In my home church in Castleton, NY, we are exploring The Lord’s Prayer during the month of August. The Lord’s Prayer is so beautifully crafted it helps us bring everything about our lives into God’s presence and invites us to rest in His love and wait upon how he will answer.

I can imagine the apostle Paul penning these words from Philippians 4 from prison, after first reflecting on the words of Jesus teaching us to pray: 

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

EVERYTHING in prayer?

Everything is sometimes the felt need of our lives. In biblical terms a felt need is that for which we hunger and thirst, or that for which we might have a fleshly desire. And so, yes, we seek out our Father as our provider.

Everything is sometimes a basic emotion such as joy, fear, sadness, or anger. And so, we seek out our God for deepest comfort and strength to help us to take the next step. We recognize He is the one who has gifted us with life which constantly moves toward renewal and the dawn of a new day. And so, yes, we bring our troubled hearts to our Father to receive from the fullness of His love for us and excitement over the good He has planned for us.

And sometimes everything  is us. When we are faced with the brokenness of our lives, the unrelenting challenge of relationships in a world enslaved to sin and under the deception of the Evil One, we recognize a hunger for answers beyond us, and we wait in silence for God. But wait, our fallen world in constant turmoil and trouble it’s not the only “us”  we consider when led to pray. Sometimes everything is the “me” each of us lives with everyday – the me that struggles to be forgiving toward others but longs for forgiveness, and the me that faces temptations to sin not only in action but especially in attitude or posture toward God. And so we come to long for God’s acceptance and forgiveness, bowing in prayers of confession and repentance.

Our Father, who hears and sees and knows EVERYTHING, receives our prayers gladly and with great joy incorporates each and every one of them into his effort to move us toward redemption, freedom, and deepest joy. And so we pray, “Our Father who art in heaven…”

---

Praying in faith is earnestly and sincerely trusting god to do what’s best in response to our every prayer.

But praying in faith about everything is not the same as expecting that God will give us everything for which we pray.

We must not expect that we will receive what we ask…

• If we ask for that which is not promised.
• If our prayer runs counter to the life of Christ the Lord would have us immitate.
• If we ask contrary to His will or to the decrees of His providence.
• If we ask merely for selfish gratification and without a concern for His glory.*

But when we ask in faith, we can and should anticipate something good in response. **

It may not be the precise thing we were expecting but since it comes from our Father’s good heart and his wise intentions for us it cannot be wrong. Eventually we will know it is enough, and even, more than enough, to satisfy the need of our lives, far beyond the moment.

Your father knows what you need before you ask him
So, ask.
Ask for provision.
Ask for pardon.
Ask for protection.
Don’t babble the words, but let your heart seek the reality.

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for his Almighty power. Nothing is too small for his love.” Corrie ten Boom

---

* This list inspired by a devotional on 1 Kings 19:4 by C.H. Spurgeon. Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright (c) 2003, Good News Publishers and used by Truth For Life with written permission. Today’s Bible Reading material is taken from McCheyne Bible reading plan and used by Truth For Life with permission. Scripture quotations are taken from Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright (c) 2001, Good News Publishers.

** “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:9-13 NIV