remember the cross! What greater love could there ever be than to lay down one’s life for His friends? We are friends of our Savior, and we may approach Him in thanksgiving not just for our salvation but also for every other good gift that He has provided to us (James 1:17). Giving thanks changes us, and it reminds us that we are reliant on God for everything. Is He not worthy of our recognition for His provision in our lives? May the songs of our hearts rise loudly, and may we enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4-5). What can you thank Him for today?
With humility.
We are taught to pray with humility. Preceding His instructions for the content of our prayers, Jesus explains that it is better to pray with quiet humility rather than in a place that may give us a platform for personal recognition (see Matthew 6:5-13). It is no secret that our hearts are quick to surge for the approval of man. But prayer can and should be a moment of connection with our Father where the opinions of others melt away. It is in this moment we are able to confess the desperate state of our hearts as we recognize the brokenness of ourselves and the righteous wholeness of our Father (John 15:5, Luke 18:9-14). He is able; we are not. He must increase, we must decrease (John 3:30). As we pray, may we have a view of ourselves that is poor in spirit yet confident in the power and goodness of our Lord (Matthew 5:3).
With expectancy.
Often we forget that we have full, unhindered access to the throne room of God. As our representative and advocate, Jesus beckons us into the presence of God with peaceful confidence. Because of Him, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the most high king (Galatians 4:5-7). What a joy it is to fully embrace the inheritance that is attached to our new identity in Jesus. This may lead us to pray with childlike expectancy, knowing that our Father desires to answer our needs and desires when we ask Him. In John 14:12-14, Jesus tells us that when we ask for things in His name that are in alignment with the Father’s perfect will, they shall be given. We are also told to truly believe in the power of God as we pray. Scripture reminds us that we must ask in bold, expectant confidence that He will respond to our requests (Matthew 21:22, James 1:6-7). But how can we know what is in alignment with His will? As we spend more time with God in His word and in prayer, we will soon realize that we are much more familiar with what pleases Him.
However, when it feels like God is not answering our prayers, we must continue to trust Him. His ways are higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8-9), and we can rest in confidence that He has our best interest in mind–even if it means that we must wait until that final day when He will wipe away every tear from every eye (Revelation 21:4).
Always.
Finally, we should pray always (1 Thessalonians 5:17). If we believe that prayer is communication with God, why would we not pray? If we believe that we may stand before Him in full confidence because we are found in the completed work of Jesus, why would we not want to spend time with Him? If we believe that God hears our prayers and actually responds to them, why would we ever stop praying? Considering the two points prior to this one, that we can pray in humility and expectancy, we have no reason to ever stop praying. This world is too broken, and our hearts are too quick to turn away from God, not to lean in and depend on God through prayer. It is a treasure and gift to speak with him freely and as often as we’d like (Ephesians 6:18).
This week, practice leaning into these postures of prayer. May they inform the way we pray, the way we view our Father, and increase our desperation for Him.
