Prayer: Talking to the One I Love

If we didn't have to ask, we might not notice the answer, and we might forget the one who gave us the blessing.

Kevin DeYoung's The Good News We Almost Forgot

Why do I need to pray?

• Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of me.  
• And also because God gives His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly 
• asking God for these gifts and thanking Him for them.

How does God want me to pray so that He will listen to me?

First, 

• I must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God, 
• who has revealed Himself in His Word, 
• asking for everything He has commanded me to ask for.

Second, 

• I must acknowledge my need and misery, 
• hiding nothing, 
• and humble myself in His majestic presence.

Third, 

• I must rest on this unshakable foundation: 
• even though I do not deserve it, 
• God will surely listen to my prayer because of Christ my Lord.  
• This is what He promised me in His Word.

What did God command me to pray for?

• Everything I need, spiritually and physically, 
• as embraced in the the prayer Christ our Lord Himself taught me.

What is the prayer?

• Our Father in heaven, 
• hallowed be Your name, 
• Your kingdom come, 
• Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
• Give us today our daily bread.  
• Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  
• And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  
• For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 45

For the Bible Tells Me So...

Psalm 50:14-15 

• Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. 
• Call upon Me in the day of trouble; 
• I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

Matthew 7:7-8 

• Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 
• For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Psalm 145:18-20 

• The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. 
• He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. 
• The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.

Psalm 34:18 

• The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

James 1:6 

• But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, 
• for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

Matthew 6:33 

• But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

As long as you want to talk to God more than you want to talk to yourself, God will listen to you.

- Kevin DeYoung's The Good News We Almost Forgot