Called To Pray

 1 Thessalonians 5:17

17 pray without ceasing

Prayer isn’t a new or strange thing to the world.  Prayer is not a practice that only the Christian practices as well.  In fact, I think that may be one problem we have in this world.  The people who should be praying the most, are not, and the people who do not believe in the one true God are praying more than the true believers.  Look at today’s verse.  One of the most simple verses in Scripture.  Pray without ceasing.  You may ask yourself, “How in the world can I practice that?  It’s impossible.”   First, Christ does not give us impossible tasks.  Second, we need to look at what prayer actually is because the fact is that many Christians don’t have a firm understanding of what prayer actually is.  

When asking Christians what they believe prayer is, the majority of time you will get the answer that it is when you go to God with your petitions.  Sadly, that’s even taught in most of our seminaries today.  Prayer is so much more though.  Prayer is the full interaction of us with God.  It’s not a one sided conversation.  It’s a conversation between us and Holy God.  A conversation between us and the Almighty Creator.  The fact that we as Christians even have the privilege to go to God in prayer should humble us.  When Christ died on the cross, the Bible records that the veil in the temple separating the Holy of Holies from the courtyard was torn from top to bottom.  This symbolized giving us full access to God.  We no longer needed intercession from another person or High Priest.  Our High Priest and intercessor, Jesus Christ, gave His life so that we may have full access to God. 

Hebrews 4:16

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

“Draw near” (Gk. proserchomai, “approach, go to, draw near to”) is used consistently in Hebrews to represent a person approaching God, which is possible only when one’s sins are forgiven through the sacrificial and intercessory ministry of a high priest. The encouragement to “draw near” to God’s throne implies that Christians have the privilege of a personal relationship with God. “Confidence” translates Greek parrēsia (“boldness,” “confidence,” “courage,” especially with reference to speaking before someone of great rank or power. It indicates that Christians may come before God and speak plainly and honestly (yet still with appropriate reverence), without fear that they will incur shame or punishment by doing so. “throne of grace.” God the Father, with Jesus at his right hand, graciously dispenses help from heaven to those who need forgiveness and strength in temptation.

God strives to have a relationship with His creation.  That is why He created us.  He did not create us just to have something to rule over.  God could have made anything in order to accomplish that task.  Instead God gave us free will so we could choose to love Him and have a relationship with us.  God does not, nor ever has, forced man to have a relationship with Him.  This is such a beautiful thing about God.  Think about this for a moment.  In our relationships with each other, would you rather have a husband/wife who was forced to love or one who chooses to love you?  Which one has the greater meaning?  Of course the one which chooses to love you.  That’s the kind of relationship and love that God wants from us.  He wants us to come to Him, to talk to Him, to share our sorrows, our joys, our wants, our thanksgivings, our problems, our happiness, literally everything in our life.  What’s even more beautiful is God is already aware of all of these things, even the things that we need before we even ask, but He still craves for us to talk with Him.  

Philippians 4:6-7

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Did you see a key phrase within that verse?  “But in everything.”  We should never be shy or overly cautious about what we go to the Father with in prayer.  He already knows it because He hears the hearts of men.  Talk to Him about it.  Whatever it may be in your life that you need to talk to Him about, talk to Him about it.  He offers perfect guidance.  He offers perfect solutions, and through prayer, God will guide you in your life.  When we do this, we experience peace because it reaffirms in our hearts that Almighty God is with us.

Matthew 6:5-8

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

The Bible tells us and attest to us that God is a jealous God.  This does not mean a bad envious form of jealousy.  Instead it's jealousy based in love.  God wants us, and He wants all of us, just like He craves for us to want all of Him.  When we pray, God wants us to have our full attention on Him in our prayer because in turn, God gives us His full attention.  While it’s not required, when was the last time you found a quiet place and got on your knees and prayed to Holy God?  Try it.  I know we all believe we are so busy in today’s world but we make time for those things we care about.  Make this something you care about.  Your time alone with God.  Just you and Him, and pray to Him.  Talk to Him.  Listen to Him.  He knows what we need before we ask, He just wants to hear us.  He wants that time with us.  We have a promise that if we meet God in our secret place, He will meet us and reward us openly.

James 5:16

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

When we pray, remember that we are commanded to pray not just for ourselves, but we are commanded to pray for one another.  One practice I have done is I daily look through my Facebook friends list and I try to pick out at least 5-10 friends and pray for them.  I don’t have to have specifics because as God mentioned in Matthew 6, He already knows the needs.  We just have to humble ourselves in prayer and think of others even more than we think of our own petitions.  Look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17.  Verse 9 says, 9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  Even in His great time of need, while He did pray for strength for HImself, He did not forget about us.  No matter what we are going through, we need to remember each other in prayer, be thankful unto God, and remember, as was mentioned in yesterday’s devotion, we must be patient and wait on God’s perfect timing.  His promise is that He will answer prayer, and He always does.