Lord's Prayer: Our Father in HeavenSample

Some people won’t pray. They’re convinced God’s will is fixed. Or that he’s distant and uninvolved. They think God is going to do what God wants to do regardless of what we want, or that all that’s out there is physics. So why pray? It accomplishes nothing.

For others, not praying is an act of defiance. They’re mad at God. Maybe because he didn’t deliver. Maybe they see things or face things that God didn’t fix. So there’s no way they’re talking to him.

People like this might think about God, but they don’t talk to God. Or at most, they repeat fixed phrases and formulas with others who are praying in public settings. But they’re just being polite, “praying” insincerely.

You can also tell a lot by what people don’t pray for. Or if they don’t pray.

Jesus has a different take. He tells us to pray. And when we pray, to pray with a shameless audacity and boldness that expects God to answer. Jesus expects God to respond when we pray.

Consider this today…

Are you writing God off instead of pursuing him tenaciously? Are you bold enough to come to him?