Read an excerpt:

In your evaluation, you had to write down what prayer was as if explaining it to a five-year-old. A wise man once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” If you had to rate yourself on how well you carried out this exercise, what would you give yourself on a scale from 1-10?

What a tough question. How do you explain prayer to a young child without oversimplifying it; or is it really that simple? You see, prayer is the experience of coming before God—who is unchanging, all-knowing, irreproachable, deliberate, and trustworthy—with profound reverence, deep respect, sincerity, intention, and undivided focus in order to have a meaningful conversation as His valued child. Unfortunately, that is definitely going to be over a five-year-old’s head. So, for the sake of the assignment a simpler way to put it is -- talking to God like He is who He says He is and then listening like you are who He says you are.

Yes, He is approachable. Yes, He is available. Yes, He is near. But these things do not negate the fact that He is God and deserves to be approached with fear and trembling[1]. God, although your Father, is still God.

As you listen to Him, in Scripture, you will learn how massively unworthy you are and how extravagant His undying love is for you.

Prayer is not a way to change God’s mind, for He is unchanging (James 1:17[2], Hebrews 13:8[3], Numbers 23:19[4], Malachi 3:6[5]). Prayer is the way to make our hearts align with God’s; it is for changing our minds to match His will. If the saying is true “You become who you hang out with,” shouldn’t Christians spend more time with God?

Bold one, you are His—made in His image and likeness, chosen and wanted.

This is the foundation of prayer. The intention, throughout this journal, is to make sure you truly grasp what this means.

[2] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (CSB).

[3] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (ESV).

[4] God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good (KJV).

[5] “Therefore you shall have night without vision,
And you shall have darkness without divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for them (NKJV).