Dear Father God,
Prayer. What is it? Prayer is when we converse or communicate with You, God about whatever is on our hearts and minds. We must believe in You first, and then with humility, and yet boldness as well as confidence, approach Your throne. According to Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Nothing is hidden from You God. You see our struggles and our joys! We must maintain our faith through every season no matter if we are on the mountaintop or in the valley. We have to trust You because You have already made a way for us! We just need to follow You and walk it out with You.
In the Gospel of Matthew 6:9-15, You, God have given us a model and an outline of the kinds of prayers You desire. First, You desire us to thank, praise, and show gratitude to You for every good thing and the abundant blessings that You have given us. We should be in awe of You and reverently fear You because You are awesome and holy. God, You say that if we believe, trust, and rely fully upon You, Your kingdom is living within us. So, we have Your power and authority to do Your will on earth because Jesus, You are dwelling within us in the Holy Spirit. Out of Your great love for us, You were crucified on the cross. You show us how to love and forgive others by Your great and awesome example of the cross!
You say to “humble ourselves under Your (God’s) mighty hand, that He may lift us (you) up in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). You don’t desire us to communicate our good deeds to You or to portray that we are better than anyone else, but our heart’s cry because that is what You look at rather than appearances. For in the world, people often judge by appearances. But You, God look at our hearts because You know our true selves!
We need to believe that our faith in You means that we have right standing with You when we rightly live before You daily. According to James, in his letter of James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” You say to just believe without having the slightest doubt in our heart to have Your will be done. So, You don’t care what kinds of prayers we communicate to You. In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul and Timothy say, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” So, we can come to You with all requests in prayer, but we must believe and trust that You hear us! Give us revelation and Your heart so that we can know how to pray more earnestly as well as what to pray for more fervently with our nation and community.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
This prayer was written by Love INC Volunteer and author, Emily Zondlak.
