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Take Time to Pray
For the Christian, prayer is as necessary as breathing. It is the spiritual language of a child of God talking to his daddy.(Abba Father) We have the confidence that we can come at anytime and He is never too busy to listen. He says call on Me and I will answer and show you great and wonderful things that you know not. Jeremiah 33:3
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He outlined a model for them that we now refer to as the Lord's Prayer. He never meant the words to be carved in stone or to be the only way for us to pray. He isn't impressed with format or length. Just one word HELP! will have His full attention. King David said, I cried unto the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from ALL my fears.
Many times, our need is so great that we have no words. These are groaning times whereby God's Holy Spirit takes over. (Romans 8:26, 27) Remember Christ's agonizing prayer in the garden the night before His crucifixion? He prayed so intensely that He sweat drops of blood.
How should we pray? Is there a right way or a wrong way? The self-righteous Pharisee in Jesus' time was all about being seen and impressing God—he reminded God of all his good deeds; the Tax-collector, standing off in a corner, didn't even raise his head but beat on his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. Jesus tells us this man was more justified in God's sight.
- We pray for wisdom as did Solomon when he became king.
- Prayer is also a way to give thanks. We sing thank you Lord for saving my soul. We thank Him when a loved one recovers from an illness, when we find employment or when His peace fills our being. Philippians 4:7 says that this kind of peace surpasses all human understanding.
- I like the acronym ACTS that many use during daily devotional times: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.
We should never say that we don't have time to pray though, for many people, a quiet time of repose is almost impossible. But there are no requirements that we MUST bow our heads or get down on our knees; we can pray when we're waiting in traffic, sitting in a doctor's office, but especially when we awaken in the morning and retire for the night.
Neglecting daily communion with our Creator will cause our soul to become like a desert, we should rather keep it like a well-watered garden and we won't be blown off course by unexpected storms.
© Jolene Eby, August 2010
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