I had a friend a while ago ask me to write a post on prayer – I believe the request was God inspired and in it I heard her heart’s desire to get closer to Jesus which gave me great joy.
It makes me
think of the request made to Jesus by His disciples… “Lord, teach us to pray…”
Jesus replied
with what we know today as The Lord’s prayer, you can read it here.
When
thinking about my friend’s request, at first I thought about listing the ways we
can ‘talk’ to God because prayer is usually described to people this way, and I
know how I personally found it encouraging to understand that prayer was not
some mystical, difficult religious practice, rather just simply talking to my creator
and Father who loves me…
However I also feel that prayer is
MORE than just ‘talking’…bear with me a moment on this, as words are important
to me…You see, I think we can TALK to anyone just to be heard…and YES prayer
does involve speaking to God – Yet I feel a better verb for prayer is COMMUNICATE
– for when we pray we communicate with God because prayer should be 2-way,
heart to heart relating.
I think this is what the request of
the disciples really was asking – How do we communicate with God…How do we get
closer in relationship to our heavenly Father?
Jesus heard
their request and was NOT harsh; rather He gave a heart-felt prayer as an
example for us all, to connect our hearts closer to our heavenly Father in
petition. In Matthew 6 Jesus introduces His prayer to the disciples with the
teaching to NOT ‘heap up words’, rather to speak from one’s heart; read about it here.
There is a wonderful
example in the Bible Jesus told about two men praying – one just TALKS…saying
to God how glad He is that he’s not an awful sinner (this man trusted in his own
self-righteousness) the second beats his chest and prays for mercy…his heart
calls out to God! Jesus taught the
second man went home having peace with God…check it out here.
Prior to
this story of the two men, Jesus told a parable commending our need to PRAY –
In Luke 11 following The Lord’s prayer there is another teaching by Jesus for perseverance
in prayer…So we can see from scripture the importance PRAYER plays in our
relationship with God…for prayer is COMMUNICATION, God hears our heart-felt
words and responds. Jesus said God
already knows our needs before we pray…
Yet we still need to pray and ask because
we are in RELATIONSHIP with God – PRAYER is our communication with our Father
in heaven…He knows all our needs, joy and worries, for He journeys with us each
day…yet wants to spend time with us hearing them, rejoicing with us in the good
times and helping us carry our burdens in the difficult times.
PRAYER is
communication because God will also speak to us when we pray – it may be when
we silence ourselves and STOP talking during prayer and LISTEN for His calm,
peaceful voice to come into our minds…it could also be by asking Him to
speak to us through scripture after praying.
When we view
PRAYER as communication for God is with us all of the time, I think we are
better able to understand scripture which says we are to pray constantly, without ceasing – for we are able to communicate anytime, anyplace with God.
For example,
when I am eating my sandwich, even if I have given thanks beforehand, I may
think ‘wow this is so tasty, thanks God!’
While this may sound trivial, this is prayer. Have you ever exhaled a big breath and just
though, ‘I am so glad You are with me Lord!’ – this is prayer! We can even pray silently or under our breath
while working – often when something comes to mind or upon my heart to pray
about, I like to simple say it then and there to avoid the regret of forgetting
about it later. When people ask me to
pray for them, I’ll often just still my mind and pray a short, simple prayer
for their need right away…I don’t believe prayer should be complicated…I hope
our hearts are more for God, than eloquent, long-winded prayers.
Yes, we can
intentionally set aside longer prayer time during the day. It may be the morning when we first wake up,
saying good morning, sharing our worries, asking for guidance that day and also
in the evening before we sleep.
Intentional prayer time I think is important for stilling ourselves and
being in His presence…the Jewish people had set prayer times which can be read
about in the book of Daniel.
Some lessons on prayer are helpful – Some areas of prayer to think about are; Praising God, prayer for people personally involved in our lives (family, friends, work colleagues), our government leaders, suffering people, our church family and mission workers and also ourselves.
An important
point I believe is that prayer does NOT just have to be spoken – We should feel
free to write to The Lord also, sing our prayers to The Lord or draw them…Relate to
God the way He made you, delight in Him YOUR way when communicating with Him,
for I believe it gives Him delight to see His children expressing themselves
genuinely and individually.
One last
point is communal prayer – first and foremost I believe we must have a personal,
prayer life as individuals, yet joint prayer is VERY powerful. Remember Jesus said where 2 or more are
gathered in His Name, He is THERE with them!
He also taught us when 2 of us agree our petition is granted. Praying as the church is so important, as is
a trusted prayer partner. I have personally
experienced, powerfully answered prayer when I have intentionally prayed with
another believer and this even has been over the phone on many occasions. If you don’t have communal or joint prayer, I’d
advise asking The Lord to guide you to a good church for there you will be able
to pray during services…they may even run small prayer groups or you may even
find a prayer partner in time.
I truly hope
this post is helpful and encourages you to connect your heart closer to The
Lord’s through DAILY communication with Him as an individual and also with His people! Remember The Lord looks at our HEARTS not our
words and is available anyplace, anytime – Let Him journey with you every
step.
In love, Melanie J
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