Arms out-stretched

We made it through the New City Catechism a while back in church, but I never finished blogging it all... so now that I have some sabbitical I am aiming to finish off the blog! We pick up at Q38 - on prayer. It is a really simple, clear and beautiful question and answer. It warms the heart, but must move us to action!

Q38. What is prayer?

A. Prayer is pouring out our hearts to God

in praise, petition, confession of sin, and thanksgiving.

Some points to note:

1. Prayer has a direction

We pray to God. In prayer we don't just pour out our hearts; or get things off our chest - we pray to God. We pour out our hearts to him. We hand over our concerns to him. We give our praise to him. We confess our sins to him. We thank him.

Prayer is relational. It is pouring out our hearts to God.

2. Prayer has 4 basic notes

There are 4 basic notes in every prayer - praise, petition, confession of sin and thanksgiving. These notes are repeated over and over again. At different times in the prayer one comes to the front, as it is struck loudest - but in prayer, all the notes should be present. To leave one out, gives a discordant feeling in our prayer.

3. We keep on praying

The tune never ends. Prayer should never cease. We pour out our hearts, but we ever empty ourselves. There is never a time when we say our prayer is complete, finished - I have nothing more to say. To even think that is ridiculous! It is to say, we have nothing more to praise you for God, to thank you for, no needs to bring to you or sins to confess. No, prayer must never end. We must continually pour out our hearts to God. We stand before him, with our arms outstretched and our hands open before him - always praising, asking, confessing and thanking him. Knowing that he loves to listen, and he always answers.