I must admit that I have been very weak when it comes to the discipline of prayer. Many times I have throw up little prayers to God each day in moments of need but I have been very bad about spending quality time with my Savior and Lord. I also must admit that many is the time I told someone i would pray for them and I forgot to. I don't intentionally miss spending time in prayer with the Lord each day and I believe that is the reason i have not been praying each day. I have not been intentional in my prayer life. This past few weeks I have been intentionally doing studies on the Bible and prayer. I want this area of my walk to be transformed and I believe that my lack of consistent prayer life is one of the biggest detriments to my walk right now.
In the Bible, prayer is one of the main indicators of a close relationship with God. The Old Testament prophets received the word of God directly from praying and seeking God's word for them. The book of Psalm is essentially a large book of prayers mostly written by David, a man after God's heart. You could always tell whether a king in the Old Testament was going to be Godly or not when you saw whether he allowed the high places of false god's stand or whether he destroyed the high places and proclaimed the kingdom only for the true God. Jonah's life was literally spared due to prayer and many others also. Jesus' ministry is marked by His moments of solitude in prayer, His followers desire to learn how to pray, and the prayers he gave on the cross. The early church was known for their prayers and Paul's ministry was bathed in and ultimately guided by his answers to prayers through the Holy Spirit.
I think it is safe to say that the Bible puts a high priority on prayer. Why is this? Well for starters, prayer is the one way we are able to talk directly to God and receive word from Him. Through our prayers we are able to both pray for our own provision and intercede for others. The Bible is clear that many of us do not have because we do not ask. Why is it that, even though we have direct access to God, and the Bible makes it clear that He wants to hear from us and to answer our heart cries, many of us choose not to pray? Is it maybe true that most of us wrongly believe, though we would never admit it, that God is looking down on us from a distance (as the popular song written by Julie Gold in 1985 speaks about) and that He is not really able to answer our prayers?
I used to believe that praying was a gift. Some people had the gift of intense desire to pray and communicate with Jesus and that most people did not have this gift. The Bible is clear that prayer is not a gift but rather something every Christian should desire to do. In fact, the Bible goes as far to say that those who don't have a desire to pray may need to check their hearts and make sure they know the Savior in the first place.
If you are like me and have struggled in your prayer life for many years, I hope you will change that today. Maybe even let your first prayer be, "Lord, grow in my heart a great desire to come to you more in prayer. Show me in your Word the importance of prayer and how I should pray to you. Amen." I highly recommend four points of help that have guided me in my pursuit of a more passionate prayer life.
First, I suggest you flip through the Psalms and when you find a psalm that you can identify with, pray it to the Lord. Make the psalm your own prayer. This is a quick a great way to begin praying consistently especially if you don't know what to pray.
Second, while you are praying through the Psalms, I recommend you camp out in Luke 11:1-13 where Jesus' followers ask Him to teach them about prayer. Take the words of Jesus and apply them to your own prayer life. Take the model prayer and break it down into what Jesus is saying in each part and then take each part (like glorifying God, Asking for provision, asking for forgiveness, etc) and pray it in your own words.
Third, I highly suggest taking the time to study what the Bible in general has to say about prayer. There are many devotions, books, and resources on prayer in the Bible. Also you could use something like www.openbible.info to find scriptures that speak directly to prayer.
Last but not least, I highly suggest you start a prayer journal. By using a journal, you will be able to see what you have prayed and see how God has answered it. Also, it is great for writing down all those prayer requests that you receive and then it serves to remind you of those prayer request so that you will never again tell someone you are going to pray for them and then not.
I hope through my own struggle with prayer and pursuit of a more passionate prayer life, your own prayer life might be ignited and/or enriched. I thank each one of you who read this blog and pray for this ministry the Lord has given me. I would love to hear and be able pray for any requests you have. May the Lord bless you and may you gain a closer relationship with Jesus than you have ever had before.
Blessings,
Greg
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