What would happen if you never talked to your friends or family? Would you still be close to them or connected? The answer to this is that you would grow distant and there would be little connection with them. This is the same for our connection and closeness with God. The way we communicate with Him is through prayer. This in my opinion is one of the most important spiritual disciplines only coming second to bible intake. Prayer is so important because it is our life line to the Father and how we communicate with Him. There are many different kinds of prayers; prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of desperation, prayers where no word is spoken but He knows exactly what you need, prayers for help, prayers for God to move, prayers for others who need Him, and so many more. In todays blog we are going to dive into why prayer is so important and how in some ways we are commanded to pray. We will work through different passages about prayer and break them down. I am glad you are here today to work through this with me. Let us dive into prayer and why it is so important.
In the book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney, he says prayer expected by God and it is something that is learned by doing it. The way that we know prayer is expected by God because of passages like Matthew 6 verses 5-7 and 9 or Luke 11 verse 9 and 18 verse 1. In these verses we see that God says when you pray or you pray like this or a parable about why they should always pray or that we need to ask, seek, and knock. We also see in Colossians 4 verse 2 where He commands us to continue steadfastly in prayer and in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17 he commands us to pray without ceasing. Prayer is one of the ways that we pursue a relationship with God and stay connected with Him. It is also one way that we seek His will for our lives and what He would have us do. In Colossians 4 verse 2 praying steadfastly shows that we have devoted ourselves to pursuing Christ and pursuing becoming more like Him in our daily life. This also helps us to make prayer a priority and with these priorities we sacrifice for it and give time to it which shows that you are devoted to that priority. So when God, through Paul, commands us pray steadfastly He is saying He wants His people to be devoted to prayer. In first Thessalonians 5 verse 17 when God say to pray without ceasing emphasizes that prayer is one way that we express our unbroken relationship with God. In Donald Whitney’s book He says this about 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17 “This verse, doesn’t mean that we should do nothing but pray, for the Bible expects many other things of us besides prayer, including times of rest when we could not consciously pray. But it does mean that if talking with and thinking of God can’t be in the forefront of your min, it should always be just to the side and ready to take the place of what you are concentrating on.” (pg 81) When I read this it made me think as I have grown in my prayer life this is truly what happens, there have been times when I have been folding laundry or cooking, or doing work, or driving or watching tv and I just feel that pull from God and we just start talking while I continue to do what I was doing sometimes or sometimes it stops everything and I just sit with Him and talk. These have been some of my favorite moments with God because they are sweet and sometime very raw. The line between us and God should always be open, like being on the phone with someone or sitting in the same room while you are both doing things that line of communication is open but is not always used. Our prayers in the morning should be opening that communication with God and it staying open all day until you fall asleep. This is when we have that continual peace in Him even when life around us is chaotic. Prayer is the calming in the storms, it is the celebration with the breakthrough, it is working through the emotions and feelings of where you currently are, it is communion with your creator, it is healing, it is renewing, it refocuses us on what matters, and so much more.
Prayer is also something that you learn and strengthen by doing it and practicing it. If you think about it when you were new in your faith praying felt awkward and you did not know what to say. But as you did it more and more it became more natural and like a conversation with a friend. So if you are reading this and you are new to your walk with God just know the more you pray the more natural it feels and it does not have to be some grand prayer God hears even the most simple of prayers. Prayer is also learned through meditating on scripture. Donald Whitney says in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life ” Here is the simple, but extraordinarily powerful truth: Meditation is the missing ling between bible intake and prayer…….Typically; we read the bible, close it, and try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two will not mesh. In fact, after some forward progress during our time in the Word, shifting to prayer sometimes feels like suddenly slipping into neutral or even reverse. Instead there should be a smooth, almost unnoticeable transition between scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when we insert the link of mediation in between.” (pg 86) To me this is a very powerful thing to think thorough. Because if you look at scripture when they are praying they often pray scripture. And if we are meditating on scripture we will have it on our hearts and it will come out in our prayers because when we meditate on scripture it centers us on Him. Also with meditation it quiets our minds and focuses us on the passage or verse we are meditating on so then it opens the door to pray things over ourselves and others that are brought up through meditating on that scripture.
So through all that we have worked through so far we see that prayer is a vital part of our relationship with God and our growth in becoming more Christ like in our daily lives. Prayer is a way we stay connected to the Creator of the universe, God. It is how we express our feelings and emotions to Him in all circumstances. It is how we navigate the life we have before us because we are asking the one who holds the map for guidance. It helps us strengthen our other spiritual disciplines such as mediation with bible intake. It centers us on the one who in control of all things at all times. Prayer is our life line that we hold onto in the storms, in the good times, in the hard times, in the times we struggle to believe, when things around us that are happening make no sense but you know there is a plan. Prayer anchors us to the Father and when our prayer life is strong and rooted in scripture and in who we know God to be nothing this life throws at us can shake us. Much like how bible intake helps us form our foundation of who God is, who He made us to be, and what He wants us to do prayer is what anchors us to that foundation and helps us trust the foundation that is holding us.
Some practical ways to strengthen you prayer life one is just pray even if you do not have the words to say get away in silence and sit with God and just talk to Him. In the good, the bad, and the ugly sit and talk with Him. Journaling my prayers is something that helps me be consistent in my prayer life. It keeps me focused on the task at hand so my mind does not wonder, but it also gives me pages and pages to go back and look at and remind myself all God had done for me and all that He has brought me through. Another way is that when you are in your car driving by yourself or with your family start a prayer and just pray for things that come to your mind. Just talk to Him about your day, where you are in your feelings about the season you are in, what you are thankful for in your current season, what you are struggling with, etc. I believe some of the most powerful prayers are ones where not a word is spoken but you sit in silence with Him and let your soul do the speaking for you, there may be some tears but even when you do not have the words to say He knows exactly what you need. It is also important that we remember prayer is a conversation not a place to give your list of things and then get up and continue on with your day. It is a two way conversation you speak and God speaks so there needs to be a time in your prayer time that you just sit and wait for God to speak. Sometimes He does not speak right away but later in the day He will show you something or bring something to your mind, or send someone to speak something to you or to do something kind for you. His speaking comes in many different ways. That is why it is important to leave that line of communication open always. So that throughout your day there are opportunities for both of you to speak.
Thank you for joining me today in talking about prayer and why it is important to a Christians walk with God. I hope something stood out to you from this reading and it leads you to dive deeper into what prayer means to you and how you can strengthen your prayer life. Next week we will be talking about the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude.
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