Prayer
What is the point?
Among God’s many perfect attributes, is God not omniscient? By omniscient I mean all knowing. Not only all knowing the present, but also all knowing of everything past and future as well.
So why do we pray?
I suppose we must first look at what the Great Exemplar, Jesus Christ had to say about prayer…
Look in Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 to 11.
7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
So here the Saviour instructs us to ask Heavenly Father for good things in prayer, note that if the son asks for bread or for a fish, the loving mortal father would not give a stone or a serpent. Then the Saviour concludes with the comparison of mortal man to God, in effect mortals are evil when compared to the incomparable perfection in goodness of God.
Of course we need to take the analogy further, if the son had asked his mortal father for a stone or a serpent to eat, the wise mortal father would not have given the foolish son such to eat due to the danger it would place the son in, the father loves his son too much. The son may become sad if his petition was not granted or even angry. If the son is humble enough he could ask his father why his petition for the stone and the serpent was not granted. When the wise father sees that his son is respectful and humble enough to hear his words, he will teach his son why the stone and the serpent are not appropriate to eat.
So obviously we are the foolish son when we compare ourselves to God. Our desires may be shaped by our natural world. What aspects are there in our world? Are they aligned with a perfect God?
If we look at an innocent baby, as the baby grows, the baby learns about a concept such as ownership; “it is mine!”, if another baby takes it away, the first baby may cry or throw a tantrum. So “selfish” possession is an important concept, but it must be learned by the child for survival. You can’t really teach a little child to share before the child grasps the concept of ownership first.
Another important lesson for the baby to learn is submission of will to the parents. However, this needs to be done very carefully. Here too the child must be respected and allowed to have an element of independence first. Don’t be too controlling, or when the child is place where other children are, they will dominate and the child will be too intimidated. I believe once the little one has their own will, the child can be taught an important concept such as obedience. I think once the child can learn these two basic concepts and the “conflict” between owning/sharing and independent will/obedience, they will be well on their way. I know the biggest challenge is for new parents to try work this out. The first child in our home was subject to much sterner discipline than the last child was. My poor kid but parenting is very difficult, thus endless books on the subject.
The point of the baby stuff is to show that in order to cope in this natural world, we need to have some natural skills. But this is in contrast to God’s pure nature, we love chocolate but we can’t just live on chocolate (I would love to try though). So when we as earthly beings ask a Divine Being for stuff, our approach may be inappropriate. We may ask for things that are “not good” for us. God who is all – knowing, will not give us stuff if it is not good for us in the long run.
So what is the key?
To know what good stuff is in the eyes of God.
I know that the Saviour is talking about food but I believe it is a simple analogy to teach his simple followers at the time. Later when these men and women reflect on the Saviour’s teachings they will realise the deeper applications of what Christ was teaching. When they reflect upon Christ’s life and conduct, they will realise that he never prayed for himself or his own appetites but rather for others. He also did not pray for their natural appetites to be satisfied but rather their spiritual appetites. Spiritual appetites are outward focused rather than inward focused like natural appetites.
In the preceding chapter of Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 to 13, the Saviour teaches much about the privacy of personal prayer and how one ought to pray.
5 ¶ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen
The first thing I want to say about the above; there is a great deal of irony in the conduct of many in the Christian world. When I went to school, we always had to chant the Lord’s Prayer at the commencement of every school day. I do appreciate that we were taught how to pray but I just felt that there was too much similarity between what was being done and in verse 7 above.
There are three other observations that I would like to share:
The length of your prayer does not impress God, the heathen of the day thought that the longer the prayer, the greater the influence they could have on their gods.
God already knows what we need.
The Saviour tells us to address God as Heavenly Father. This is a very important point to my mind. God, who is the supreme ruler of the universe and who could have any title he desires, has chosen to be called “Heavenly Father”. Is this literal or figurative? Are we really his children? If so, how could this understanding influence our daily thinking and conduct?
I remember this story I read many years ago from Vaughn Featherstone, I think it can relate. I quote from the author.
“Many years ago I heard the story of the son of King Louis XVI of France. King Louis had been taken from his throne and imprisoned. His young son, the prince, was taken by those who dethroned the king. They thought that inasmuch as the king’s son was heir to the throne, if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize the great and grand destiny that life had bestowed upon him.
