Prayer. That’s a universal subject. It doesn’t matter what your faith is, your ethnicity, or who your parents are. Everyone can pray. Just the other day I saw a very famous actor on TV. He invited me to join him in prayer. It didn’t matter who I am, what my beliefs are or what god I worship. If you want to speak to someone who you believe will listen to you, why not get those requests in? No one turns down free stuff!
HOW DO I APPROACH GOD?
Okay, enough with the sarcasm. I am not trying to belittle the practice of prayer. It is the most important highway available to the child of God to communicate with Him. However, I am discouraged by the proliferation of people who push prayer and ignore all the other things that come before that, like a relationship with the God you are trying to speak with. If I am a child of God, how do I approach the very throne room of the Almighty of God? What should my attitude be? So often prayer is a last-ditch effort, and we take it for granted. But this otherworldly communication is a vital to our relationship with God.
COMMUNICATION WITH A SECOND GRADER
I was talking to a second grader the other week about his actions on the playground. He communicated to me that the ball hurled at his classmate’s head did not come from his hands. It must have been someone else who flung the ball. As much as the young fellow wanted me to believe that what I saw with my own eyes didn’t happen, his argument failed. His communication with me wasn’t based on facts, or sincerity, or even honesty. He just told me what he wanted me to hear. Too often our prayers are just that. We tell God our version of the facts and what we want to happen. We ignore the His truth and Word. Our relationship with God suffers.
CONVERSATION REFLECTS RELATIONSHIP
Communicating with God is like having a conversation with a friend, but it must be absolutely truthful. This is our vital exchange with the God of the Universe. Do you speak with your best friend only when you can fit it into your schedule? Is your conversation peppered with half-truths? Do you speak only to this friend when you need a favor? Maybe you don’t actually have a deep relationship with this person you call “friend”.
MORE THAN JUST COMMUNICATING WITH GOD
Prayer is more than just communicating with the Father; it is our way of demonstrating our love for Him and thanking Him for what He has accomplished in our lives. It is an ongoing practice which we humbly participate in. John Piper observed in The Pleasures of God, “Prayer is God’s delight because it shows the reaches of our poverty and the riches of His grace” Prayer reflects our relationship with God.
DAILY STEPS
Prayer is an excellent to practice daily. The Apostle Paul always let prayer shape his attitudes and desires. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Without prayer, he could never have become a spiritual giant. How do we practice this daily?
1. Come before Him in humility. Remember who it is that we are speaking with.
2. Approach Him consistently. Make your conversations a daily habit.
3. Come before Him and expect the supernatural; ask for what only God can accomplish and wants to accomplish in His will.
4. Always remember “We do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).
Go ahead, start communicating! This is the conversation that can change both your own life and everyone around you.
Read a great prayer model in Colossians 1:3-14.