This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Rooted – Grounded in Prayer (CLICK HERE)
Prayer is initiated out of a relationship.
Every parent has had their day interrupted by a piercing, “Mom!” or “Dad!” Their child has some need that they are unable (maybe sometimes unwilling?) to resolve and are calling out to you as a parent for help. At times the need is simply squishing a spider that wandered onto their bedroom wall or help on a math problem. At other times it may be an injury or some other predicament they can’t get themselves out of.
When our children call out to us for whatever need they have, they do so because they are confident of the following:
- You as their parent will hear them.
- You as their parent will listen to them.
- You as their parent will respond to them.
- You as their parent will do what’s best for them.
They trust you as their parent to help, and so they cry out with confidence.
What about in our prayer life?
Do we carry a similar approach to our heavenly Father?
Do we turn to him with confidence or a bit of a caution? Is praying to our heavenly Father a first resort or a last resort? Do we have faith he will help or skeptical he will do anything?
Where is your confidence level in approaching your heavenly Father? Martin Luther expressed it this way as he expanded on the address of the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven. What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
With the same boldness and confidence as we would cry out to our parents, so we can approach our heavenly Father with the same boldness and confidence. Like our parents, you can be sure of your heavenly Father:
- He will hear you.
- He will listen to you.
- He will respond to you.
- He will do what’s best for you.
Perhaps the secondary challenge of our confidence is trusting that God will do what is best for us. We often can subconsciously prescribe the time and way God should answer our prayers and get frustrated when it doesn’t play out that way. Again, here is a helpful insight to reflect on from Martin Luther:
Luther emphasized in a number of places that we are not to prescribe to God the details of how prayer is to be answered. In On Rogationtide Prayer and Procession (1519) he admonished: [Y]our trust must not set a goal for God, not set a time and place, not specify the way or the means of his fulfilment, but it must entrust all of that to his will, wisdom, and omnipotence. Just wait cheerfully and undauntedly for the fulfilment without wanting to know how and where, how soon, how late, or by what means. His divine wisdom will find an immeasurably better way and method, time and place, then we can imagine. (*)
So pray with confidence, knowing your heavenly Father will always listen and do what is best when it is best for his children.
Apply: Evaluate your heart when you pray. Is it filled with confidence or a bit of skepticism? Ask the Spirit to instill a strong confidence in your heavenly Father’s ability to hear and answer your prayers for your best interest.
Prayer: Father, thank you for calling me your child and giving me the confidence to always approach you boldly as I would my earthly parents. AMEN.
Quote:
* “Practical Advice on Prayer from Martin Luther” by MARY JANE HAEMIG https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/35-1_Prayer/Practical%20Advice%20on%20Prayer%20from%20Martin%20Luther.pdf