The Right Attitude of Prayer

 

“Every time that I take one step forward and start to feel like I’m getting my life on track, something happens to knock me two steps back! This is the story of my life.” I bet you know someone that has made this statement, or you actually feel this way about your own life. It’s very discouraging to try your best to get ahead only to experience another setback or disappointment. There is a remedy for this, and it is called prayer. Prayer is one of the greatest opportunities, privileges, and successful strategies any person can practice. Power is manifested through our prayers when we pray effectively. Therefore, every person that seeks to live through the power and example of Jesus Christ should desire and aim to pray effectively to God and make this a very serious and ongoing pursuit.  

God tells us in Ephesians 4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. Renewal is necessary because all of us have thought patterns or mindsets that we have developed over the years. In many areas of life, our way of thinking does not line up with the mind of Jesus Christ. We don’t think the way that he does regarding very important aspects of our existences. We may have grown up with thoughts that are on the negative side. Perhaps we don’t like certain things about ourselves or our physical appearance. It could be that someone was always putting us down, so we have a very poor self-image. This can lead to other negative thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes.

If we feel negative about ourselves, it is very easy to feel negatively about others, because we really can’t love others in a healthy way if we don’t love ourselves in a healthy way. All negativity impacts the effectiveness of our prayers. This is why God tells us to renew our minds so that we can cultivate a right attitude of prayer and develop the kind of relationship with Him that He desires.

Some of us have made the mistake of thinking that our prayer life is trivial to Heavenly Father. We might have grown up visualizing God as someone that doesn’t want to or can’t be bothered with our prayers, but nothing can be further from the truth. Proverbs 15:8 tells us that the prayers of the upright are God’s delight. To be upright doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect in order for God to hear our prayers. It means that we must be sincere, and that we must have reverence and honor for Him. We must have an attitude of respect and recognize who it is that we are praying to.

In Matthew 6:9-15, the disciples wanted to learn to pray like our Master Jesus, and they asked him to teach them how to pray. There can be no doubt in our minds that they had watched the prayer lifestyle of Jesus and understood this to be extremely important to the level of power, discipline, and love he demonstrated daily. They wanted this for themselves, and he gave them a template that we should all use in our individual prayer lives.

In Matthew 6:9-10(NLT), he taught them to pray, “9 Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Straight away, Jesus taught us that the honor and respect for God’s name and being is the way to begin our prayer dialogue with Him, and this just makes sense. All of us want respect and some of us will try to demand it. We want others to have some level of understanding that communication and communion with us will require a very basic acknowledgement of our personhood. Well there is none other like God. He’s holy, and this is a matchless quality that sets Him apart. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and the Creator of all that is. Communication and communion with Him will require our acknowledgement of who He is, because He will always honor and respect who we are. This mutual understanding of Him as our Almighty God and us as His children sets the atmosphere for intimate prayer to Him.

Another component that is integral to having the right attitude of prayer is the extremely important knowledge that Jesus taught in Matthew 6:10 regarding the Will of God. Our attitude is to want what we want, when we want it. The methodology we use is one of pursuing our own agendas, and then asking God to bless it. This isn’t what Jesus taught, and this approach doesn’t produce an effective prayer life. God’s Will is first and foremost. Nothing comes before God’s Will. Proverbs 19:21(NLT) says, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” A sure way to have our plans interrupted is to construct them outside the parameters and boundaries of the purpose contained in God’s Will.  

How do we know God’s purpose? This is indeed the question that cements an effective prayer life. God’s Word is His Will. We must search the scriptures for His promises, so we can know what He has to say about the matter of which we’re praying. As we have an attitude of honor and respect for God and pray with His promises in our minds and hearts, we then must recognize that Jesus Christ is our mediator. It is because of his finished work on the cross that God hears our prayers.

Jesus Christ said in John 14:12-13(NLT), “12 I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.” From this you and I can be confident that Heavenly Father desires that we pray as often as possible, and that our prayers are in the name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. If we come before God with the right attitude, which is to do as Christ did and bring glory to the Father, He’s faithful to hear our prayers and will bless us according to His Will. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“The Right Attitude of Prayer”, by Alexandra Copeland. Copyright© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.