Lord's Prayer: Our Father in HeavenSample

You can tell a lot about what people hope for by what they pray for. Prayer is vulnerable. It expresses our deepest longings and insecurities. It shows the inner yearnings of our heart. Prayer is a window into our hopes, fears, and wants.

Prayer is often a cry of desperation from a place of powerlessness and need. I have cancer, and I can’t fix it. My heart is breaking, and I can’t mend it. My marriage is on the rocks, and I don’t know what to do. My friend is dying, and I can’t reverse it. There are choices before me, and I don’t know which to choose.

It’s times like these that drive people to cry out to God. But those cries are often couched in fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Is God really listening? Will he intervene? Would he even listen to someone like me? Is he even real? Some wonder if they’re just calling out into a void. They might take the gamble, but wonder if their prayers are like people who shoot radio signals into space on the off-chance hope that some intelligent life might be listening.

Praying like this was rampant in the pagan world. It’s not much different for some today. Shoot enough signals out there, get the right frequencies down, say it enough times in enough ways, and maybe someone out there will listen to me.

How about you? Are you guilty of praying this way?

It’s tempting to think that sheer repetition will finally get our signal through. That if we say the right things enough times in enough ways, God will respond.

Jesus has a different perspective. He calls this babbling. Instead, Jesus says praying is like talking to your dad.

Prayer is not some frequency you have to find or formula you have to crack. Learning how to pray is not like discovering some new physics equation that brings constant results. Prayer is a conversation with a Father who knows you and loves you. Someone who knows your needs before you even ask, someone who knows you better than you know yourself. Jesus invites you to think of God like a dad who is present, loving, and attentive. You can trust him with your deepest fears and yearnings. He’s got you! Even before you know what to ask.

Consider this today…

How are you guilty of praying like a pagan? Are you trusting in a process of prayer more than in a heavenly Father who loves you? How can you trust God with your deepest longing today?