The Goal of Prayer

When we close the door to our prayer room, we achieve some form of privacy and a level of intimacy with our prayers. Jesus said: “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). So, what is our goal in practicing this form of prayer?

There is a posture in prayer which leads us to the goal of prayer. Our goal is to receive and enter into His Presence. When we pray, we long for the Father to see us in secret and reward us. When we are in His Presence, surrounded by His purity and holiness, then we are blessed and we see God. This is when the blessing makes sense, the one where Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). We see Him and we are seen by God. 

In the Gospel of Luke, when we come to the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer, Luke mentions a parable of a neighbor who receives his request from his friend because he asked with shameless persistence. Here in Luke 11:1-13, we read of the Lord’s Prayer and various teachings about prayer. In verse 13, Jesus states: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

The goal in prayer is that everyone who prays can receive and enter into the Presence of the Spirit of God. And when the Spirit is in your deepest thoughts, your inner sanctuary, then you can experience peace, become pure, practice mercy, receive humility, and offer your poverty, pain, and persecution as gifts to your friends around you. So, go ahead and ask the Father the question: “How much do you love me?” Celebrate His presence in your life and through your prayers.