Why Pray?

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One might ask, “Why do we need to practice prayer as a discipline?” We have severely impaired attention spans because of our fallen, sinful nature. In prayer we attend our minds to God, and all too often that attention lasts for a few seconds. We begin our prayer with "Heavenly Father," and it is not long before our minds are meandering off; attending to anything other than the One we began to address. It is for this reason that we must undertake prayer as a spiritual discipline — to enable ourselves to attain the single-mindedness necessary to attend to the God-who-is-present. It is also vital for us to understand that prayer, just as every other discipline, is a learning process. We will find ourselves distracted. We will notice our minds wandering among the countless concerns of the day. However, as we continue in the paths of prayer, our meanders will be shorter and less frequent.

Prayer is conversation or communication with God. It involves both speaking and listening. So often we pray as if it were a monologue. But prayer is so much more than talking to God. In fact, the seasoned prayer warrior knows that prayer is more about listening than talking. Soren Kierkegaard said, "A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening." And this makes sense because God knows much more than we do — and He knows it a whole lot better than we do.

Prayer is opening our lives to God for change. Prayer is recognition that God is God and we are not, and so in prayer we yield our desires to God's. Jesus prayed, "Not my will but yours." In prayer we ask God to change the way we see other people, life, and our circumstances. When you look at other people and your situation, see the eyes of Christ. It is then that transformation happens.

 You know I love ya, Don

God's Encouragement - Build the relationship

To receive God’s encouragement is to view yourself as God’s friend. We have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe.  The means by which we build our relationship with God is through PRAYER. Prayer is the communication between God and the Believers. It is through our time in prayer that He speaks to us and we can speak to Him.

The Bible never gives us a specific command for how much time we should spend in prayer. The closest we come is when it says, “pray without ceasing”. The reason why I believe is because if there was a command given we would see prayer as routine and an obligation rather than a privilege and an opportunity to communicate with the Almighty God. Sadly, in the midst of all this busyness people often fail to take time for the things that are most important…prayer, and they wonder why they are discouraged.

Why is it that people in their busyness are usually busy with the wrong and less important things? I have heard countless people that have lament how much time they spent working to the neglect of their families.

Jesus spent a lot of time doing a lot of things, but we see in spite of that there were two things he was never too busy for. He was never too busy for people and He was never too busy for prayer. Countless times as he got flooded with people he withdrew and prayed. Many times we have the mindset that we are too busy to pray, but I want to tell you that we may be too busy not to pray.

I have heard it said, that when we work we work, but when we pray, God works. The best source for encouragement is to take time to pray to the Lord.  Next weekend will be a great source of renewal and encouragement. It is my hope that you are signed-up for the prayer walk, that you will come next Saturday for the Fresh Touch Prayer service (6 PM), and then make prayer a basic necessity to your daily life.

In our unity of spirit and mind, we are reminded that we are to live with endurance and encouragement. The endurance comes in our step by step pressing toward the mark … our encouragement comes in our daily routine of prayer and building our relationship with God.

Ephesians 6:18 states; “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 saints.”

God’s example is to endure and to seek encouragement…these are both found in pressing on and praying without ceasing. It is then that we will sharpen our axe and be found faithful in our daily lives. 

I pray for you often and you know I love ya, Don