Prayer is about one thing: it’s about having conversation with God. It’s about talking with that which creates life. It’s about speaking the desires of our heart to the one who put the sun in the sky, the one who makes the rain to fall, the one who has the whole world in his hands. It’s about connecting with the very One who brought us into this world and watches us always.

Jesus does give us a word of caution about how we pray (see Matthew 6). He warns us not to make a big show out of it. He uses those who stand on the street corners, and those who are long-winded in their prayers. We may walk by them and think that they’re very good at what they do. But Jesus says that their prayers are answered not by God but by us. They wanted attention in their prayers, and they get it by creating a spectacle out of prayer.

Jesus would rather prefer us to lock ourselves up in a room and pray in secret. Have you ever tried that? Have you ever just gone into a closet, sat down, and prayed? It’s an odd feeling. In that closet you are confronted with yourself. And in that closet you are confronted with a very big fact. The God who sees you, even in secret, knows everything. You can’t hide from this God. God sees everything.

And because God sees everything, God knows everything. That, to me, is a very scary thing. You can’t just show God all the good stuff in your life in prayer. God knows it all…God knows how we shine and knows all of our warts. Huckleberry Finn figured this out. He said, “You can’t pray a lie—I found that out.”

Prayer is about having a conversation with God. And there is no special way to pray except to be honest with yourself because you’re conversing with the God who knows it all.

There are two more things that I think are very helpful in understanding prayer. If prayer is truly about having a conversation with God who knows everything, then prayer is about hearing what God wants to say. Prayer is how God is heard.

If you look at our Lord’s prayer, you will notice that God wants to be heard in this prayer. It starts out with God. Our Father, who is in heaven.

This is about God. It is about naming God. Jesus wants us to address God as a 2 year old speaks to her daddy. Jesus wants to show us how personal God wants to be with us. God wants to be more than “father,” he wants to be ‘daddy.’ And in naming God in this way, we strike out all the other gods that exist. We don’t name the god of work, or school, or sports, or selfishness, or of good times. We name the God who is beyond us, who is in heaven, but the One who wants us to be in heaven too, the Daddy who brings us there.

And then it moves on, Hallowed be YOUR name, YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We’re halfway through the prayer and we haven’t even spoken about ourselves yet. We haven’t said a word about our problems, about our petitions, but have spoken volumes about God. This is because God wants to be heard in prayer.

Martin Luther fussed with prayer over his life, but what he discovered was that the act of prayer brought us closer to God’s promises. By praying through the Lord’s prayer, we discover that we are drawn to God’s promises. We see that we are spoken to by a God who will do anything to bring holiness to his name. We are spoken to by a God who will move mountains to make his kingdom of peace, justice, and truth reign supreme. We are spoken to by a God who will go through death in order to bring us life. God wants to be heard, and these are the words he is speaking to us.

Prayer is how God is heard, and we see that in the Lord’s prayer. But prayer is not only how God is heard, it is also how we are heard. I’m always amazed at the fact that God wants to hear our prayers, that God wants to hear what bothers us, what makes us anxious, what keeps us up at night, what angers us, and what brings us joy. God wants to hear all of these things.

When we come to the second half of the Lord’s prayer we discover the “us” part. Give US this day our daily bread, Forgive US our sins as we forgive others, SAVE US and Deliver US.

Jesus knows that we are full of problems. So in this first prayer that he delivers to his disciples, he makes room for us. Jesus knows that we cannot provide for ourselves. We didn’t make these lungs that live off of oxygen, we never put the mountains in their place, or the ocean in its place. We are totally dependent upon God for everything. So Jesus makes room in his prayer for US. Give US, Forgive US, Save US, and Deliver US.

Jesus shows us that we have room in his prayer to bring all of our problems there. We need God’s forgiveness in order to live out our lives. Once we are forgiven, we can practice that in our lives. We need God’s salvation to lead us away from dangerous situations. We need God’s salvation to work in us, we need room to make our case. So Jesus gives us that room.
Prayer is about having a conversation with God, who knows all things. In this conversation God is heard, and we are heard.