A friend recently asked me how I would answer this question: If God knows everything and has decided how it will turn out, why pray? My answer was, we pray because prayer is relationship, not just asking for things or help in times of need. God is a relational God. Prayer is also about hearing from God on a personal level; it is a two-way conversation. However, one must learn to listen with the ears of their heart. Prayer can change things! And finally, God has given us free will to choose Him or not.
Let me be open and honest regarding the way I looked at prayer. For many years it was something I did when things were not going well, or someone was sick and needed help beyond my capacity. The thought of continuous prayer as stated in 1Thessalonians 5:17 seemed like a chore to me. But, I wanted to be obedient to His Word, so in addition to morning and evening prayers, as often as I could remember, I tried to take every thought captive to Christ. That helped me pray small prayers throughout each day as I thought about those in need as well as my own circumstances. I thought I had prayer down pat; I had it covered.
Passive to the Privilege
After deeper contemplation over what I already knew about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I realized my attitude toward prayer was too passive. I wasn’t making the most of this privileged opportunity to converse on a deeper level with Father God. After all, how could I serve God to the best of my ability if I couldn’t sit still in prayer with him long enough to really listen on a daily basis and not just ask for His help? How would I know His heart and His plans for my life?
I remember taking a challenge years ago to start with just 5-10 minutes of Bible reading and saw it grow easily into 30 minutes or more. The blessings from that helped grow my faith immensely. Recently I have been challenged to go beyond that with prayer. In fact, it was suggested that not setting a daily appointment/ commitment to spend quality time with God is prayerlessness and that prayerlessness is sin. I briefly mentioned that in the first part of this prayer series titled The Privilege of Prayer.
After much contemplation on that concept, I have decided to take my prayer time to the next level. I accepted the challenge and made the commitment to make a daily appointment with God for an hour or more, engaging in prayer that goes beyond my comfortable boundaries. I get up an hour and a half earlier now to give God the first of each day, that he has so graciously blessed me with. This clearly stretches the comfortable boundaries I had set with my best sleeping time. But, it’s my sacrifice for all that Jesus has sacrificed for me.
Prioritize the Privilege of Prayer
What is the best time for you to give God quality time? Are you a morning person or a night person? Maybe, you find a quiet lunch hour the only time you can get away to spend private quality time with God. Whatever works best for you! God will redeem the time spent with Him and you will be blessed beyond your imagination. I pass this challenge to you, take your faith to the next level, even if you start with giving God just 30 minutes of quality time.
“I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. When you seek me with all of your heart, I shall be found.” (Jeremiah 29:11,13)
Seeking the Lord with all of your heart requires quality time spent with Him! I can’t begin to tell you how much more at peace I feel throughout the day since I’ve set aside a daily appointment time with God. My responsibilities flow smoothly, I have more patience with my husband, my son, and in particular, people who usually irritate me. I’m starting to feel different, as if I’ve reached another phase of sanctification. That is the process being made holy, more like Jesus. None of us will finish this process until we meet Jesus face to face.
Here is something to consider, in addition to having forgiveness of our sins through Jesus and the privilege of a personal relationship with the Father, we are given a measure of His Holy Spirit to help us in life. We are responsible for what we do with that. The Holy Spirit often convicts our heart to do God’s will through prayer. How else will you know what God’s amazing personal plan is that he has in store just for you?
In the first part of this series, I said I couldn’t understand how prayerlessness could be sin. I have since realized that the quality, state or condition of praying less (prayerlessness) is missing the mark of God’s perfection. That, my friends, is the definition of sin. Confess it now, accept the challenge and start living your best life ever. Don’t wait, don’t even think about it, just do it! You won’t regret it!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope it encouraged you to go deeper with God in prayer. Until the next time, may you be blessed in Jesus’ name.
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