Daniel 9:18 “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.”

This is the essential, foundational attitude of prayer for all people at all times. When we forget this, we end up talking to ourselves instead of to God. This is precisely what Jesus was talking about in His famous illustration of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:10-14. The minute we start thinking we’re good enough to be heard by God, we stop praying and start boasting. The better we understand that God’s grace is indeed amazing, the more ready He is to hear us. Daniel was a very righteous man. He remains one of the finest examples of faithful living we can find in the whole Bible. He lived like that precisely because He understood that apart from God’s grace none of us can stand. He was faithful in prayer to the point of getting thrown into a pit of lions precisely because he understood what an incredible privilege prayer is. God heard him because he didn’t demand to be heard, but rather threw himself on God’s grace and mercy. In Christ we have been given sonship, and so can come boldly before the throne of grace, (Hebrews 4:16) but we must never forget that it is a throne of grace, and not something we have earned.

As much as I pray, I am still boggled at the very idea of prayer. That the Creator of the universe would pay attention to something as insignificant as we are violates all human logic. However, the Biblical record is clear, and my own experience lines up with it: God delights to hear and answer prayer. I have found that prayer is a difficult thing to teach, because in many ways it is a product of some fundamental attitudes and understanding, rather than being independent. If we don’t understand that we need to pray, we won’t. If we don’t understand that God loves us, we won’t pray. If we don’t understand that God knows far better than we do what we need, yet He still tells us to pray, then we won’t pray in faith. (Matthew 6:32, 7:7-8) Sadly, people seem to be somewhat intimidated at times to hear me pray, thinking they could never pray like that. That shows they don’t understand that the foundation of prayer is not form and vocabulary, but faith and humility. I must not give up seeking to open people’s eyes to the glorious reality of who God is, so that they may receive not only salvation but the intimacy in prayer with Him that He desires, for our blessing and His glory.

Father, thank You for the amazing privilege of prayer. Help me make more and more effective use of it myself, and be fully “contagious” so that others may “catch” it as well. May we be a praying church indeed, understanding and delighting in our total dependence on You, so that we may be fully useful in Your hands, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!