Christians should be people of prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 states “pray without ceasing.” In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus uses the phrase “when you pray” in verses 5, 6 and 7, before then saying in verse 9 “this, then, is how you should pray.” Yet Christianity is not unique in a call to prayer. Therefore, what should be a distinguishing point about Christianity is to whom the Christian is called to prayer.
It should be sufficient to say that Christians are called to pray to the God of the Bible, but as a result of either lack of familiarity with the majesty of God revealed in Scripture, or having grown too complacent in our walk with the Lord, we may not be presenting our petitions before God with the level of expectation that we should. This presents a challenge as we then live out our lives as people of faith, because it can hinder how we respond as individuals when we pray.
The God who Christians worship is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, a being who transcends time, space and matter and could therefore create the Universe – a Universe so expansive that it contains at trillions of stars yet at one point was reduced to a point so small as to not exist at all.
The God who Christians worship is the God who knows each human being who ever lived before they were formed in their mother’s womb, who created our innermost being, and did so for every one of the more than 100 billion people who have lived on this planet.
The God who Christians worship is the God who works for good in all things for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes, even when we are knocked flat on our faces from the pain and are unable to see how anything good could possibly come from our circumstances.
When Christians remember correctly who God is when praying to Him, they can then release the outcome of those prayers totally to God, trusting that He will do what is ultimately for our good, even if it is different than what we want. God alone is omniscient. God alone is omnipotent. And if He loved us enough to allow Jesus to die an excruciating and humiliating death on the cross for us, then we should trust Him as He works in and through our lives, for our good and His glory. As we come to Him in prayer and remember these truths, we are freed by the knowledge that His will shall be done.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron