The God To Whom We Pray

The ultimate objective of prayer is not to somehow change God’s mind but rather to conform our desires to His.

If this is our goal then it is helpful to us to have an understanding of God’s character. Who He is will always be the most important aspect of our prayers.

The power and effectiveness of our prayers does not depend on who we are but rather who God is.

Thankfully God has revealed to us in scripture many things about His character. We will primarily look at two.

1. God is infinite.

Every character that God holds, He holds to an infinite degree.

God’s love, grace, justice, mercy, compassion, wrath, goodness, are all held by Him to the infinite degree.

Romans 11:33–36 ESV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Psalm 145:3 ESV

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Psalm 147:5 ESV

5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.

Isaiah 40:25-28

Because God is infinite we should not be surprised that we do not understand everything that He does. He is separate from us in this way.

A God that we could fully understand would not really be a God worthy of our worship.

2. God is personal.

God has chosen to relate and reveal Himself to us in a personal way.

Exodus 34:5-7

How God describes Himself to us is very important. What we know about God’s character will shape the way that we pray.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Colossians 2:13-14 CSB

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

The cross of Jesus Christ is where we see God’s love and justice fully and perfectly displayed for us to see. It is the place where we see God’s wrath poured out on sin and yet in it His grace and compassion has provided a way for us to escape from the punishment we rightfully deserved.

Jesus Himself is the one who has made it possible for us to come before God. He has torn the veil, He has made a way where there was no way. Through Him alone we have the opportunity to experience a right relationship with God. He is the embodiment of God’s character in the flesh.