We Pray Because of Who we are

We pray Because of Who we are

We Christians pray. We pray when we gather as the Church for service on Sundays. We pray at home,
and we pray when we are alone. Prayer is as natural for us as speech.
Unless it isn’t. Sometimes we struggle to pray. Worry and anxiety can sink their teeth into us and
distract us from prayer. Pride and self-confidence would dull our sense of spiritual poverty that moves
us to pray. Guilt and shame point angry fingers at us to discourage us from prayer. Sometimes we want
to pray, but we don’t know what to say or ask.

Where can we begin when we struggle to pray? At the beginning? When His disciples asked Him to
teach them to pray, Jesus said, ‘When you pray, say “Father…”’ (Luke 11:2), or “Our Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 6:9).

Why is this the place for us to begin praying?

Father: the name by which Jesus teaches us to call upon God brings us into His presence as children of
His! Jesus made that possible for us. He, God’s only begotten Son, became Mary’s son to become the
Bridge between us and God.

Through our sin, we were separated from God. Through Christ’s incarnation (His becoming human), God
has entered our family. Because He was without sin, Jesus remained at one with God His Father as He
lived as a man. He was born to overcome all that separates us from God. He suffered with us the griefs
and sorrows of living in this fallen world. He battled our enemy, the devil, by enduring his temptations
to walk away from the saving work He had come to do. He performed miracles and taught God’s Word
with divine authority to draw people from their false beliefs to believe in Him as the Christ and their
Saviour. Then Jesus carried all the sin, guilt, and shame of our race as His own, and he was lifted up on
the cross to suffer and die for all of it. After God raised Him from the dead, Jesus appeared to Mary
Magdalene, and He referred to God as both His Father and as the Father of those who believe (John
20:17).

Through baptism, we were given new birth by the Holy Spirit to believe and be children of God. As Jesus
has come into our family, He has brought us into His, giving us the gift of adoption into His family. God
is our Father who loves and cares for us more than any human father or mother could hope to do. We
are His dear children, as precious to Him as Jesus, His Son.
We can pray with confidence, even if we feel anxious, afraid, ashamed, or uncertain of what to say,
because we belong to God through Christ. When we cry, “Father!” we present ourselves to God just as
we truly are – His children who depend on Him. And God, who loves us, hears us, and acts to help us.
We praise and thank our Father His precious gift of prayer!

Yes, we Christians pray. We pray because of who and whose we are.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we
are.” 1 John 3:1