Lord, teach us to pray (Part XIV)
Posted By admin1 on March 4, 2010
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psalms 1: 2-3).
An active prayer life is essential to our Spiritual Growth. We cannot grow in the Lord unless we purposefully spend time in His presence. The time we choose to spend with God outside of worship services must be deliberate. It must be a sacrifice we are willing to joyfully give the Lord. Our idea of prayer are often limited to making our wish list, that is what we desire the Lord to do for us. Most of us do not even consider that time to pray could like manner be time to ask God what He requires of us and thus open opportunities for us to do for God. Prayer is not only about our petitions, supplications and our needs. Whilst praying we should not forget to give thanks, “and forget not all his benefits.” (Psalms 103: 2) and to praise (Psalms 117: 1) and adore Him. When we pray, it is a time also to hear from God (Joshua 3: 9), to seek His face (Psalms 105: 4) and to abide in His presence (Psalms 91:1), learning and meditating on his word and his will and to hear thus saith the Lord God.
By prayer life we mean our private time at home in the presence of God. This may include praying, singing, studying, worshiping whether alone or others such with members of your household. We often think of praying privately when we are in crisis and facing hardships. Daniel prayed in good times. And continued even when his own life was at stake (Daniel 6). His prayers during the good times, prepared him for the bad times.
For many of us however, it takes crisis to make us remember that God still exists outside the Church. A continuous prayer lifestyle, will strengthen our Spiritual posture in season and out of season. We will be stronger no matter the storm ( St. Matthew 7: 24-25). A strong prayer life will help us know his will and strengthen us to keep God’s commandments consistently, even when we are out of sight. Daniel continued to pray even when there was declaration of the King’s decree not to.
Spending time in the presence of the Lord, will give courage to correct our evil ways, revive our conscience and fear doing evil (Psalm 51:1-19). Meditating on the scriptures, will put the fear of the Lord in us. It will be easier and a joy to apply the word of God in our lives (Psalms 37:4-5). To reach this mark, we need to be willing to Make room for Jesus in our lives, give the Lord some of our time and surrender all of our lives to Him.
Building a strong prayer life requires commitment to God and a strong desire to living righteously. Be willing to sacrifice our personal time in His presence listening and learning what the scriptures teach us of God and God’s ways . Quality time spent with God will build a close relationship with Him and in return sin will flee from us (James 4:7). We must choose a suitable time of the day and schedule it so that other activities of life will be secondary.
Our prayer life must be woven into our lives as a continuous habit rather than a special occasion. Our lifestyles should uplift the commandments of God. A clashing lifestyle will not sustain a strong prayer lifestyle. Ungodly habits and/or company will choke our desire for God (Psalms 63:1).
Our schedule must be flexible enough to accommodate unforeseen life disturbances but still be consistent enough to keep this habit as a daily practice possible.
Our goals and objectives for this time will fuel our strength. For instance if our reason for praying are our problems, then when our problems go away prayer will cease too. Our reasons for praying will influence what we do and what we do will determine our strength.
As we learn to give our time to God, we will also learn to hear and to receive from the Lord. Our prayers are not only about receiving. They are also about giving our time and our attention to God. Next time you pray don’t only list what you want to receive, also list what you want to give, for if we seek him first, then all these things shall be added (St. Matthew 6: 33).
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Thanks for sharing the necessity of spending time with God, because some how we misplace this time with repeating a prayer not realizing that repeating a prayer is not sufficient time with the Master. The more time with the Master the greater we become Spiritually. God bless you and everyone that reads this writing that we will be committed to spend more time with the Master.