They took him to a community far away, and there they exposed the lad to every filthy and vile thing that life could offer. They exposed him to foods the richness of which would quickly make him a slave to appetite. They used vile language around him constantly. They exposed him to lewd and lusting women. They exposed him to dishonor and distrust. He was surrounded 24 hours a day by everything that could drag the soul of a man as low as one could slip. For over six months he had this treatment—but not once did the young lad buckle under pressure. Finally, after intensive temptation, they questioned him. Why had he not submitted himself to these things—why had he not partaken? These things would provide pleasure, satisfy his lusts, and were desirable; they were all his. The boy said, “I cannot do what you ask for I was born to be a king.””
So could you not say that we are all children of a King? A heavenly King. When I look around me in life and see what incredible things some people have done, I can certainly see that men and women have something more, much more than mortal life could give, a divine spark of creativity, strength and compassion. Could this understanding not give us a natural confidence to approach him in prayer?
Thus the object of prayer is much more than us trying to “twist the arm of God” to give us what we want. I think that it is to align our thinking with God’s thinking. Jesus said this in a beautifully simple way when he said in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Yet it must be more than this. Surely we are told to ask our Heavenly Father for a reason? Jesus, as the perfect example, continually asked his Father for good things throughout his mortal ministry and his requests were continually granted. Thus I firmly believe that Heavenly Father is willing to grant us many blessings but those blessings are conditional upon us asking appropriately and with the Spirit to direct our desires to be in accordance with the Father’s will.
It cannot only be desires, regardless of how pure our intentions are, but work too is required to bring those things to pass. Here too we can look to Jesus who did not idly sit around, giving beautiful sermons only. He worked until his mortal body was drained of energy. He gave his all. He served and blessed so many through miracles. He taught how to grow in faith until they could receive his miracles. All this was crowned by his skill at prayer, not only to God the Father but from God the Father, communions came back to him.
So I suppose that is why we pray, to grow in divine attributes.
We need more than the law; we need personal direction from God himself. Little things can grow into big things. It depends what we are prepared to give in prayer, our very desires and all our efforts.
It is no easy task but it can transform sterile forms of religious observance into real faith, the kind of faith that will lead to salvation.
Good post. God helps and happy if some one pray. Its very nice and valuable post. Thanks for sharing.
good nice..
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPQUVpvSzgxRz4VfkZbpEANU9mhH6GEwgaGdY5g3cBVot/667px-Painting_of_Christ_in_Gethsemane.jpg)
Christ and the early church gave us an example of prayer. If Jesus believed that pray is worth, we should do likewise.
God wants prayer to be the means for His decisions in a number of situations:
preparation for important decisions
Overcoming diabolical obstacles in life
vocations of workers to collect the spiritual harvest
getting power to overcome temptation;
spiritual reinforcement of others
We have a divine promise that our prayers are not in vain, even if we do not get exactly what we asked for
He promised that when we ask for things consistent with His will, He will give us this. Even people who are far from spiritual life and who are accustomed to relying on themselves in everything, sometimes feel the urgent need to turn to someone higher, stronger than they themselves. Most often, this happens in misery, when one understands the boundaries of his forces and his responsibilities, and feels he can not handle himself. Then he appeals to God to help, protect and comfort.This is not yet a true Christian understanding of prayer, but God does not condemn such a prayer. Christ called for all the people who endured sorrow and overwork, and promised to give them comfort.
Praying is very important in living this life. Because God knows everything. If we often pray to God, surely something we want will be granted by god. Because god dear to his people. But the most important thing we should always pray and ask the god. Thank you for sharing something very useful and hopefully you will have a beautiful day @fred703
If we live in our own oneness heart we will feel the essence of all religions which is the love of god. Forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood, and the feeling of oneness are the sign of true religion. The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different..
stay blessed...
This is a golden post about prayer 💫 you are took perfect point in this post. We should always pray for yourself and the other humanity, cause this is the best way to with relation from ALLAH. GOD knows who's better for us and everything under of GOD. Pray is the best way to say of ALLAH, who we are want. We should say all desires and every thiing we want. 💕 GOD blessed You 😇
Communication means sharing together,thinking together,not agreeing or disagreeing together but thinking,observing,learning,understanding together both you and the speaker have to take the journey together...
stay blessed thanks for sharing the post:):)
@originalworks
I think we're all our own gods having the human experience. And it's not just those thoughts, it's how I am feeling it. One soul experiencing itself.
God is every where. He is power and he helps people who believes in him. We didnt see him but if you believed in him then you will know that he is alive.
we should believe in oneness of Allah and should ask him for help only