When I was growing up, my manors weren’t always the best and there was one phrase I heard a lot when I’d ask for something, “What’s the magic word?”

The answer, of course, is, “Now!” (Just kidding).  It’s “please.”

People were just trying to teach me to be polite, but sometimes we do something similar with our prayers.  We think that if we just say the right words or just say enough words, that we can get God to do what we want.  Essentially, we try to find the magic word for our prayers.

God, however, is not some genie to be commanded nor some magic spirit that responds to our incantation.  He is God.  When considering the two people involved in the prayer, you or I and God, God is the greater…by a whole lot.

God also knows what we need even before we pray which begs the question, why pray?

I have two children.  As they have grown up, there have been times when I saw that they needed my help with something.  I knew what they needed and I wanted to give them that help, but I stood back and watched and gave them time to come to that realization.

By allowing my children to come to me and ask for my help, I was able to help them to learn (or reinforce the idea) that I loved them and they could come to me whenever they needed help.  Their request for help was not so much so I could know what they needed, but so they could learn to trust me.

In a similar way, prayer is more about changing us.  The very act of going to God in prayer involves our accepting that we need Him and that we can trust Him with our needs.  We don’t have to worry about getting the words just right.  God knows what we need and He will give it.  It may not be exactly what we want, but what we want isn’t always what we need.  So, we can go to God in prayer and trust that God’s will is good and He will answer our prayer in His good way.

The next part of Matthew 6 continues with Jesus teaching the Lord’s Prayer.  Let’s finish today with that prayer.