Prayer.
I’ve read A LOT of books on prayer.
I’ve attended prayer conferences.
I’ve sat through many sermons (including one from our pastor last Sunday).
I’ve studied through passages of Scripture…all prayer related.
I’ve taught on prayer.
But, the one thing I really haven’t seen until recently is the role that AWE plays in prayer.
My eyes have been blinded to it, I guess.
Of course, it should have been obvious.
Right there, in the introduction to the Lord’s teaching on Prayer (His “model” prayer), I begin by acknowledging MY Father in Heaven.
That should blow us all away with AWE.
He’s our FATHER…
The King of King’s and the Lord of Lord’s, calls us His children.
If I let that truth alone, soak in, well, it leaves me breathless in wonder!
I AM A CHILD OF GOD!!!
Yet there’s more to that simple line in the Lord’s Model Prayer, “Our Father who lives in Heaven, Holy is Your Name…”
It’s a reminder that, while prayer is as simple as a conversation with a loved one, it’s also an act of worship.
I can’t enter into prayer without acknowledging that I am needy. Lacking.
I can’t explore prayer’s depths without acknowledging God’s Sovereignty, His rule, His reign, and His control…
I can’t enjoy the benefits of prayer without bowing first to His glory…recognizing He is Holy and I am not.
Until heaven, I will fight my sin nature. My “want” to do my will my way…
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done…”
I just don’t enter prayer as a child on Santa’s knee…I bow my knee in surrender to the God who CREATED the Universe.
God’s plans and purposes prevail; and, I acknowledge this fact.
His ways are better than mine.
His will accomplishes more.
His heart lovingly knows what’s best.
His eyes see, not just the now, but the there and then.
His love for me, and for those whose lives I touch, extends beyond my personal kingdom.
I can’t surrender to God’s grand will, if there is no AWE of Him.
It will be difficult to believe that He is the God of the Impossible if I can’t worship Him in Spirit and Truth.
Someone else said this, “Prayer celebrates God’s grace. True prayer arises when you are blown away by grace, for it is grace that gives you the desire to pray, the welcome of God to pray, and the promise that He will answer.”
This week, I recognized this truth: I will not ever truly enter into God’s prayer power until first I acknowledge Him with celebratory AWE, and follow that with a response of humble surrender.
When I meet Him in that place, prayer becomes less about me and more about my God. It means that when I do come to Him with my requests, casting my cares upon Him (as He tells us to do), it’s less about my feelings, or that to which I think I might be entitled, and becomes a tool of grace that unleashes the Lord to act on my behalf.
I don’t want to tether God to my wish list.
I don’t want to limit Him through my tunnel-visioned-me-first-requests.
I want the AWE of God to lead me to surrender, so that He can do GREAT and MIGHTY THINGS…and continue to show Himself AWSPIRING!
