The key to praying better prayers is knowing God better! It’s that simple. If we want to pray better prayers, we must seek to know God more closely, more personally, more intimately.
Paul knew the One he addressed in prayer!
Paul prayed to the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:6), “the Glorious Father” (Ephesians 1:17), the “King of kings” (1 Timothy 6:15), “God our Savior” (1 Timothy 1:1), “the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the Only God” (1 Timothy 1:17), and to his kind and compassionate “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15).
Paul spoke to the “God of Hope” (Romans 15:13). Biblical hope isn’t a flimsy wish… “I wish I’d win the lottery.” Hope is a confident expectation of a future reality. The hymn-writer wrote: “My hope is built on nothing less; Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame; But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.” Paul might not have known that chorus, but as Paul prayed, he clung to the faithful and unfailing promises of the “God of Hope.”
On the five horrifying occasions that Paul “received the forty lashes minus one” (2 Corinthians 11:24), I wonder, how did Paul pray? Did Paul scream for vengeance? Did he curse the executioner that wielded the cat-of-nine-tails? Or, did he call upon “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3) asking for God’s ever-sufficient and always-sustaining grace?
When Paul faced the rejection of the rabble-rousing Jews, I suspect that he prayed to the “God of Love and Peace” (2 Corinthians 13:11).
On dark nights or on dangerous days, Paul, no doubt, called out to “Christ Who Strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
In the quiet solitude of his prayer closet, he must have prayerfully worshipped “Christ, our Passover Lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7), thanking Jesus for His broken body and spilt blood, His substitutionary sacrifice, His atoning death, and His triumph over death and the grave.
Jesus is “the name that is above every name! … At the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). Paul knew that name!
Do you want to pray better prayers? Get to know His name… His promises… His ways… His heart…
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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