Thoughts on Prayer Life
Prayer is essential to a life that honors God
Prayer is possibly the most important part of spiritual life for the believer, yet many (most?) treat it as an afterthought or a disconnected ritual. Prayer, our personal, intimate, and private conversations with our Creator are meant to honor and grow our personal relationship with Him. They should not be something we turn to only when we have a gripe, need, or a want, and certainly not something to be considered routine. Sad to say, I know this from personal experience. There have been times when I was just mailing it in as the saying goes, times when praying was a chore, something I did because I knew I was supposed to but without real purpose or connection. Imagine how effective that was.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." Matthew 6:5 (ESV)
Those who experience a rich prayer life filled with intimate connection share a relationship with God that is alive in ways that honors both, builds trust, strengthens faith, and prepares one for service. But it doesn't happen by accident. This kind of deep relationship results from a desire deep in one's heart. It is there that the journey begins.
Prayer is An Issue of the Heart
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” Psalm 27:8
David's prayer is simple and clear, a prayer of surrender and obedience. A prayer of abandonment. He did not delay. His response was immediate and emphatic, a response, as he says in his own words, direct from his heart. That tells us something about David's relationship with God. It was deep and rich. David is king, but he serves the King of kings. What we see here is his surrender to God's will, his transparency, and recognition of the Spirit's prompting. It is hard to call a thing surrender when it is, in fact, the overriding desire of one's heart.
These are the same things that God looks for in us today. Do we hunger to know him? Are we willing to surrender our agenda to his? Are we honest and transparent with him? Do we reach for him in good times as well as bad times? Are we searching for him, asking the Holy Spirit to strengthen our connection? Here's the interesting thing: as well as being a matter of the heart this desire is also a matter of the mind. When the head and the heart come into agreement God has something to work with. We must not only desire, we must also decide to pursue that desire.
Prayer Brings Peace
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV)
Paul begins by telling us that we are to always be rejoicing in God, regardless of what is going on in our life or the moment. This seems contrarian advice in an age when we can almost hear the tearing of moral and cultural fabric everywhere we turn, and in an age when man is set against man on every stage. In the midst of all that is going on around us, we are to be at rest in God's peace? Yes!
How is that possible? By understanding that we are unable to control constantly changing events on our own, and by understanding that God never changes. He is rock solid and constantly at peace. When we choose to acknowledge this and turn into Him with desire and surrender we enter into His peace, which He graciously gives to us as our peace.
We Have A Willing Partner in Prayer
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:267-27 (ESV)
The Holy Spirit prays for us in our weakness, when we do not know how to pray or when we are so broken we are incapable of praying. Times of great loss, searching for understanding, or our own brokenness can bring us to this point. There was a time when I was unable to pray to God as I desired, a time of great pain, sorrow, and travail. Yet, I desired communion with him more than anything else. He saw my condition, and, in his grace, he assigned the Holy Spirit to pray for me in my place. The Holy Spirit is our constant companion and friend. It knows all and is the conduit through which our relationship with God is conducted. We might think of it as the interlocutor who processes language and thought between ourselves and God. As such, it is fully qualified to stand in for us when we are unable, and it is happy to do so.
Prayer is an essential part of our faith experience, important to both Heaven and earth. We do both a disservice when we do not give it the attention and priority it deserves. Sometimes we need to break the chain of routine to rediscover intimacy in this vital discipline of the faith. How we do that will be our next subject.
Shalom