Questions About Prayer

What is prayer?

Prayer is a spiritual connection between a person and God that allows communication. Some memorized prayers are recited around meals or at bedtime. But prayers made out of habit or obligation have ceased to truly be prayer. Prayer requires focused intention with a desire to actively seek God’s presence. We really should think of prayer as a conversation with our heavenly Father. We don’t have to worry about saying just the right thing. God just wants us to share what’s on our hearts like we would with a friend or parent. We can share anything with God including our happiness and gratitude, our fears and our worries, our hurt or sadness, our anger and frustration, and even our thoughts and questions. God wants us to share it all with him.

What is the purpose of prayer?

Prayer is an act of faith that serves many functions. When we seek God’s guidance it gives us direction. When we trust God’s promises it strengthens our faith. When we are at the end of ourselves and ask God for help it keeps us humble. When we thank God we remember all of the blessings He has provided. We we praise God it diminishes the power of our frustrations. When we share our worries and fears we are unburdened. When we confess our failures we find forgiveness and peace. When we pray through times of temptation we receive strength and power to overcome. Prayer keeps us connected to Jesus so we remain spiritually refreshed.

How do you pray?

Fortunately, Jesus provides a lot of guidance about prayer.

 “And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. Truly, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.

“Don’t recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do, who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

Matthew 6:5-8 (Living Bible Translation)

Jesus also taught a prayer that contained all of the essentials, known as the Lord’s Prayer.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

What should we pray about?

The Lord’s prayer is not simply something to be memorized. It is template that reveals our true needs and how we should ask.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

When we pray, it should be with reverent respect. We are praying to the holy creator of the universe. Even more amazing, that same God allows us to call him Father! We are children of the Most High, and He loves! As his beloved children, our greatest desire should be to spread God’s kingdom on earth. Sharing the gospel changes hearts and increases the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth. Because God loves us as his children, we can trust that He will provide for our needs. This trust allows us to yield our will to God’s plan, just as the angels in heaven do.

Give us today our daily bread.

This sentence is about so much more than food. Although bread can meet our physical needs of hunger, it also can refer to our spiritual hunger. Spiritual hunger is the aching and emptiness we feel inside when we’re not connected to God. It leaves us searching for something, anything, to fill that void. In this one short sentence we ask God to daily provide for our physical and spiritual needs.  

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 

John 6:30-35

There is a difference between what we need and what we want. We must yield our will to God, and trust that He knows what we truly need. Trusting in God’s goodness alleviates the anxiety about what tomorrow might bring.

Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.

Our next prayer focus should be on forgiveness. We need to first acknowledge that we fall short of God’s perfection. When we sin we need God’s forgiveness to restore our relationship with Him. In the same way, we are expected to show the same mercy and grace to others who have wronged us. We can’t expect to receive forgiveness from God when we are unwilling to forgive others.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Temptation is the doorway that leads to sin. We feel tempted when our own desires come in conflict with God’s will, and we sin when we choose to prioritize and act on those desires. The evil one has one goal which is to separate us from God. He is like a wolf trying to separate a sheep from its shepherd. Alone we become easy prey, but when we’re connected to God we are protected. In prayer God can provide the wisdom to recognize temptation and the strength to withstand it.

Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. Your spirit wants to do what is right, but your body is weak.

Matthew 26:41