Prayer is a form of worship and communion with our Savior, it is
fundamental to our growth as a follower of Christ. Martin Luther King
Jr. once said: "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." How true this statement is.
I
have been reading through the Psalms lately and they are an incredible
picture of this discipline. David gives a beautiful picture of how
prayer works in the life of one who truly loves the Lord. David prayed
on all occasions, it didn't matter if he was feeling the weight of sin,
the results of deep anxiety or the fruits of great joy. He experienced
prayer on every level with his Father in Heaven. Prayer is more then a
thanks for a meal or the catch phrase: "Well, I guess we just have to
pray about that..."; as though that is the last option in a believers
life. No, prayer is so much more then that! It is found in the dawn of
a fresh new day when all is quiet and it's just you, the Lord and His
mercy. It's found in scared memories, in the praise that
invites the Lord to be your all, in the thanks you give for the blessings received, in the whispered pleas for wisdom, for the friend who is hurting, in the rejoicing you do because
you are overcome with gratitude, it's found in the pages of a journal,
it's found in your closet when you shut the door to embrace the solitude
of deep prayer. It's found in the forgiveness you seek for a sin
committed and in the help your Father gives you because He loves
you. In short, it is in the moments of the day and even in the night
when God calls you to intercession.
I read Psalms 145:18, 19 one day and it really caught my attention: "The
LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and
saves them." Psalms 145:18, 19. What incredible promise lies in
these verses. I love how they are worded, He is near to them, call on
Him in truth, fear Him, He hears us and saves us. Often He saves me
from my own thought life when I call on Him in truth. It has impacted
me to read through all the ways in which David reached for communion
with the Lord, in a wide variety of situations. It encouraged me to
really work on the discipline of prayer throughout the day. It is this
discipline that directly impacts my thought life and my relationships because it involves me really being present with the Lord. I was drawn to the passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
"4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but [a]divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are
taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" Prayer is a
weapon of warfare. I know in order to effectively fight against lies
and those things that would draw me away from my relationship with the
Lord I need my prayer life to be active and full, each day, in the
moments of that day. As
I start in on a day, I need to start with prayer, persist in prayer and
end with prayer. Keeping my relationship with the Lord fueled by
prayer is an important part of building my house on that firm and sure foundation. It renews me throughout the day to talk to my Lord and Savior. And when I come to the end of the day and can say: "I spoke with God often.", even if it's been a challenging, difficult day, I know I have relied on Him to be my strength.
