The Doctrine of God and the Content of Our Prayers
There is no doctrine more foundational, or more misunderstood, than the doctrine of God. All other doctrines orbit around it. For our purposes, it is right to acknowledge that there is no doctrine more important concerning one’s prayer life.
Who is God? What is he like? How do we come to know him? To whom are we speaking when we go to God in prayer?
At the heart of a person’s identity as a Christian is a confession: “God is God; I am not.” The latter claim is readily provable – there are countless pieces of evidence by which we can know we are not ultimate. But what is meant by first?
For centuries, believers have been at pains to accurately communicate and describe the reality of God’s “one in three persons” identity. The creeds have served us well in this regard. However, it has been imperative of Christians to reassert the significance of the content of these creeds for each subsequent generation of believers. No generation of believers or “age of Christianity” has needed to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it has proven to be more helpful to study the scriptures more acutely, to read more broadly the theologians and church leaders of old, and to trust God and the illumining power of the Spirit more intently. In doing so, we express the sort of dependence on God that should also characterize our prayers.
