In Matthew 6:9, Jesus says: 'Pray … like this, "Our Father in heaven."' These words open the floodgates of prayer — and heavenly blessing.
We live in a world where people believe they are self-sufficient. They don’t need to cry out for help. And Christians are swept along: we are becoming like busy Martha, doing our many tasks but failing to sit with Mary at Jesus’ feet. But without prayer, Christians are hollow. For prayer is the mark of Christian integrity.
What is real prayer?
What is prayer? The answer to this question may seem obvious, but I think confusion over this is a real cause of difficulty. Too many Christians think and speak about prayer as if it’s just 'one of those things Christians do,' another item to check off the list.
But you can think that you’re praying when actually you’re doing it all wrong. For example, the Lord says of Israel in Isaiah 29:13: 'This people draw near with their mouth and honour me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.'
So, what is real prayer? Prayer is the first and main way true faith expresses itself. For in true prayer, we depend upon God; we trust him.
What is going to help us sinners pray? What is going to increase our faith? Paul tells us in Romans 10:17: faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Faith — and so prayer— is birthed by the gospel.
That’s why Scripture and prayer are so often put together— why Daniel was encouraged to pray by reading Jeremiah (see 9:2). It is the Word of God, the gracious message of Christ, that awakens faith and so prayer. That, therefore, must be the basic shape of our everyday communion with God: we set Christ before ourselves. We hear the word of Christ in Scripture, in song, through each other, reminding ourselves as we praise Him; we cry that our eyes might be opened to see the beauty of the Lord, that we might be drawn afresh to want Him — and then prayer is just voicing our heart’s response.
We breathe in Scripture, and we breathe out prayer. Breathe in, breathe out: that’s the Christian life. Prayer is the breath of heavenly life: where that life is, there must be some prayer; where that life flourishes, there will be much prayer, and much pleasure in prayer. And friends, let us be clear: the life-breath of Christianity, of healthy churches, is not our talent, or even our hard work. It is prayer: active dependence upon God.
So, let’s go to the Word of God, which feeds prayer. Jesus says, 'Pray … like this: "Our Father in heaven."'
Our view of God
Do you know God as your Father? If you have put your trust in Christ, He is! But often we tend to think of God as aloof in heaven: a distant ruler, too great to be interrupted by us sinners. He feels remote and we feel guilty, and so we don’t dare go to him in prayer. Oh no, brothers and sisters: God is so great He cannot overlook you!
To call God 'Father' and mean it is to understand the gospel well. He is not a distant Lord in heaven: He has sent His Son to bring us back to Himself that we might be adopted as His children.
Paul in his letters writes that 'God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!"' (Gal. 4:6; cf. Rom. 8:15). And have you noticed what a strange word he uses there? Paul writes all his letters in Greek, but here he has inserted this one Aramaic word, 'Abba'. Why?
There is another place in Scripture where this term appears. When Jesus is praying in the garden, talking in private to his Father the night before He is killed, He says, 'Abba, Father' (Mark 14:36). Paul is showing us as personally as he can that 'sonship' means being given the very relationship with the Father that the Son Himself has.
Knowing I am a beloved child of God protects me from thinking of prayer as a ladder to God, an exercise by which I work my way into his favour. No, prayer doesn’t make me more accepted. Prayer is growing in the appreciation of what I have already been given. United to Christ, in Him, I am a cherished son — and my Father delights to hear me. And to our Father, prayer is as incense. It is a pleasing smell to Him. In other words, He delights to hear and help.
My beloved brothers and sisters, as you pray, you show how different we are to all the world. We are not an anxious people without help. We are not left to ourselves, having to protect and bless ourselves. We are not alone in the world, throwing up desperate prayers to a distant god who may or may not hear us. With boldness and with joy we get on our knees. And with fearless faith we pray, 'Our Father in heaven.'
Go to your Father: He promises he will hear and answer.
