The Goodness of God and Prayer

⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Matt 6

Many people feel that they do not know how to pray. If praying does not come naturally to you, you are in the same boat as the disciples before Jesus taught them to pray. Remember they asked Him “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)? In the “Lord’s Prayer”, Jesus lays down a blueprint to direct our prayer. He instructs us “In this manner, therefore, pray”, giving us a model to follow to direct our requests. If you don’t know how to get somewhere, follow a map. If you don’t know how to pray, follow “The Lord’s Prayer”.

Before Jesus directs our requests, He directs us to whom we should pray. “Our Father in heaven” shows that we are not praying to an aloof, far off god who set the world in motion and has nothing to do with us. We are praying to our Father. The One to whom “we are to cast our cares because He cares.” (1 Peter 5:7).  There is a sense of intimacy there.  People who grow up in a healthy family and can relate to a father figure know that a father is interested in the affairs and welfare of his child. They are not bothered by their children asking to have their needs met.

In Matthew 7, Jesus compares our Heavenly Father to human fathers. Earthly fathers will give children bread when they ask for bread, not a snake. You, whether mother or father, when your child asks you for something will gladly meet your child’s needs and not give them something that will harm them. How much more will a perfect good and loving God meet His children’s needs?  What is at the center of Jesus’s point is that God is good, and God’s goodness is the foundation of our prayers. He gives because He is good, not because we are good.

When we pray “Our Father in heaven” we are not only addressing the God of the universe, but we are also addressing our attentive Father. His nature is to be interested in the needs of His children. We don’t need to compete for His attention.  When we pray “Our Father in heaven” we are praying to an infinitely good God, who can and wills to do nothing but good for His children. When you pray to your Father in heaven, resist the urge to ask based on your own merits, but base your petition on the goodness of God.