So yesterday was the day we celebrate those who play a special part in our lives; whether that role is one they still fill or one that has been empty for years, there is one Father who will never fail or need replacing.
Yesterday I was enjoying my hammock and a good book outside with my 2 puppies (giant labs) on either side of me when one of my good friends in Kansas sent me a text. This conversation, as do many of ours, took a turn from talking about funny friend things to prayer and how much we take it (and God) for granted.
We got to talking about how special prayer is, but how many people don't even realize the amazing gift of communicating with our Heavenly Father that is within us! The more I thought about it (while swaying back and forth in my hammock with slobbering dogs trying to give me kisses- note to self: next time tie the hammock higher up) the more I began to think about my own prayer life.
Prayer should not be an ordeal we enter into once a week or every day to ask God for what we want and them continue on with our worldly lives.
Mary Fairchild wrote in her own article titled "What Does the Bible Say About Prayer?" a list of basic principles about prayer earlier in April of this year.
1) Prayer is simply communicating with God—listening and talking to him. Believers can pray from the heart, freely, spontaneously, and in their own words.
Communication has come a long way throughout the years. Way back when people were only able to talk face to face. Later on communication developed into writing letters, telegrams, and eventually phone calls from a store in town. Before long people were able to make phone calls from their own homes and as we all know, today we are able to text from wherever we are, video chat at the push of a button, and even instant message online.
2) Your prayers need not be wordy or impressive in speech:
"When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again."(Matthew 6:7, NLT)
Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.(Ecclesiastes 5:2, NIV)
Just like the first verse given states, we don't need to talk for 10 whole minutes hoping that this increases the chances of God hearing us. Oftentimes the sincerity of what we have to say dissolves the more we speak. Some of the most beneficial conversations I've had with people were when they were direct, no beating around the bush, and no one tried to impress the other.
Sadly, I struggle with feeling as though my prayers are not always up to par due to the length, the way I speak, or even the amount of times I address God specifically throughout the prayer.
There are times I struggle to find the words I want to use to describe how I feel or to really express my gratitude or praise for something (whether an answer to prayer or a request for prayer). I was frustrated with the amount of times I seem to struggle through prayer because it doesn't feel natural to me or I feel as though I've prayer the exact same way too many times and now it's dull and empty.
While my friend and I were discussing this he said something that really stuck out to me:"Think about it- when you don't know someone very well talking to them is a little awkward. . . but when you go and talk to a close friend the conversation goes very smoothly."
This totally applies to our prayer lives! The more we talk to God on a regular basis (and not on account of a daily checklist and bunches of requests for things we think we need) to simply spend time with Him and talk to Him about what's been going on in our lives.
We should be treating our relationship with God similar to a relationship with our friends or spouse etc. The more time you spend with them and the more you learn about them the easier it is to communicate and understand what they're saying to you. You may even notice their ways of communicating through hand gestures, or with eye movements from across the room when you can't always hear their voice.
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Okay. Stop and pause there for a moment. Think about what you just read. How many of you read through that and thought of all the ways you will implement or have in your relationships on earth? Yeah. . . Except I was referring to our relationship with our Father in Heaven. . . The one who put the entire universe into existence and formed you from nothing. Why is it that when we receive relationship advice we never think to put that into practice with our faith?
One of the most stated ways to improve relationships is through improving communication. Prayer is communication, right? Why aren't we putting more effort into our communication with God to improve our relationships with Him?
In this article by Mary Fairchild, she gives another list of verses with reasons why we should pray.
3) "Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!" (Matthew 26:41, NLT)
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. (Luke 18:1, NIV)
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. (Ephesians 6:18, NIV)
Should we pray alone or in groups with other people? BOTH!
4) "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." (Matthew 18:19, NIV)
"And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside." (Luke 1:10, NIV)
"They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." (Acts 1:14, NIV)
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"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:6, NIV)
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35, NIV)
"Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." (Luke 5:15-16, NIV)
"Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6:12, NKJV)
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One more thing that really stuck out to me about this conversation was when this sentence came up:
"Imagine treating our earthly fathers as we often treat God. . ." My heart broke when I came to the realization of what life would look like if I never spoke to my dad except for when I needed anything, how stressful it would be to make sure I used fancy words when we did talk, and I just ignored him when he tried to tell me anything at all.
Why are stop signs at certain points in the road? To warn us that we need to stop or else something bad could happen, right? God constantly warns us not to do something or to move, and when we don't listen it's as though we're driving straight through a stop sign onto the busy interstate with cars coming 70 MPH from every direction. We're in for a major disaster.
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What are some ways we can change some of those unhealthy communication habits we've made within our relationship with God?
One way I've been working on renewing my communication with God is through random prayers throughout the day when I think of it. I don't want to force myself to pray and make it a task, more so I want to think of the blessing it is to be able to talk to God about anything right away. I don't need to go find my phone first, I don't need to write a letter, and I don't need to drive to His home before I can say what I need or want to say.
When I've driving I do a vast majority of my thinking. Usually I talk to myself in my car so I figured why not talk to God? Whenever I've reminded of something or someone I need to pray about I simply pause my other thoughts and spend 30 seconds to 2 minutes simply approaching God about what's going on.
Overtime this becomes a habit and now I hardly need to remember to pray because it is something that comes much more easily to me now.
In addition to this, I also believe it is powerful to pray with people in the moment they confide in you. Why wait until you are home to pray for the person and the situation you just heard about? God hears our prayers even when our eyes are open, when we are standing in a room full of people talking loudly about who-knows-what, and no matter the length of time we speak.
I've mentioned before my breath prayers I was taught during my time in counseling. The breath prayer I still use on occasion is "let go, let God." 4 words that helped me through a dark time in my life. It was repetitive, short, and usually it wasn't even said outloud. God was still with me everytime and He heard each of those prayers.
Over the past few months I've begun to notice God is more areas of my life, and I notice things He is doing around me that I may not have noticed had I not started spending more quality time with Him.
There is no right or wrong way to pray really, just be careful not to become prideful or hasty in how you approach God. There is nothing wrong with bringing our requests before God, but remember that we ourselves become frustrated when people only come to us with things they need rather than simply to spend time with us.
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Prayer is an amazing gift! I pray that all of you would take something from this and be challenged to spend more time communicating with God on a regular basis- not asking God, but communicating.
"But God has surely listened and has heard my prayer."
-Psalm 66:19
Sarah
