Daily Prayer Guide - May 4 – Knowing Who God is Impacts how We Pray to Him.

Read:

Isa 45:5-8

⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;

apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

though you have not acknowledged me,

⁶ so that from the rising of the sun

to the place of its setting

people may know there is none besides me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

⁷ I form the light and create darkness,

I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the Lord, do all these things.

⁸ “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;

let the clouds shower it down.

Let the earth open wide,

let salvation spring up,

let righteousness flourish with it;

I, the Lord, have created it.

Jeremiah 33:2-3

This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ³ ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

John 16: 23-24

²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Consider:

When you pray to God, do you think about who is it that you are praying to?

It is vitally important to know who you are praying to when you begin to pray.  It will influence your entire prayer experience.  

The way you know and view God will determine how you will pray to him.  If God, to you, is a vindictive God, or a distant and uninvolved God, your prayers and expected results will be performance oriented with low expectations.  If you seek God when you have a problem that needs to be fixed, then God becomes your servant, like a genie in the bottle that comes out when you rub it.  Do your prayers tend to center around you and making your life better, or God and what he is doing in his kingdom?

We know God because he has revealed himself to us.  At some point deep within us, in our hearts or minds or souls, in that place that can not be touched or taken out, it can not be x-rayed, but yet we know it is there - it is there that God has revealed himself to us.  In that secret place.  That is the you who is being called to pray before him, where you can talk, learn, hope, dream and change.  

How does knowing that God is omniscient and knows everything and doesn’t need you or I to inform him of anything, how does that influence the way you pray to him?

Knowing that God will not change himself or his purposes, how does that impact how you approach him in prayer?  Knowing that God is eternal and knows the past, present and future as clearly as we can look at a painting. 

The God you pray to is sovereign over all creation and has all power over all things, how does that influence the faith that you begin to pray with?

Knowing that God is good and faithful, and merciful and gracious, to you and the individuals and situations you may be praying abou,t whether they are strangers or family, friends or enemies, his response will always be faithful to who he is and loving to you and others. 

When we pray, it is a spiritual activity for a spiritual encounter with a spiritual God.  When we pray we are coming before the living and sovereign God whether we are giving thanks for a meal or kneeling in confession over sin, or standing in the gap for another person.  In prayer, we are engaging into a spiritual realm where spiritual resources provide love, wisdom and power to bring about his purposes, and a realm where spiritual authorities govern our physical realities over forces of good and evil and where we can grow in spiritual maturity that is gauged by our ability to discern the differences.   When we pray, we come before the God of all things who wants to use us to do his things. 

Prayer: Father, Thank you that we can come before you in prayer.  What a great gift of your grace.  Thank you that in your presence we can know you better and discover your ways.  Help us to have hearts and minds that are moldable to your heart and mind. 

·      In your words, Thank God for the ability to come before him in prayer.

·      Thank him for making himself known to you.  Focus on one or two of his attributes and acknowledge who he is.

·      Ask him to shape your prayers to be pleasing to him and his purposes.

·      Ask that he would give our government leaders wisdom to lead our country well during this time. 

·      Pray that he would demonstrate his sovereignty and provide a vaccine that will be effective and developed soon.

Father, May we grow to know you better and desire to pray in ways that would demonstrate your great presence with us.    Amen