New Morning Mercies #164

Prayer is abandoning your place in the center of your world and daily surrendering that place to God alone as an act of heartfelt worship.

Prayer is much more than bringing to God your list of wants, desires, and needs. It is a radical act of worship that reminds you of who you are, who God is, and what life is all about. Prayer is surrender:

1. Prayer is surrender to the reality that there is someone more ultimate than you. It’s natural for each of us to shrink our field of hopes, dreams, and daily concerns down to the small turf of our personal wants, needs, and feelings. Prayer is surrender to the worldview of the first four words of the Bible, “In the beginning, God . . .,” and as such, it puts us in our rightful place.

2. Prayer is surrender to the reality that life isn’t just about you. If prayer wouldn’t be prayer if it did not acknowledge God’s existence, then prayer defines us as well. We simply aren’t the creators, kings, or owners of our lives. We belong to God for his purpose and his glory. Prayer is letting go of personal autonomy and bowing in reverence to God.

3. Prayer is surrender to the reality that you need help. Prayer means humbly confessing that not only are we not autonomous, we are also not self-sufficient. Prayer reminds us that we were not designed to live independent lives. We cannot be what we were made to be or do what we have been called to do without the personal, gracious, and continuous intervention of the One who made us.

4. Prayer is surrender to the reality that there is wisdom greater than ours. Prayer confronts us with the fact that we are not as smart as we tend to think we are. It reminds us that there is so much we don’t know or understand. It tells us that life is not found in our limited understanding, but in surrendering our lives to the care of the One whose understanding spans from before origin to beyond destiny and includes everything in between.

5. Prayer is surrender of your right to live as you choose. Prayer is bowing the knee to the reality that you and I do not have any natural right at all to do what we want to do with our lives. We have been created to live inside God’s boundaries.

6. Prayer is surrender of your hopes to God’s grace. Prayer is remembering that there is no hope in life and death that does not result from the grace of God. I give up my hopes in me and place my hopes in him.

So close your eyes, bow your head, and surrender—and be thankful for the grace that meets you as you do.

For further study and encouragement: Psalm 63