What is Prayer?
Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies. Psalm 10:17 states, "You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry." David wrote, "He [the LORD] fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them" (Psa. 145:19). First John 1:9 states, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." John also states, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15). Paul urges, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Phil. 4:6). Jesus said, "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it" (John 14:13-14).
Summary
We begin our look at prayer with a concise definition. It contains all the elements that make up true Christian prayer. Prayer is us talking to God, asking for the things we want, that are according to his will, and that are in step with his nature. We can ask for things that are not in his will or that are not in Christ's name, but there is no reason to hope that those prayers will be answered. Prayer should include more than just requests, it should also contain confession of our sins, and expressions of our gratitude. Next week, we will turn our attention to answering the question, "How do we learn to pray?"
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations in this post are from the NIV.
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