God created a precious and powerful line of communication that goes straight to Him. It is prayer.

The Devil has no ability to contain this. It is the raw material of God and His people. Prayer is out of Satan’s influence. He has no power to warp or influence a prayers’s trajectory to God’s throne after it has been prayed.  Once it is prayed, it bounces around eternity burning before the throne of God. That is quite the picture of what prayer is and how God sees it, but do we truly believe and feel the gravity of what we are doing when we pray?

If prayer is so powerful and Satan has no influence over it then it begs the question, what do we pray about? I believe God wants our everything–in prayer and in our lives. But, as people, I think we lean towards asking God for what we think we want, need, and desire. Prayer becomes a means to an end.

When prayer is primarily about answers, our relationship with God becomes results-focused. When God says “no” or works outside of our time schedule, we desperately question why and are tempted to feel inadequate or unloved by God. I believe that as we grow in the area of asking prayer, the Devil will seek to shift the focus of our prayers from relationship to results.

When prayer is primarily about answers, our relationship with God becomes results-focused.

Christ was well aware of the relational purpose of asking prayer. In the seventh chapter of Matthew when Jesus dared his followers to ask for big things in prayers, He immediately transferred the focus from the “asking” to the fatherly relationship that surrounds each request we make. He wants to know our requests, but so much more He desires to know us and for us to know Him.

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks the door will be opened. Which of you if your son asks for bread will give him a stone”  Matthew 7:7-9

Jesus was saying that whenever you ask in prayer you open up the familial lines of communication. Then you are put in a position to experience relationship with a loving and compassionate Father.

Jesus expands the boundaries of asking prayer. He is daring us to ask beyond our wants. Imagine the small box we would put God in if we were promised answers only to the things we could conjure up within our own desires. What we want has limitations. Our God has no limitations! Having a willingness to pray boldly for anything has no boundaries. Could we dare to ask, “Jesus what do you want from me?” or, “Jesus what do you want for me?”

Jesus did not just say ask for what you want, He said ask for what you are willing to ask for. What are we willing to ask Him? How much time are we willing to hear Him answer back? How surrendered will we be in letting Him lead us to ask for the things He desires for us?

When God answers prayers in a dramatic fashion, we will grow in knowledge of His power and care for us. When God works on His schedule and not ours, we will come to know His sustaining power in our lives.  And when God says no and we feel loss and sadness, we will come to know the God of all comfort who weeps with us. ” If we want to know God as Father we must begin to assault the throne of heaven in prayer.” -Adam Stadtmiller

When God works on His schedule and not ours, we will come to know His sustaining power in our lives.

Prayer holds ultimate potential. The best the Devil can hope for is that we don’t pray. And much of his strategy is to discourage us from praying at all; as a prayer never prayed has zero chance of being answered. Pray, knock, seek and find your Father there waiting to talk with His precious child.

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb. Each one of them had a harp and they were holding golden bowls of incense, which were the prayers of God’s people” Revelation 5:8