You may as soon find a
living man who does not breathe, as a living Christian who does not pray.
This
quote from well-known Bible commentator and author Matthew Henry (1662 – 1714)
is more than adequately supported by Scripture.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to,"Never stop praying."
A Bible search on prayer produces several dozen verse
results that encourage us to pray. The Bible also records many instances of
JESUS praying – since a child of GOD must imitate the life and behavior of CHRIST,
we too must pray.
Prayer is the method by which God’s people communicate
with Him. As with Bible reading, talking to GOD teaches us to love Him more,
and recognize the positive impact of His favor on our lives – so our faith in Him
grows.
We pray for our benefit –pray draws us closer to GOD and His
power; prayer increases our knowledge of GOD and our intimacy with Him.
Many of us, however, find it hard to pray so we avoid it –
this is unfortunate, since prayer is the thing that sustains us in times of
crisis. We ought to first know how to pray during times of ease and prosperity
so that when trouble comes, as it will, we are prepared. Then we ought to feel
at home before GOD’s throne of mercy and grace and not estranged, inadequate,
and fearful.
A child of GOD should never be fearful and uncertain before
the Father, or worry about being rejected because of an undeveloped
relationship due to lack of intimate prayerful fellowship. We ought to have an
indisputable history with GOD by which we know Him as our Father in Heaven who
loves us and would help us. Prayer-shyness should never be the thing that limits
our knowledge of GOD’s will and our access to His amazing power, when we need
it most. GOD is always available to us!
Many of us have interests and hobbies to which we devote a lot of
time and energy. For example, we play musical instruments, run marathons, and make and design pottery and crafts. Things we have a passion for we educate ourselves about and practice to
be the best at it. We also form relationships with people with similar
interest.
Our prayer life deserves the same type of attention and
passion as other life interests – even more so, since nothing ought to be of
greater importance to a child of GOD than our relationship with our
Creator. Improving our prayer life requires
the same dedicated approach and energy we expend on mastering our hobbies –
education, practice, and relationships with like-minded people.
First, education –
learning what to say in prayer
Jesus said, “This is
how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come
soon. Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us
our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to
temptation.” Luke 11:2-4
To be continued…
Prayer and Thanksgiving: Father, you are LORD and KING, Holy and Righteous; YOU are CREATOR of the
universe and the ONE true GOD – and YOU are available to your children whenever
we need YOU. We thank you for the unbelievable gift of prayer and
petition – the privilege of communicating directly and personally with the GOD
of the universe. Thank you for confirming in YOUR WORD that we can approach YOU with confidence; that we
may ask anything according to YOUR will, and YOU hear us; that since we know
that YOU hear us—whatever we ask—we also know that we have what we ask for.
ABBA, you tell us, in no uncertain terms, that YOU love us and
will help us in time of need. We praise YOUR wonderful NAME! We
acknowledge that to YOU belong all dominion, all power and all
glory, for ever and ever. We pray and ask all things in the precious Name of
Jesus Christ our LORD, the NAME above all names. Amen!
Always by God’s Word and prayer,
Cecile
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