What is prayer, really?

What is Prayer, really?  Colossians 4.2 – Devote yourselves to prayer…

Good Day, my friends~

What is your definition of prayer?  Talking to God?  Sure.  But the first time Scripture recorded someone talking to God, it was Eve, lying to him, in Genesis 3.10. Was that prayer, then? Not really.  So perhaps we need to broaden our description of prayer . . . let’s give it some thought.

This prayer of David in Psalm 5 really speaks to me~ Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God.  For to you I will pray.  My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to you, and will look up.

I notice several things from David's prayer ~ he went to God in the morning at the start of his day.  Morning prayer is vital to who I am throughout the day. Notice with me that David rightly ordered his position, and surrendered himself by saying, 'O Lord,' 'my King and my God'. David knew that God was his strength.  In order to come into prayer fully expectant of meeting God, we must endeavor to think rightly about God.  As A.W. Tozer said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." I believe we must realize something about God's character, and about His abiding love for us . . . Oh, we won't be able to fully grasp either, but we must try! 

God is wild about you; he thinks you are delightful; he considers you to be fearfully and wonderfully made. You might notice that your biceps aren't as big as they were in college, while your waist size is bigger--but he doesn't really notice.   God is interested in you, at your core . . .

It is one of the greatest mysteries in this life to contemplate just what his love for us might mean, if only we could grasp it. Unfortunately, we have let others be the 'keeper of the keys' as to our worth.  We have let others interpret God's character to us, instead of investigating it on our own, searching out Scripture, and pouring ourselves into developing an ever-deeper experiential relationship with him. God’s storehouses are limitless, his attention able to meet with each of us individually, and his desire to talk with us in prayer ever incredible. 

Check it out--more Americans will pray this week than will exercise, drive a car, have sex, or go to work, according to Gallup polls. Nine in ten pray regularly, and yet most would say they aren't really satisfied with their prayer life.  Some are not sure their prayers are being heard--maybe they aren't praying the right way or for the right things.  Others think that prayer should be a conversation with God, and yet they never hear God say anything, and feel frustrated.  Still others see their friends' prayers answered, but can't remember answered prayer themselves. Then there is the whole matter of getting distracted while praying!  Hmmm . . .

"Prayer is an expression of who we are . . . We are a living incompleteness. We are a gap, an emptiness that calls for fulfillment," Thomas Merton said. I think Merton was right.  In order to be complete, we need to be filled up with God, and that comes primarily through connectedness with him through communication. How many prayers have gone unanswered in your life because you never prayed them? Our Lord's brother said, 'We do not have, because we do not ______.' James 4.3.

Prayer connects us with God, it moves the hand of God, and changes us. It increases our faith, and helps us become who God wants us to be . . . but 'you know what? In order for it to be effective, in order for it to be powerful, it requires more than just one-liners throughout our day.  It requires some 'set apart' time, when God is our sole focus, not just something we fit in with whatever we are doing.  Prayer reminds me that He is God, and I am not.  

Tomorrow, why not start your day with some special time alone with your Father in prayer?  There is nothing like being connected with God.

Christine