Praying Your Doctrine

It's something that's been on my mind lately, and something I will probably expand upon more in the future: Do you allow the understanding of your doctrine to inform your prayers?  Do you come before the Lord with haphazard reaching for language, or do you pray with knowledge and certainty of the understanding of salvation, grace, sovereignty, the Trinity?  Trying to pray without the foundation of the understanding of doctrine is like trying to summarize a novel you've only skimmed through.

I don't intend for this to be a "who prays better" kind of blog.  To make it truly myopic, I'll speak from my own place of prayer, wholly alone and richly with the Lord.  These past few years He has been digging my roots deep in an understanding of the doctrines of Him.  By looking at and understanding these doctrines, I've come to know so much more about Him, about myself in relation to Him, and about how this whole walk with God thing is set up.

Salvation

Learning about how God saves is amazing to me.  He created a plan to bring His people back to Him through the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus.  It's beautiful to be able to thank the Father for sending His Son, and in prayer to seek the Lord Jesus, through whom all salvation was made possible.  And it's important to be able to get that language correct as we pray, not only to Him, but before others.  If we falter - don't have an understanding of who was sacrificed, perhaps thanking the Father for dying, or God for shedding His blood (for it was the humanity of Jesus who bled) - then we give a confusing, erred witness to others.

Grace

The doctrine of grace is one of my favorites, and it will take me a lifetime - and longer - to come into its full grasp.  The Lord extended His grace to us.  For it is "by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone" that all men are saved.  For "In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:5-6).  It's grace given to us by the Lord in order to enable us, by His Spirit, to be conformed to the image of His Son, through whom we have access to that grace.  I love it!  How rich are the prayers when I can say to the Lord, "We will praise Your glorious grace, with which You have blessed us in Jesus."

Sovereignty

My favorite doctrine.  To be able to say, "All things are in Your hands, Lord," and trust Him because He is in control of everything, is peace.  "You give, and You take away.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord."  The doctrine of sovereignty seems to manifest itself in a kind of selflessness, or surrender, in prayer.  It's beautiful.  It's is a hard one to put into practice in life, but slowly it sleds into every channel of existence.

Trinity

Praying the Trinity appropriately and correctly is something that I have noticed has changed in my prayer language.  Oh, what joy it is to bless each member of the Godhead!  Thank you, Father, for creation and for sovereignty; thank you, Jesus, for Your love of the Father that prompted You to come to earth; thank you, Spirit, for indwelling the hearts of the Father's chosen, purchased through Jesus, that we may be conformed to the image of the Son.  Glory to God!

So I encourage you to gain a right understanding of your doctrine, and root yourself in the basics of who the Lord is.  It will naturally overflow into your actions, and most importantly, into your prayers, giving right language to God, and giving right witness to others.