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Have you ever met someone who seems to be important, or you admire greatly? Maybe it’s a member of upper management at your workplace, a professional athlete, an actor, or a respected politician. Whoever this person is to you, when you are around them, your demeanor changes. Why? Because you are humbled by their presence. You are taking the stance that they are better than you, higher than you, and just more important than you are. If this is true when we meet and speak to some people, how much truer should it be when we are speaking to the Creator and Sustainer of all things, our Most Holy God? In my early twenties, I was mentored by a man in the town I lived in. He was always speaking truth into me and giving me some simple, hard, straightforward advice that turned out to be unforgettable. While talking about prayer one day, he simply said, “When you pray, don’t forget who you are speaking to”. You will probably never see this on a famous quotes list, but nevertheless, there is so much truth there. 

If we know humility is how we should approach prayer and know that we should clearly be humbled by His presence, why is it so hard? The short answer... pride and arrogance. The problem is that with all our resources, jobs, and technology, we often feel we have it all figured out and have no need of Divine intervention, and as we are more and more self-sufficient, we begin to boast about ourselves and expect others to boast about us as well. Unfortunately, it’s not until we find ourselves in a situation where we have exhausted all other resources and power that we finally run to God, humbled and broken, begging for help. 

 The fact of the matter is, we are never in control, in charge, or powerful. The talents and resources we do have should not puff us up because we did nothing to obtain them. We are as needy and dependent on our God as a newborn is to their mother. As Christ explains in John 15:5-9, He is the Vine, we are the branches. If you cut a branch from any type of plant, it is dead and worthless.  

If humbling ourselves in prayer places us in the best position to address our Lord, and knowing who He is, is what humbles us, we should be constantly reminding ourselves of His characteristics and traits. This is one reason why our church often encourages the use of the A.C.T.S. prayer model. The “A” in the model is for “Adoration”. Christ led by example when He spoke of the Father’s character when He taught the disciples to pray in Matthew 5:9, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”. I also remember Francis Chan saying something to the effect of, “If you take 30 seconds to think about who you are about to address, it will change your prayer”. When we begin to set ourselves low and lift His name up, our prayers turn from an often repetitious, immature prayer to a humbling, crying out for God to intervene, not only physically, but spiritually in people’s lives. Implementing this truth has been a milestone in my spiritual walk, and I believe it could positively impact you as well.