PRAYER – NOT WORDS OR NEEDS

“And when you pray, do not keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:7, 8 NIV).

Prayer is a part of most people’s lives. What is true prayer and what makes Christian prayer different from all other prayer?

In His preamble to what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer”, Jesus explained that prayer is not about performance, or about words or needs. If we take those three things out of our prayers, most of us will have nothing left! What did He mean? For the believer in Jesus, prayer arises from the invitation and the need to have fellowship with a loving heavenly Father. Prayer is not about trying to get God to do what we want or to meet our needs; it is about getting to know Him, worshipping Him and growing in our confidence in Him, that He is a holy, loving and good Father and that He keeps His promises. Prayer is, first, about changing our focus.

Jesus warned, “Don’t be like the hypocrites. Their prayers go no further than the street corners where they like to perform. That’s all the reward they will get.” Prayer is not a showcase to impress either God or our fellow pray-ers.

His next comment comes closer to home; “Don’t babble like the pagans.” Most of us are guilty of thinking that we must explain our needs to God or instruct Him in detail about what He must do. Does that make us any different from the pagans?

This brings us to what Jesus gave us as the heart of prayer; “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” If prayer is not about words or needs, what is it? Words and needs arise out of our all-controlling self-absorption. Our world is centred on us and our needs and wants. If all we do in prayer is make God aware of those needs and wants so that He will do something about them, we are no different from the rest of the world.

Jesus taught us that prayer is not about us but about God and our awareness of Him. He honours us with the invitation to be part of His big story and to take our place in the bigger picture. We can only become fully ourselves when we lose ourselves in His story. To pray, therefore is, first of all, to become more aware of God and who He is than of ourselves. Jesus put it this way, “Pray like this: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Self-awareness shrinks our vision of God and places our focus on our needs. God-awareness opens us up to all He is and increases our confidence in who He is and what He can do.

So, when we pray, let’s start there. Let’s grow a big vision of God, our Father by gazing at Him. (LAC)