For most people praying is mainly about asking God and thanking Him. If we’re completely honest, asking is the part that we’re most concerned with, the possibility that God would listen to “my” request and answer “my” prayers. That’s why when the prayer request is important to us, or when the request goes unanswered we invite others to pray with us, because we believe that if more people are praying the better our chances of successfully convincing God to reward our requests. If that doesn’t work then we go into the dreaded fast, thinking that our sacrifice is needed to convince God. Then the more prayers that God answers the more we tend to thank Him. There’s nothing wrong with the asking and thanking approach, but it is definitely missing the main purpose for which we should pray.

Matthew 6:6 NIV

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”.

The word of God teaches that God knows our prayer request before we ask. The word of God also teaches that God has already determined what the answer to our request are before we ask. Again let me say that there is nothing wrong with the asking approach to prayer. You can ask God for anything you want, but understand that God already knows what you want and has determined how He will answer you. So why do we pray?

Imagine that your conversation with your earthly father was one of asking and thanking. Imagine as a parent that the main reason your children communicated with you was to ask you for things and thank you for them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but as parents we want more. We want to get to know our children and we want them to get to know us. The same is true for our Heavenly Father. He wants us to go beyond our petitions. He wants us to reveal our innermost thoughts, who we are and what’s going on in our lives. But most importantly, He wants to reveal to you who He is and what He thinks. He wants more than anything else to build a personal relationship with you and not just as “almighty God”, but rather a relationship with the “almighty God”. He wants more than anything to be your Heavenly Father.

It’s SIMPLE, praying is about much more than asking and thanking, prayer is about building a relationship between you and your Heavenly Father. This the greatest reward for your prayers.

Heavenly Father, I don’t want my communication with you to just be about me trying to get what I want. YOU are what I want. YOU are my reward.