Prayer

“And everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”  Matthew 21:22

Prayer – Prayer and power.  Did Jesus really mean what he said?  We have learned that prayer places me in the family that serves the God of power.  The reason that I can pray at all is that I am embedded in His community.  Prayer has history and that history is all about God’s interaction with His people.

So what does this history tell me?  Right away I see that God provides.  In fact, as part of His family I am happy to report that God always provides.  I have plenty of history to prove it.  Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father.  All that I have or hope to have results from His favor toward me.  Scripture after Scripture confirms this fact.  When I pray, I stand in a long line of those who have experienced the provision of God.  I believe God will provide for me because I see that He has provided for my historical family.  I benefit from historical perspective.  I can see that God’s provision was always just right and just in time even when the past members of my family could not look over the horizon themselves.  But I can.  I can look back from my vantage point and proclaim, “God never fails.”  Without being embedded in the history of His family, my faith wavers.  I see only me and my world.  But as soon as I recognize my place in the family, I see incredible answers constantly evident.  And if God has provided for my past brothers and sisters, He can provide for me.

My family connection tells me something else.  Prayer is connected to ritual.  Prayer accompanies offerings, festivals, meditation, singing, worship, fasting, vows and dedications.  I realize once again that prayer is an expression of community.  It is embedded in the community’s submission to God.  In fact, prayer is the consuming attitude of the people of God.  The actions that surround it and the results that flow from it are not as important as the attitude that empowers it.  Prayer is the attitude toward life that calls God “Father” – the head of the tribe, the source of my life, the ruler of my clan, the teacher of wisdom, the lawgiver I acknowledge, the chief I serve, the one I follow.

When I pray, I express my attitude about each of these relationships.

“Our Father” is not an opening line.  It is a positioning statement.

Is that how you pray?