Like many of you, Geovanna and I belong to a TSH small group, and after two months of Zoom, we’ve finally started meeting in person again. At our gathering last night, we were talking about prayer when one of our quietest members spoke up. She didn’t mean to do it, but in the simplest of words, she offered up a model prayer for times like these:
“God has been so good to me.
I don’t understand it because I don’t deserve any of it.
I just want to serve Him.
I never want Him to stop.”
It was so simple and so true. If you struggle with the idea of prayer, this is a great framework to follow.
1. GRATITUDE – “God has been so good to me.”
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34
Counting your blessings – even when times are tough – is a great way to begin a prayer. How has God been good to you? What, specifically, has God done for you? Write down a list of His blessings, and then say them out loud. Gratitude isn’t just a feeling; it must be expressed by the grateful person!
2. HUMILITY – “I don’t understand/deserve it.”
What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:4
Recognizing how all good things in life are the result of God’s grace is a sign of the self-awareness that leads to repentance. Christians do not believe in a karmic system of justice. If you’ve got a good life, it’s not because you’re a good person, and if you’ve had a hard life, it’s not because you’ve been bad. All of life – the good seasons and the bad – are a gift from God, because life itself is undeserved and freely given, and even the most difficult days have something to teach us about the steadfast love of God. When you pray, take a moment to reflect on all the undeserved, unearned gifts of God that you’ve taken for granted, and marvel at His vast mercy.
3. AVAILABILITY – “I just want to serve Him.”
And Jesus went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Matthew 26:39
In light of God’s unlimited goodness, there is no greater human response than, “What you want is more important than what I want.” When was the last time you said that to God?
4. AFFECTION – “I never want Him to stop.”
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere.
Psalm 84:10
Sometimes we reduce prayer to an obligation – a chore we have to do instead of a gift we get to open. Real prayer begins with cultivating in your heart a desire for God’s presence. The woman in my group who said, “I never want him to stop,” had spent the entire day in prayer for a family member, and she still wanted more of God. Most Christians are adequate when it comes to asking God for things and confessing our sins, but what many of us lack is affection for God. But your affection is what He wants most!
Of course God wants your obedience, but only if it flows naturally from your desire to make Him proud. Of course He wants your repentance, but only if it comes from the heart. He wants your worship, but not if it’s obligatory. What He wants is for you to love Him so much that you say, “I never want you to stop!”
If prayer is a struggle for you, I hope you’ll give this simple, model prayer a shot: Gratitude, Humility, Availability, and Affection. And remember, more than anything else, God wants your heart.
