Prayer and the Posture of Dependence
Prayer assumes dependence.
We pray because we are not enough on our own. We pray because we are creatures, not the Creator. We pray because we are needy people. And even more than that, we pray because God has welcomed needy people to come to Him.
The Westminster Larger Catechism is especially helpful here. It does not only define prayer; it teaches us how to think about ourselves as those who pray. When you read carefully, a single theme keeps surfacing. Dependence. What prayer is, why we pray to God alone, and how prayer is possible at all are all shaped by our need and God’s sufficiency.
What Prayer Is: The Cry of Needy People
Westminster Larger Catechism 178 defines prayer: “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit; with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.”
There is no room here for self-assurance. Prayer is not a performance. It is not leverage. It is not an attempt to manage God. Prayer is the movement of a heart that knows it cannot carry its burdens on its own.
Scripture often speaks of prayer in this way. Psalm 62:8 urges us, “Pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” To pour something out is to admit that you cannot hold it anymore. Prayer belongs not to the self-reliant, but to those who know they have nowhere else to go.
This becomes even clearer when we consider what it means to pray in the name of Christ. Only through Christ’s mediation can we, and our prayers, be accepted by God. Paul says it in 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
To pray in Jesus’ name is not a verbal formula or magic words. It is an admission that we come without our own credentials. Prayer, from first word to last, depends on the Son who brings us to the Father.
Why We Pray: Dependence Directed to God Alone
If prayer is an expression of dependence, then it makes sense that Scripture and the catechism insist that prayer be offered to God alone. Westminster Larger Catechism 179 asks why we are to pray only to God. The answer is straightforward: only God knows the heart, only God hears all His people, only God forgives sins, and only God has the power to help.
Psalm 50:14–15 draws this together: “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Prayer is worship because it tells the truth about who God is and about what He has done. When we pray, we honor God by relying on Him. We confess that He alone can deliver, forgive, sustain, and save.
This is why prayer is never a transaction. We are not just asking for things. We are trusting a Person. And this dependence is not something we outgrow as Christians.
How God Helps Us Pray: Grace for the Weak
One of the greatest comforts in prayer is not that we can learn to do it better, but that God helps us do it at all.
Paul writes in Romans 8:26–27: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
The passage begins with honesty, not confidence. “We do not know what to pray for as we ought.” That single sentence should lift a weight from many hearts. God does not wait for eloquence or clarity before He listens. He meets us in our weakness.
Prayer does not rest on our steadiness or maturity. It rests on grace. The Spirit bears weak prayers to the Father, and they are welcomed because the Son has opened the way.
Even prayers that feel thin and faltering are not dismissed. God Himself tends to them.
Praying as Dependent Children
If this is true, then prayer ought to be marked by humility, confidence, and dependence. Humility, because we come as sinners in need. Confidence, because we come through Christ. Dependence, because even our praying is upheld by the Spirit.
When we pray we do not trust our words. We trust Christ’s name and the Spirit’s help.