Prayer

There is absolutely nothing like the sound of my little boy’s voice. I love the way he coos. I love the way he squeals and talks to his toys. His sneeze is still the cutest sound I think I’ve ever heard.

I won’t tell you about the belch that left me in stitches for hours.

The other day, I dreamt about my son’s voice. And in my imagination I wrapped that little voice around the words, “Daddy, I love you.” I’m told that when he finally does speak those words of his own accord, I can kiss my heart good-bye. Even now I’m starting to tear up.

God spoke in that daydream. He told me that when Koen starts talking, it won’t really matter what is said. What will matter to me is that he’s saying it.

He told me that prayer isn’t all that different for Him.

My ADD mind wandered to a church Sunday School room where a person asked, “If God already knows my needs, then why should I bother praying about them? Why won’t He just provide?”

Prayer, according to what God whispered in my ear that day, is not about daily bread. Ultimately, it isn’t about words of worship or words of thanksgiving or words of supplication or the Lord’s Prayer. In the end, prayer isn’t about prayer requests or holding others up before the Throne of Grace or asking that a loved one comes to know Christ.

Prayer, at its most basic level, is about the sound of my voice.

Prayer is about the effect my voice has on His heart.

Prayer is about God hearing His little boy, whom He dearly loves to no end, speak the words, “I love you, Daddy.”

The Bible says that His voice shakes the mountains; the very foundations of the earth. He lifts his voice, the earth melts.

We lift our voice to Him in love and worship; His heart does the melting.

His eyes well up with tears of joy and elation.

Imagine tickling God. Imagine telling him a joke that He finds irresistibly funny. Imagine making His day because we stopped to say, “I love you, Daddy.”

Why pray when God already knows our needs? Because prayer isn’t about the needs.
It’s about a little boy talking with his Daddy; a Daddy who stops the universe to listen