Although prayer is a universal practice…since we humans are always in need of someone or something higher, bigger, and more powerful than ourselves on whom to call…real prayer is not an attempt to manipulate God. Real prayer is interacting with the Father…engaging in family business. 

Jesus taught us, first of all, to address God as Father, and to pray as family members. 

“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Real prayer is firmly based on our relationship to God as Father. There is no religion on earth, not even the most popular and aggressive religion bent on taking over the world, that dares to call its god, “father “. Yet Jesus came to reveal that name to us, specifically because His own people had forgotten their intimate “father/son” relationship with God through their stubborn rebellion. Their wayward behaviour had resulted in a distorted view of God as a strict disciplinarian rather than a loving Father. 

Yet, God still treated them as His beloved children. 

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve…?

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭

“Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?”

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, Jesus prayed…

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Prayer is also a partnership. God’s policy is to involve His earthly offspring in the administration of His world. He created the first pair with a mandate to manage His creation. 

“Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This delegated authority demands constant interaction with heavenly headquarters…called prayer. It stands to reason,  then, that we, who are the junior partners, should carry out the instructions we receive from our heavenly authority. 

God has given us specific ways to connect with Himself, to know what He wants us to do, and to have the capacity to do it. Again…it’s called “prayer”. He has given us His Spirit to live inside us…to teach us the truth…to guide us in prayer…and to give us the very words to pray the Father’s will. 

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God’s written word…and God’s spoken word…given to us by His Spirit in our spirit… are His promises, His pattern, and His declaration of intent. As we interact with Him in worship, adoration, and submission as children to a beloved Father, He sows the seed of His word into our spirits to produce the fruit of His will. 

When we mindlessly babble our own wants and desires, we act like pagans who run after “things”.  Jesus warned against behaving like the “Gentiles”. 

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Real prayer happens between a Father and His children…a Father who knows them and children who trust Him. A son’s role is to learn and to do his father’s  business…so, prayer is never issuing instructions. Prayer is reporting for duty. 

Can you see, then, that God’s word must play the central role in our prayer life because His word is the clear disclosure of what He wants to accomplish. We are partners by participating with what He has said and declaring what He has already determined…and then we carry out whatever He tells us to do. 

This is the way real prayer works…and this is the way God’s will is done on earth as it is done in heaven!