Intimate Prayer with The Father is a Victory Minded Prayer

By Josephine Lim Weston

I know this piece is long overdue but I hope it will encourage you nonetheless.

A few weeks ago while I was about to arrive home from work, it started raining. Instinctively I prayed that the rain would stop but instead I thanked God for the rain as I was reminded of someone who did the same. (There are people I know who practise giving thanks to God for at least three things before going to bed.)

When I thanked God, the smell of the rain seemed so refreshing especially when you're feeling grateful. I thanked God also for my family, husband, work, the list went on. Suddenly I was prompted that what God truly desire from us is not merely grateful prayer but an intimate prayer with Him. A child-like prayer that is confident, no-fuss, simple and trust in Him.

My tone of prayer changed and I felt this familiar warmness began to spread from my heart to my whole body and I knew Father God drew near. That’s why Jesus said to His disciples, "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father (Abba Father) in heaven, hallowed be your name," (Matthew 6:9). Jesus knew His Father's heart and He wants us to have a Father-and-Child relationship with His Father and that's the reason He came to reconcile us back to God.

God doesn’t want us to be afraid of Him. He is calling us to Him. So often when we pray there seem to be a distance between God and us that it lacks intimacy, power and faith. He wants us to pray to Him believing that no matter what happened in life we shouldn’t be shaken neither be afraid. He will ensure our victory.

Whenever we pray to our Father God (in mind) we become confident of who we are in Christ. Our prayer is not the same anymore. It is more alive, real, and faith rises. We’ll be astonished by how much we’ve grown spiritually and emotionally when we pray intimately with our Heavenly Father. We are to approach God's throne of grace with confidence, to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Let us not forget Our Father God is the creator of intimacy, love, friendship, fellowship, relationship and marriage. He is a relationship-focused God. That’s why He doesn’t want us to be distant from Him and assures us by saying, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5).

A child-like and intimate prayer with our Heavenly Father makes us victory minded people. A victory minded prayer doesn’t harbour anxiety, stress, depressive and negative thoughts but instead they channel all their cares and burdens straight to their Father God. They have this peace and hope in Him that things are going to be alright. A victory minded person will say to himself that “Whatever happens, if God allows it, He must have a Greater Plan in store. So do not fear.” We become people of courage and of faith.

Let’s be intimate with our Abba Father in our prayers and be Victory Minded People.