For a long time, that was my understanding and my practice. But as my relationship with God deepened, I realized prayer is not bringing a list of requests to my loving and powerful Father and asking him to fulfill them. It is to bring all of me, especially my heart, to engage in an intimate conversation with my Father. Because a conversation requires both parties to “speak”, I have found that the best time to pray is immediately after reading the Bible. When I hear what God has said to me through his Word first, my heart is in the right place to speak candidly about deep issues. 

Pastors often say God uses prayer to teach us about submission, accepting whatever answers he gives. Thomas Watson, a 17th century Puritan theologian once said, “If you have not what you desire, you have more than you deserve.” Truly, we often forget we deserve condemnation and eternal death and live with a sense of entitlement, demanding God to give us what we want. Rather, our prayer should start with a humble heart, admitting we deserve nothing, have no power to change any circumstances on our own, and asking for grace to submit to his will, his timing, and his way. 

If we have a close relationship with God and know who he is – having experienced his love, faithfulness, and deliverance, then the printed words in the Bible become as powerful and comforting as if God were standing right next to us, speaking them into our ears. However, if we don’t know him well (which many may not willingly admit), then his words of comfort, his promises, and the declaration of his power and wisdom in the Bible might not mean much to someone who merely sees God as a servant to be summoned any time to provide immediate relief.  

It took me years to come to this understanding that how intimately we know God determines how much we trust his words. When we don’t truly know him, we struggle to release control to him and end up living with fears and anxiety. But when we believe God’s words are true and his promises are trustworthy, we find rest. The writer of Psalm 94 could say, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” because he knew the character of the God he was talking to. 

I see this trust lived out in my daughter, who is blind. Because she knows I love her and believes I would never harm her, she exhibits total trust by eating whatever I put before her and going wherever I take her without demanding an explanation first. This is the essence of prayer: a childlike heart that rests fully in the Father’s care.   

As we dedicate the new building as a house of prayer, let us also devote our lives to God. May we be filled with the Spirit to bless others and the desire to glorify him always.