Reflecting Our Father’s Heart
Hey, there! Welcome to the new Prayer page. This page will be dedicated to topics that are specifically prayer related, so will be separate from the usual day-to-day stuff and studies you will find under Posts.
I have been thinking a lot about the role of prayer in a believer’s life recently, and I have come to the conclusion that, at least in my life, it doesn’t have the same prominence that I see it have in the scriptures- not always, anyway. Am I so committed to my prayer life that I am willing, like Daniel, to be fed to lions to keep my appointment with God? Do I pray without ceasing? (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Or am I more like the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane, falling asleep over and over again, unable to keep watch for even one hour? (Mark 14:37) Unfortunately, I am more like the apostles in the garden. There needs to be a greater resolve in me, and in the body as a whole, to commit to prayer. How many of our other relationships would crumble if we treated them the way we treat our relationship with God? There are ebbs and flows, to be sure, but many of us are comfortable having an anorexic prayer life, and it shows in our character. I firmly believe that it is impossible for anyone to truly be near God in prayer and not reflect Him in their walk, which is where most fall short; we are not near Him, so we cannot reflect Him.
That takes me to the next point, the purpose of this page; what does it mean to “reflect God?” It means to show His heart in our lives. The way that functions in prayer is, simply, to pray according to His will, which will happen naturally the more time we spend with Him. The template for prayer given to us by Christ demonstrates what this ought to look like, clearly and succinctly: “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]” (Matthew 6:9-13) The template begins with acknowledgement of the majesty of God, followed by a submission to His will, and only after that is any form of petition made; if this is how Jesus said to pray, we would do well to take it to heart. Do our prayers rightly elevate God in His greatness, or do they start and stop at asking Him for favors without properly regarding Him? If we are in Christ, then He is our Heavenly Father, but He is also our King; we should remember that and allow the magnitude of it to weigh on us. When we look at Him in this frame of mind and spirit, we will naturally (if we are wise) begin to approach Him correctly in our prayer, and to accurately reflect His heart. We will stop just asking Him for favors and start to entreat Him for the salvation of our friends, enemies, (Matthew 5:44) and everybody else. We will petition Him for the furthering of the Kingdom of Christ, for a plentiful workforce for the harvest (Matthew 9:37). We will begin to more fervently pray for our brothers and sisters around the world, like Hebrews 13:3 instructs us to: “Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.” We will begin to reflect His holy, righteous, perfect love.
I will probably not be posting on this page as frequently as the normal blog page, and currently what I am planning to do is start by compiling a list of prayer topics with some information to help encourage thoughtful, insightful communion with God. It won’t always be petitions; prayer is also about thanksgiving and praise. I won’t do this perfectly, just like I don’t do the rest of this perfectly, but I hope you will stick with me in this pursuit and join me going forward in continuing to learn how to live by the Spirit of God.
