Having previously defined what prayer is, we might expect this question to address the content of our prayers. However, that is the following question: What should we pray? Yet the New City Catechism rightly places this question before that one. We should note this order well. When discussing prayer, it is all too easy to focus far more upon what we are saying than upon how we are saying it. However, when one approaches a king, the supplicant’s attitude is just as important as the actual request being made. The same is true of our prayers to God. The attitude with which we pray is, at least, just as important as what we are actually praying.

How then should we pray? First, we are given a threefold description: with love, perseverance, and gratefulness. Our prayers should be overflowing with love because we are praying to God who is love. Indeed, the only way that we can confidently pray is because Christ has taken the penalty of our sins upon Himself and restored our communion to God. Thus, every time we pray we should be reminded of the greatest display of God’s love for us through giving of His Son, and that reminder should stir up our own love for God more and more.

Second, we should pray with perseverance. Because God cannot be seen, prayer is fundamentally an act of faith. It is a spiritual act, and our flesh is of no help at all and is often a hindrance. We should not be surprised, therefore, to find prayer difficult, and we ought, nevertheless, to strive in prayer.

Third, our prayers should be saturated in gratefulness. Paul emphasizes thankfulness in prayer in Philippians 4:6, saying:

He makes the same point in Colossians 4:2, writing: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” And we find the same in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Thanksgiving ought to be the very heartbeat of prayer, for when giving thanks to God we begin to see Him rightly, as the Giver of every good gift (James 1:16).

Furthermore, even though God commands that we bring our requests and supplications to Him, we do so in humble submission to God’s will. Our Lord Himself modeled perfect submission to the Father’s will for us, and we ought to whole-heartedly strive to imitate Him.

And even when our prayers seem to go unanswered, we should assure ourselves that, for the sake of Christ, he always hears our prayers. Again, this is an act of faith, trusting in the good news accomplished for us through Christ, even when our eyes cannot see. As Jesus Himself taught us, we “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).