Real prayer is an intimate conversation with God that influences every area of your life because it focuses on relationship with God by refocusing your attention in three ways: Upward, Inward, and Outward.
Matthew 6:5-15 shows Jesus’ model teaching on how you should pray. Instead of rambling on and on, reciting a specific set of words, or having the wrong kind of motive behind why you are praying, Jesus teaches that real prayer is relational. When you pray you should always focus on building your relationship with God by having an intimate conversation with Him. When you do that, then you will naturally worship Him, honor Him, and place Him in the appropriate position in your life.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed by your name,
your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.’
Relational Prayer focuses us Upward (vv. 9-10)
Jesus is crystal clear in specifically addressing the person that He wants you to pray too. During this time, there were a lot of options that someone could pray too, much like today. Therefore, it was really important for Jesus to specify who He was praying too. But instead of promoting religious prayer, Jesus teaches that real prayer is exclusively directed upward toward the God of the Bible. If you are directing your prayer toward anything or anyone other than the God of the Bible, then it is not real prayer because nothing and no one can do anything about your requests, let alone have a relationship with you. Check out this Old Testament story and you will see what I mean: 1 Kings 18:19-46.
This story is a good reminder that no other god or goddess, no other religion or belief system, and no other ideology has the power to answer and overcome whatever current situation you find yourself in, other than the God of the Bible. Look, specifically, at verses 26-29, because in those verses it shows us that it does not matter how fervent, authentic, reverent, or dramatic someone’s prayers are, if they are directed toward anyone other than the God of the Bible, then they are pointless and will go unanswered.
Real prayer focuses your attention upward on God and places God in His rightful place in your life. It also lifts your attention away from your current situations and circumstances, and places your focus on the ability of the one you are praying too.
Once God, your Father, is in His proper place in your life, then the real prayer that Jesus is talking about begins to ascribe the proper glory and reverence to Him. It does not treat God as a galactic genie, or as an impersonal force, rather it treats God as a Father who is worthy of worship and honor, who wants to bless you and build a relationship with you. It also invites God’s will to be done in your life and in our world.
Real prayer reminds us that we are behind enemy lines and that this world is not what was fully intended by God (Gen. 1-3) and that our world and those in it need to be rescued and redeemed by the coming of God’s Kingdom (1 Jn. 2:2). When God’s Kingdom invades into places or people, God’s will, from that moment onward, is fully accomplished. No longer are His ways hidden or frustrated by sin. Rather, God’s will is done in its entirety. When God’s Kingdom invades, earth reflects Heaven.
Real prayer focuses our attention on our relationship with God by properly placing Him in charge of our lives. Real prayer shows us that “He is personal (no mere “ground of being”) and caring (a Father, not a tyrant or an ogre, but the one who establishes the real nature of fatherhood, cf. Eph 3:14–15). That he is “our Father” establishes the relationship that exists between Jesus’ disciples and God. … [and] that he is “our Father in heaven” … [which] reminds us of his transcendence and sovereignty … [Real prayer] is less concerned with the proper protocol in approaching Deity than with the truth of who he is, [and] to establish within the believer the right frame of mind (Stott, p. 146).”[1]
Real prayer focuses you on your relationship with your Father and it places your Father in the proper place of your life, where He receives worship, adoration, thanksgiving, and love. This week, start your prayer off by properly placing God above everything else in your life. Before you start asking Him to bless your life, work out some relationship, or reveal to you what the future looks like for your life, start by humbling honoring Him. Start your prayer by simply praising and lifting Him up. I promise you that your relationship with Him will start growing from a cold, mechanical place of religion to a warm, intimate, and vibrant relationship with Him.
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