A Note on Prayer…
Prayer encourages maturity. Prayer is not simply a time of day or a moment with bowed head at the dinner table. Prayer is a posture of the heart. A lifestyle you adopt to center the Lord in your decision making, problem solving, and relationship building.
In Matthew chapter six, Jesus reveals the blueprint for prayer to his disciples. The Lord’s Prayer, brief and powerful, tends to spiritual life; how to relate to the Father and others, physical life; what we need to live, and emotional life; strengthening us to resist temptation. Jesus shows that prayer effectively reaches every area of our lives.
Jesus constantly taught and modeled prayer during His time on earth. One of my favorite moments was before Jesus went to the cross. In Mark 14:33-42, Jesus was moments from death yet He turned to prayer. I have never faced physical death, so I cannot imagine how Jesus felt being crushed with grief to the point of death (v. 34). But even in one of the most agonizing moments of His life, Jesus turned to prayer. He found strength and comfort to do God’s will by bearing His heart in prayer.
The same can be said about you. To find your footing in this life and learn God’s will, you have to be intentional about prayer. And that begins with knowing what prayer is and what it isn’t…
Prayer is…
intimate with the Father (Matthew 6:6)
concerned with others (1 Timothy 2:1)
filled with faith (Matthew 21:22)
persistent (Ephesians 6:18)
Prayer is not…
loud and obnoxious (Matthew 6:5)
filled with doubt (James 1:6)
ignored by God (1 John 5:14)
From there, with confidence and understanding, you can pray and keep praying (Luke 11:9-10). Pray about the small thing, the large thing, the crushing thing, the enraging thing, until your first response becomes prayer. And when you run out of things to pray, know that your helper, the Holy Spirit, will fill in the gaps (Romans 8:26).
Continue to search scripture for yourself and ask the Lord to help you cultivate a prayer life according to His instruction. The Lord desires to meet you in your needs. He wants to talk to you all the time. Simply bring your cares to the Lord and leave worry, confusion, and discouragement behind.
A beautiful life is on the other side of prayer.