“The clearer our understanding of who God is, the better our prayers” (Timothy Keller)
Timothy Keller suggests that our biggest struggle with prayer comes from understanding who God is. There is a connection between Bible study—or God study— and prayer. The more we understand who God is, the better we can find words to communicate with Him. As we read through the pages of the Bible we can see stories where God acted for His people, we can see miracles that occurred when people needed them most, and in Jesus we see God’s love in the form of our Savior.
This week we will be working on understanding prayer more clearly by identifying some of the differences in prayer as practiced by various religions around the world. We will also be analyzing what Jesus says about prayer and how He suggests that we pray. At the heart of Jesus’ lesson we will discover how revolutionary it was in His day. One of the greatest teachings that Jesus leaves us with is that God is our Heavenly Father. This was a concept that was foreign to the Jewish mind of Jesus’ day.
Notice how William Barclay describes this notion of God as our Father:
“If we believe that God is Father, it settles our relationship to God. It is not that it removes the might, majesty and power of God. It is not that it makes God any the less God; but it makes that might, and majesty, and power approachable for us” (The Gospel of Matthew)
As we continue our Prayer sermon series this week may we all come to a deeper understanding of who God is, and as such, may we find ourselves better able to pray!
Grace and Peace,
– Pastor Geraldo
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