Have you ever listened to how we pray? It’s like Christians have developed their own prayer language, and I don’t mean the ecstatic kind. Lord, please bless Bill. What exactly do we mean by that? Do we want God to make Bill more holy or more disciplined? Are we hoping that his business will prosper or that he’ll be a better husband? And why do we ask for blessing when Ephesians 1:3 says that we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing that God can give? God, please be with Joan. God’s already with Joan. His Spirit lives in her, and he promised to never leave or forsake her. What do we really want God to do for Joan? Father, we pray that you give Jack a special anointing. As if there is such a thing as an ordinary anointing. Special anointing is redundant. And, God, we ask that you give Sue an extra helping of your grace. What is that? Does God dole out grace in measured proportions? That prayer makes God seem as if he has a big serving spoon—that he can be either generous or stingy with the helpings ofgrace he dispenses.
God wants us to be strategic and focused about what we’re asking him to do. We need to pray for things—very specific things, gritty things, personal things, important things, kingdom things—with the pinpoint precision that Jesus modeled in the Lord’s Prayer. --From Pray Big
