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Sometimes I wonder why I struggle so much with prayer. Don’t get me wrong. I do pray. It’s just not always the thing I think about first, whether it’s praising God for who He is, expressing joy over a situation or bringing my petitions to Him. My tendency is to jump into a situation first and then pray. Sort of like the proverbial jumping off the cliff first and then checking to see if you have a parachute. You would think I would have learned at my age to go to Him first, that it would be second nature by now, but if I am brutally honest, there are days when my only thought about prayer is “oh, I’d better do that.”
I have friends who seem to be amazing prayer warriors. I want to be that person who just automatically thinks about God first every day and always. No matter what is going on. The person who automatically defaults to “let’s praise God!” or “I’ll take that up in prayer for you.” But so often I find myself remembering to pray part of the way into the day or the situation or whatever. Or praying mightily when something hard or painful is in my life, but not being as diligent when things are going well.
The challenge to be a church that prays really struck me as an area that needs shoring up in my life. Ironically, we need to get on our knees and pray that God would develop this in us, because on our own we fail miserably. We cannot fathom what God could do if we were a praying people, a praying church.
Prayer is not to give God information. He knows our situations. Prayer is not to change our situation, but to change our hearts and minds. Prayer puts us in the proper position to be influenced by the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.
Prayer is also a time to give Him honor and glory as our Savior and friend. Prayer is a time to develop relationship with Him, just as you would develop a friendship by talking with a friend here on earth. Prayer can be on our hearts and minds always. In fact the Bible says to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
So how do we do that?
- Accept our need to pray.
Jesus set this example for us while He walked on this earth.
- Admit our need to learn about prayer.
Prayer is a discipline that needs developing.
- Ask God to develop a heart of prayer in us.
Prayers help us develop a trust and dependence on Him.
- Adopt a plan of daily prayer.
Prayers should not be mechanical, but should be disciplined. Start with a few minutes and build from there.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. – Ephesians 6:18-19 (NIV)