There are so many good principles we can learn from this chapter about prayer. Prayer is complicated. I think its complicated because we make it out to be so simple. Prayers don't get answered, or better yet we don't even believe it will come true. So why do we pray to God about the things we need if God already knows the things we need? If you're praying to get a special position at work and your competitor is also praying for that same position, what happens then? So many bizarre questions we can ask about prayer. However, Jesus gives us a couple principles here. Basically, God wants sincerity. Sincerity can be broken down into a couple other pieces. He wants us to know that God will always serve justice the way he deems appropriate - and of course we all know that to be the best way. Secondly we see that Christ wants us to come with humility when it comes to praying to God. God is God, why come with a sense of pride right? A lot of times when we pray aloud, its almost a competition; the louder you pray the more holy and righteous you are or appear. But God likes someone who can come in front of God and admit his faults and shortcomings. He likes a person who can say, "I am nothing without you, you're all I need." Thirdly, he likes you to have faith - a childlike faith that is. A childlike faith is hard to come by. To say, "God I believe in your word and I believe it all to be truth." When you were little you always thought your parents knew everything. If someone said something contradictory to what your parents said you knew your parents were the ones that were right. Although our parents may be incorrect from time to time our father in heaven is always right, and that we can totally bank on. Fourthly, he wants us to follow after him with complete abandon. Simply put, we can't be holding on to anything when we come to him. We have to follow, chase, and run after the things of God leaving behind the things of this world.
Now that is sincere praise. Can we all do it? Why of course we can. What is impossible to us is possible to God.
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