Prayer is our lifeline to God. Prayer is the heart-throb of a believer’s heart. Prayer is not about getting your sentences to come out right. Prayer is a simple, ongoing conversation with our heavenly Father that is honest and heartfelt.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing, pray continually. Developing a steady rhythm in our prayer life is what we all desire. We are to develop a constant attitude of prayer. This is not something on our do to list. This is not something we only do before meals. This is not something we only do before we go to bed. When we pray it shows we depend on God. Prayer links our lives with God’s exciting purposes and power. More importantly, it brings us into a love relationship with God, rooted in realizing how much we need him and our choosing to depend on him.
I believe we have made prayer very complicated. In my study, I have 9 books on prayer. But I thought about how Jesus prayed. He did not have a war room and he did not keep a prayer journal. His prayer partners fell asleep on him. But in scripture, it was obvious he had a constant attitude of prayer. The only way to have a constant attitude of prayer is to ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Prayer ushers us into an experience with God, with a growing sense of wonder, delight, and gratefulness. When I used to drive my daughter, Brittany to school we would always thank God for the beautiful sky he made. We would stare in wonder at all the creative paint colors God put in the heavens. Also, if we saw an ambulance on the way to school we would always pray for the people involved. I was teaching her how to develop a constant attitude of prayer.
- D. Gordon wrote:
The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray. They have not timed. It must be taken from something else. This something else is important. Very important, and pressing, but still less important and less pressing than prayer.
Remember, prayer starts with a personal relationship, not with performance. The time you can set aside for prayer may seem small. But it will help you develop an attitude or prayer. The best way to learn to pray is by praying.
