And yet, and yet…

With our family’s propensity to spend too much time on video games, when we got our Nintendo Switch I made the decision to put time limits on the device, specifically 15 minutes before getting locked out and asking for parent permission to reactivate. It creates a fun interaction most afternoons after school where one of my kids will magically appear at my elbow asking me to open back up the Nintendo. Great power there.

The other day I was heading up for a nap and was already in my room. But as I was going up I saw that one of my kids had the Nintendo downstairs in the living room. Anticipating what question would arise (“Can you unlock it?”), I went ahead and extended the time from my phone. Upon noticing that it had been changed, my daughter reacted in surprise. She hadn’t expected that I would know what she was going to ask for, but as it was aligned with my will that I wanted to have a nap, she found it resolved.

Prayer works like this sometimes. God knows the things that we need, and aligned with his will he acts on our behalf even before we’re able to ask. And more so, it is his joy to care for his children.

So if God has this ability to know what we need even before we ask it, what is the purpose of prayer? The purpose is mostly for our sake. Consider the following:

Prayer encourages relationship. When we take time to still our hearts and minds and bring our need before the Father, it gives us a venue upon which to experience closeness and interaction with him. Prayer isn’t us presenting an order card to a celestial kitchen; it’s us sitting down to the table of the Father who is the best host.

Prayer helps us to understand our own hearts. Sometimes, when we feel a need or a want, until we express what is in our hearts into words we don’t have a full understanding of what we are asking. it is amazing how sometimes our desires become more reasonable and understandable when brought out in the light of prayer.

Prayer humbles us. When we recognize that there’s nothing we can do to help ourselves, we come to a deeper respect of the one who can. It’s in these moments of asking in faith like a child that we have the best understanding of our hearts and of his. And sometimes we learn more about what we truly need when the Lord chooses not to grant us our requests.

The prayer of a righteous man is effective. As we are brought nearer to the Lord in relationship and align our wills with his (as we see it laid out in Scripture), we find that prayer is effective. What a privilege and a humbling honor that the Lord of the universe would not only listen to our needs, but also act to provide for them.

So then, if prayer is so much about the connection with the Father, what of the Nintendo Prayer? What should we do with the fact that he already knows what we need?

Friend, knowing this about the Father should deepen your confidence and respect for him. We aren’t praying to a deity who is disinterested or out of control, but to the Almighty who is everpresent with us. For him there is no beginning nor end. For us, the dust, we know that we are cared for as the precious children. In our need, we know.

Signs and wonders, y’all.

⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:7-8