The Attitude of Prayer

“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Matthew 6:8

When you pray, what are you thinking? Do you think that God hears you? Do you think that He is listening? Do you think that He cares about you? When we think about prayer, we tend to think of what we could potentially get out of prayer. We need something, so we ask God for it in hopes that we might receive it. Our focus tends to be on what we stand to gain. As Jesus taught His disciples about prayer in Matthew 6, one of the truths that He emphasized was pertaining to our attitude as we approach God. We are to think of God as our Father. We are to envision Him in heaven. We are to approach His throne with reverence and to honor His name. We are to pray for the advancement of His kingdom and for His will to be done. Then we may ask for our needs to be met. When we take the time to follow this process, we develop a deeper understanding of the power of God and the true meaning of our relationship with Him. Jesus prefaced these instructions by letting us know that God already knows what we need. He knows. We don’t go to prayer because God needs to be informed of our situation. He knows. That means that He does care. He does love us. He does hear us. He does want to meet our needs. This one thought has the potential to transform our attitude toward prayer. We must realize that if God already knows what we need, then prayer is more about a relationship with God than it is about receiving.