Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness that God expects from those who belong to him. Having made us part of his church, having freely given us the rights of sons (Galatians 4:4–7), a glorious future inheritance in the new creation, our Father expects us to pray. He expects us to talk to him, to come to him with our needs and concerns, our anxieties and troubles. He cares for us, he loves us, it delights him when his children speak to him in prayer.
As kingdom citizens, yes, prayer is a discipline that we need to learn and develop, but it is nevertheless a discipline which we approach with confidence. As our Lord Jesus Christ affirms, our Father knows what we need before we ask. In our speaking to God, we do so as those who are we are confident of his favour because of our union with his Son, Jesus. We trust that he has done everything needed to secure our future with God in glory. Because of his payment for sin through his death and his life of perfect obedience, there is nothing which you and I need to bring to God to make sure he hears our prayers and responds to them. There is nothing we need to add to the work of Christ. As adopted children are made part of a family, in the same way our inheritance has been secured. The papers have been stamped, our name has been changed, God is our Father for the sake of Christ.
This confidence of our status as children has big implications for the way in which we speak to God when we pray. Firstly, there is the negative pattern which we need to unlearn, the pattern we lived before our adoption. We used to be hypocrites and Gentiles, but we must not continue to pray in the ways of those who do not know God. Secondly, there is the positive example. The model prayer which serves as a guide for our own.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.