Prayer

What is prayer?

 As Christians, there is no greater means we have from God than prayer.

Prayer is our lifeline.

As a lifeline is thrown to a drowning man to save him and keep him afloat, God has "thrown" prayer to us. He has taught us how to pray. 

Prayer has indeed kept me afloat on the best and the worst of days. 

It is our tool.

It is fascinating to me to read or hear the prayers of "giants" of the faith. They wield prayer with the expertise of those who practice daily, moment by moment. Someone who paints for twelve hours every day soon knows exactly how to use the brush in order to bring about the greatest beauty in a picture. 

God has given us prayer as a tool to use, both in growing ourselves and in seeking Him. 

It is through prayer that we communicate with God.

Prayer takes us into the very presence of God. When we pray, we are in a sense standing in the throne room of grace. It is our God-given method of speaking to our Father. He wants us to pray. He has taught us how to pray. He has commanded us to "pray without ceasing". 

There are different kinds of prayer – thanksgiving, petition, worship, praise, lamentation, intercession, etc. All of these, God hears and acknowledges. We’re not speaking to the ceiling when we pray. We converse with God Himself through prayer.

Why is prayer sometimes so difficult?

Every believer knows that prayer is important, but no matter to whom I speak it always seems like you hear “I don’t pray as much as I ought. I mean to, but I never really get around to it…”

Part of the problem is that prayer is a relinquishing of control. What I mean is, when you pray, you are essentially giving everything over to God, and admitting your own weakness and inability. We would prefer to be in control of our own circumstances, and make our plans without God’s input. That is one reason why we can find ourselves reluctant to pray. I know that in my own life, it can be very easy to go ahead and do regular things without praying. Prayer is reserved for the toughest times, the things that I feel I need a "little back-up" for. God is patient, and mercifully shows me that, whether or not I know it at the time, I need Him for everything. I can't draw a breath without His grace. 

What else do you think can hinder prayer? What stops you from praying?

Another problem is that we can often have a lack of faith. We don’t quite believe that God will answer us. Spurgeon said it well:

“If there be anything under heaven that I am as sure of as I am of the demonstrations of mathematics, it is the fact that God hears prayer. Answers to prayer have come to some of us not now and then, on rare occasions, so that after a series of years we have a few facts to collate, but they come to us as ordinary circumstances of everyday life.

God has heard for us prayers about great things and prayers about little things; prayers about things that we could reveal to others, and prayers about secret matters in which none could join us. We have had so many answers to prayer that the fact is far beyond any further question with us; and yet there may be a matter pressing upon our heart for God’s glory, and it may be a subject about which we could plead a precise promise, such as this — “If two of you are agreed as touching anything concerning my kingdom, it shall be done unto you,” and yet we are half afraid that our prayer will not be heard: the husband afraid that the conversion of his wife will never occur; the wife fearful that that swearing husband of hers will not after all yield to the importunate entreaties which she has addressed to heaven; a teacher in a Sunday-school class still afraid that his children, though often prayed for, will not be converted. We have many prayers, but how little faith is mingled with them!” 

~ Spurgeon