Prayer is one of the sweetest gifts God has given His children. What a comfort it is to know that in every season of life—whether in joy or sorrow, peace or pressure, clarity or confusion— we can come to our Heavenly Father. We can bring Him every burden, every care, every fear and every desire. He never grows weary of His children coming to Him.
Yet as precious as prayer is, we must remember that prayer is not simply a way to ask God to do what we want. Prayer is also the place where God lovingly works on us. Many times, prayer is not so much about getting God to line up with our wishes as it is about bringing our hearts into line with His will.
Jesus taught this plainly when He instructed His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Before He taught them to pray for daily bread, He taught them to pray for the Father’s will. That reminds us that the greatest priority in prayer is not our comfort, our timing, or our plans.
The greatest priority in prayer is that God’s will be done.
That can be difficult for us, because we naturally want relief from burdens, answers to questions and deliverance from trials. We want God to open the right doors, change hard circumstances and remove painful things from our lives. There is nothing wrong with bringing those requests to Him. In fact, He invites us to do so. But true prayer always carries this spirit: “Lord, this is what I desire, but more than anything, I want what You desire.”
We see this beautifully in the garden of Gethsemane. As Jesus faced the suffering of the cross, He prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). What a holy example that is. Our Savior poured out His heart before the Father, yet He fully surrendered to the Father’s will.
That teaches us that prayer is not pretending everything is fine. Prayer is not hiding our pain. It is not wrong to tell the Lord that the burden feels heavy or that the path feels hard. Prayer is where we can be honest. But as we stay before Him, prayer gently brings us to the place of surrender. Sometimes the greatest answer to prayer is not that God changes the situation immediately, but that He changes us in the middle of it.
The apostle Paul experienced this truth when he prayed for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. Instead of taking it away, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul asked for removal, but God gave sustaining grace. In time, Paul came to rest in the Lord’s wisdom and power.
How often that is true in our own lives. We go to prayer wanting answers, but we come away with peace. We go in asking for escape, but we come away with strength. We go in wanting our own way, but we come away more willing to trust His way.
First John 5:14 says, “if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.” What assurance that gives the child of God. Our confidence in prayer is not that we can persuade God to do exactly what we want. Our confidence is that our Father hears us, loves us, and always knows what is best.
Many times, prayer is less about changing God’s mind and more about softening our hearts. It is in prayer that our fears are calmed, our wills are humbled, and our faith is strengthened. It is there that we learn again that His will is always good, wise, and perfect.
May the Lord help us to pray with open hearts and surrendered spirits. And may the great cry of our lives be the same as our Savior’s: “Thy will be done.”
Jimmy Barrett is a resident of Blackshear and pastor of Southside Baptist Church in Waycross.
