The Westminster Shorter Catechism

Q98. What is prayer?

A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God,[1] for things agreeable to His will,[2]
in the name of Christ,[3] with confession of our sins,[4]
and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.[5]

Proofs

[1] Psalm 62:8;  [2] 1 John 5:14;  [3] John 16:23;  [4] Psalm 32:5–6; Daniel 9:4;  [5] Philippians 4:6.

Comments

Prayer is such a basic Christian exercise that many of us will find it hard to define it accurately. Our catechism gives a beautiful and instructive definition.

Prayer is, first of all, “an offering up of our desires,” i.e., it must overflow from our hearts (cf. Ps 62:8). Many pagan religions and pseudo Christian sects will include meaningless or unintelligible chants as prayer. But such utterances cannot be acceptable as prayer in the hearing of God, who warns us of the hypocrisy of such ‘prayers’: “this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me” (Isa 29:13).

Secondly, prayer must be “unto God,” i.e., prayer must be directed to God alone (cf. Ps 5:2–3). This means that we are not to direct our prayers to saints departed or alive, or to angels, or to any other creature. Prayer is a part of religious worship, and God alone is worthy of our worship (cf. Mt 4:10). Moreover, God alone is everywhere present to see us, and to hear our prayers (Ps 34:15), and He alone can answer our prayers by fulfilling our desires, and giving the things which we pray for (Ps 145:18–19).

Thirdly, prayer is “an offering up of our desires… for things… with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.” This indicates that prayer principally consists in petition, but must be accompanied by confession (cf. Ps 32:5; Ps 51:4–5; Dan 9:8) and thanksgiving (Phil 4:6).

Fourthly, our petitions must only be “for things agreeable to [God’s] will.” This means that we may not ask God to fulfil our sinful desires (Jas 4:3), but may ask God for such things as are agreeable to His revealed will (1 Jn 5:14–16). We may, for example, pray for forgiveness of sin, for grace and strength to live the Christian life, for preservation in the faith, for deliverance from sin, and also for what temporal good things we may need for our earthly existence.

Fifthly, we must pray only “in the name of” (cf. Jn 14:13–14). To pray in the name of Christ is not merely to mention the name of Christ with our lips in the conclusion, or any part of our prayers. It is rather to depend upon Christ alone for admittance and access unto God in prayer, for acceptance, audience, and a gracious answer unto our prayers (Eph 3:12). We may, of course, explicitly mention the name of Christ to indicate our reliance on Him, especially when we are praying in the hearing of others. Conversely, as we are not to pray to any other but God, we must not pray in the name of any other but Christ who alone is the perfect and acceptable mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5; 1 Jn 2:1). Prayers in the name of angels, the ‘virgin’ Mary and other saints, are therefore idolatrous and abominable (cf. Col 2:18; Rev 19:10).