What Prayer Isn’t About

Prayer isn’t about changing God’s mind. In many cases, prayer is about changing our minds.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them, “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10 NLT).

Not that we could, but why would we even try to talk God into something that is not His will? Prayer is getting God’s will on earth, not our will in Heaven. Prayer is not pulling God our way; it is pulling us His way.

After Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, He appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb and said, “But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’ ” (John 20:17 NLT).

It no longer was only Jesus who could call Him Father. As believers, we can call him Father, too, because of our relationship through Christ. Jesus said, “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you” (Matthew 18:19 NLT).

Of course, our prayers need to be aligned with the will of God. But the point is that praying together makes all the difference in the world. There is power in unified prayer. Galatians 6:2 tells us, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (NLT). Don’t do life alone. Don’t try to be a solo Christian.

Christians need to pray with other Christians. And when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we’re really saying, “Lord, I long for Heaven.” God has prewired every Christian to know Him. He has prewired us to long for a place that we have never seen. It is like the homing instinct we see in the animal kingdom. God has placed it in human hearts as well. We long for Heaven. We’re homesick for Heaven.

Therefore, when we pray, “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” we’re saying that we long for the day when we’ll be in Heaven, in the presence of the Lord. But we’re also saying that we long for the day when Jesus will come back to this earth again.

In addition, we’re saying, “Lord, I want Your rule in my life. I want You to take charge of my life. I want to give You the master key of every door in my house. I want to give You all my passwords. I want You to have access to everything.”

That is what Jesus meant when He said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33 NLT).

Jesus gave us this template for prayer to encourage us to pray. And we need to pray about everything.

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