What Is Prayer Anyway?

So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven. Luke 11:2 NKJV

Prayer is not our fervent appeal or even protest for God to do our wish list. Prayer is not a tool to let our Father in heaven know what we want desperately. Prayer is not an emergency call to God when some urgent matters develop in our midst. When we read carefully what our Lord Jesus taught how and what to pray, we find amazing truths. Most of all, we find what really prayer means to Christians.

First and foremost of all, Jesus moved quite a revolutionary step by calling God as Father in heaven. Think of that! We have that kind of God as Father who takes care of His children with intimate and unconditional love and chastening and discipline whenever necessary. He is our God and the Father in whom we live as His dear children in this age and ages to come. That kind of intimate relationship of Father-and-children we have now and forevermore. So, we call him "Abba, Father!" "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15 NKJV)

Notice the pronouns used here like "Your name," "Your kingdom," and "Your will." It means we pray for His name, His kingdom, and His will, not for my name, my kingdom, and my will. That's significant. Christianity is not promoting something planned and designed by humans at all. I think many a church are confused in this area. No, we're not seeking our names to be recognized from the world, but His name to be honored and glorified, His kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven never means some place in space where a Christian dies and goes. It's the invisible realm of reality where God rules. Heaven is right here in our midst. Isaiah says, "Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool." (Isaiah 66:1a NKJV) Seeking God for His name, His kingdom, and His will is what God intended man to do, even before the creation of the world.

Therefore, praying is to live. As Luke tells us we're either praying or fainting (Luke 18:1). One or the other. We're either alive through continuous prayer or dead. Praying is our expression of faith that we only can live by reckoning on God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ the Lord. Prayer is a way to respond to God's love. It is our continual reliance and rest on God.