For the rest of this unit we are going to be talking about prayer. On the one hand, prayer is the most natural and universal aspect of faith in God. Many people pray, including not only Christians but even some who don't believe in God or identify themselves as practicing Christians. Most everyone has uttered a "God help me" at one time or another in a time of dire need.

At the same time, prayer is one of the most difficult practices in the Christian life (just look at the hundreds of books on the subject at your local bookstore or on Amazon). That's because prayer, at its heart, is about more than occasionally asking for things we need; rather, it's about building a relationship with the living God.

Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9). What does that say about our relationship with God? It says that we depend on God to fulfill our needs and desires. The very act of prayer testifies to that fact. God wants us to live out of his hands.

We're needy people. At the most basic level we need food, shelter, and clothing. But, in reality, we need a whole lot more to sustain meaningful lives. Some of us choose to focus on what we need to do to take care of ourselves. We make sure to supply our own needs and those of our families through our jobs and salaries. We may ask ourselves, "Why does God want us to depend on him? Does he want to make us beggars?"

God wants us to live in truth and reality. We need to recognize that ultimately everything comes from him. God provides the bread we eat, the clothes we wear, the homes we live in, and the jobs that pay for it all, even though all of this comes to us indirectly, through other workers and sources. As Q&A 73 puts it, we pray because prayer is the most important way in which we can thank God.

Jesus wants us to know that the God from whom we ask for blessings does indeed care for us. Appealing to the instincts of a parent, he asks which of us, when our children ask for something good (like a fish or an egg) would instead give them something dangerous (a snake or a scorpion). The assumed answer is, of course, "No one would ever do that!" Jesus concludes: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13).

Jesus makes a subtle but crucial point here. He doesn't say that God will give us whatever we ask for. That would be as foolish as human parents spoiling their children with whatever whim comes to their minds. Children often lack the wisdom to ask for the right things. Jesus makes clear that the gift God will give is the Holy Spirit. In a parallel passage in another gospel account, he points out that God will give "good gifts to those who ask him" (Matt. 7:11). Asking God for everything, we depend on him to give us good things, the things we need, though not necessarily always the things we want. And what we need most are the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray because by praying we come to understand who we really are in relation to God, the "giver of every good and perfect gift" (James 1:17). God is the source of all we need for body and soul, and we live with our hands held out, humbly and gratefully, to the loving Father of us all.