Prayer Is More Than Asking — Or Is It?

“Prayer is a needy soul telling God what he wants.”

But is there not more to prayer than asking for what you want? Aren't there examples in the Bible of other kinds of prayer? Aren’t we told to give thanks and to confess our sins?

Well, yes, that’s true and some, picking up on it, have made lists of the elements that we should include in our prayers. Most list four: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (the word ACTS will help you remember them and get them in the right order). Some come up with longer lists. I’ve even seen a list of twenty-three.

Those lists can be helpful. Our prayers mustn’t be all “Lord give me,” as if God is a cosmic vending machine and prayer is what presses His buttons. If you remember to give thanks and praise God and acknowledge your sins it will help you to avoid that.

But if you’re not careful that list of elements you use to help you pray will turn into a formula and before long your prayers will become ritualistic. You won’t be praying from the heart. You’ll be too concerned about getting the prayer just right.

Prayer has to come from the heart. It begins with desire. It rises from the pit of the stomach before it’s put into words.

Think about this. What is the deepest desire of your born-again heart? What is it that you want more than anything else? Is it not to see God glorified: praised, thanked, exalted, acknowledged, yielded to, obeyed?

Christian, that desire is already in you, put there by God. You don’t need to make yourself have it: you couldn’t anyway. If it doesn’t readily come to the surface when you pray — sometimes it doesn't — all that is needed is for you to stir it up a little. You can do that by reading God’s word and by joining in worship with other believers who have the same desire. You can ask God to stir it up for you.

By all means, use that list to remind yourself that you want to adore the Lord, for sometimes in the busyness of life the desire gets pushed down. Use it to remind yourself about the sins you want to confess, for sometimes we blank them out. Use it to remind yourself of all the things you want to say thank you for.  And use it to remind yourself about the blessings you want to ask God for. Sometimes you can get so caught up in praising Him that you forget to. Yes, use your list to stir up your longing for the thing you want more than anything else and use it to help you put that longing into words.

Our needy souls want to adore the Lord because it is in considering His glory that we find joy, even when we’re sad. Our needy souls want to confess and repent of our sins for we we need to be close to Him: every cloud that separates must be blown away. Our needy souls are full of thankfulness for His mercies and we want to tell Him so. Our needy souls long for more and more of His blessing.

It all boils down to this: our needy souls need God. It is Him we need. It is Him our souls long for. It is Him we want.

“ Prayer is a needy soul telling God what he wants.”