A Word about Prayer

This blog is not really about my thoughts per se, but me trying to portray the thoughts of the heavenly mind - the God whose wisdom is above all earthly thoughts. From the outset, one can clearly see the disparity. But more accurately, we are really never more than messengers, proclaiming the message given us - as in our former deafness, the Spirit took what was our Lord's and proclaimed it to us, expounded its hidden mysteries for us, and made the Word come to life in our hearts (John 16:13-15). That being said, for this particular post, I humbly take a back seat in order to allow someone far more capable to take the reigns to give us an important word about prayer. Yet another instance of one messenger giving way to another.

This is from Dr. Bruce Ware's contribution to the book For the Fame of God's Name, entitled "Prayer and the Sovereignty of God" - 

God's purpose in instituting prayer, and in longing for us to pray, simply cannot have anything to do with helping him. Rather, one of the most startling and wondrous realizations that any Christian can have is that much of the purpose of prayer has to do with one simple thing: relationship - that is, relationship coram Deo (before the face of God). One great and glorious reason God devised prayer was to use it as a mechanism to draw us to himself, to help us see how much we need him, to set before us constantly the realization that he is everything we are not, and he possesses everything that we lack. We are weak, but he is strong; we are foolish, but he is wise; we are untrustworthy, but he is faithful; we are ignorant, but he is infinitely knowledgeable; we are poor and empty, but he is rich and full. Imagine this: although God does not need any of what we bring to him in prayer, he longs for us to bring everything that we do bring to him and so much more! He wants us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17), in part because our need for him never ceases. Prayer is not instituted, then, as a means of helping God out. Just the opposite: it is for our sake, and for ours alone. In fact, God commands us to pray! And he does so, not out of some supposed benefit he derives from our praying, but because he longs for us to learn the discipline and joy of dependence upon him for everything we lack, all of which he possesses in infinite measure! We are compelled, then, by the force of divine authority to come and drink of the living water that our souls thirst after, to receive bread from heaven that sustains us day by day, and to realize afresh moment by moment by moment that all we are longing for, and everything that is good, is found in one and only one place: in God.

Let us pray then, as before the face of God - journeying through the wilderness of this world, we come thirsty and weary before the throne of grace. In prayer, through his written Word and the instituted ordinances, he fills us...time and again.

SDG