Prayer, in its simplest form, is talking to God.
But more takes place in prayer then just talking. Prayer is intimate conversation and communion with God. Imagine prayer as a relationship. If you wanted to become more intimate with your spouse, how much time would you spend with them? Would 5 minutes a day suffice? Perhaps 30 minutes? If you only talked to your spouse for 30 minutes a day, what kind of a relationship would you have? Would you be able to trust someone in that kind of a limited relationship? Surely not, because you wouldn’t be able to even know what the person is like! A healthy relationship of communication requires talking, listening and understanding. It is giving the very BEST of your time, rather than the last few minutes leftover from a busy and exhausting day. An indication of a great relationship is honest, open communication and trust. Can each of us say the same characterizes our relationship with God?

A relationship with God is as important as a relationship with a loved one (if not more important). God wants us to become intimately acquainted with Him, revealing a wealth of rich knowledge and wisdom, if we would only take the time to listen.
Don’t be fooled, prayer is hard work. Our weak flesh does not want to toil and wait on the Lord. We have busy lives, and taking the first moments of our day seems like a waste. “There will be time later to pray,” we think, but we are wrong. We must give God the best part of our time, energy and thoughts. Prayer requires discipline, perseverance and sustained work.

“Prayer is no petty duty, put into a corner; no piecemeal performance made out of the fragments of time which have been snatched from business and other engagements of life; but it means that the best of our time, the heart and strength of our time must be given.” (Power Through Prayer, E.M. Bounds, pg 29-30). The best offering we can give is prayer. It takes much effort to be still before God and listen. But He has so much He wants to give!

As we spend time with Christ, He transforms us. He transforms our minds, thoughts, actions and reactions, our character and much more. We cannot expect to be like Christ, and never spend time with Him. Prayer strengthens, refreshes, rejuvenates, grants wisdom and direction, gives peace, fortitude, assurance, and reveals Christ to us. What a blessing! All we must do is come before Him and give ourselves.

God is not as interested in our words as He is in our heart.
Repetitions or fancy words do not move the hand of God. He looks for a man willing to surrender his will, desires and wants. He looks for a man who approaches in humility, with a heart bowed ready to listen and receive from the Lord. Facades and theatricals do not impress God. He looks for sincerity. He desires a heart emptied of its own ways and ready to receive to overflowing the life of Christ.

We must not try to clean ourselves up before we approach him. The only way to remove our filth and cleanse our sins is to confess our iniquity to Christ and accept His forgiveness. We must come as we are, without trying to cover up what He already knows. “Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.” Carrey’s Brotherhood, Serampore.

The Bible is rich with verses talking about prayer. He desires those wanting to know Him more to approach Him, in humility, and sit at His feet; to learn from Him and of Him. As we know the Lord more, we can trust Him because we know Him and His love for us. We can also worship Him more and better, because He has revealed Himself to us!

A very precious promise the Lord gives in His Word is that He will hear and answer our prayers when we cry unto Him.

• Psalm 30:2-3 “O Lord, I cried unto You, and You healed me. O Lord, You have brought up my soul from the grave: You have kept me alive, that I should not go down into the pit.

• Psalm 40:1-2 “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

• Psalm 50:15 “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me”

• John 14:14 (Jesus speaking), “If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

• John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.”

• John 16:23-24 “And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily (truly, truly), I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto (Until now), you have asked nothing in My name: ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

Scripture is full of His Word saying He hears and answers quickly. It is not by our merit or experience or education or learning or culture that causes God to answer. It is for His names sake that He answers. He also answers in order to show His glory to His creation.

A last thought about prayer: I recently read a book by Bill Gothard called, "The Power of Crying Out." I highly recommend getting this short, 100 page book. In the book, Mr. Gothard talks about the importance and power in crying out to God when in desperate need. The book is packed with illustrations about people who cried aloud, lifted their voices on high and asked for deliverance, safety, healing, wisdom, etc. and God answered. Scripture is packed with stories and verses that show how God answered when they cried out loud to Him.

Crying out causes us to throw all caution to the wind.
We don’t care what others may think—our focus is on God alone. If your car was being hijacked, would you calmly ask for help, or would you yell “Help!” at the top of your lungs? It is similar when we need help from God.  Our crying out shows God how much we need Him.

Crying aloud also requires humility and brokenness.
God listens to those of a broken and contrite spirit (Psalm 51:17), those who are humbled and do not feel it is “beneath” them to ask God for help or direction. As long as we think there is still another way out, or another option we haven’t tried yet, then God is only a last option if everything else fails, instead of the FIRST option we pursue.

Crying out requires faith.
“The more desperately we cry to God for help, the more likely we are to have faith in Him” (pg 77). One can cry out to God at anytime in any circumstance for any reason and ask God for help or deliverance.

Your faith does not have to be large to ask God for something.
Jesus said you only needed faith as large as a mustard seed (which is the smallest seed). Prayer is not a blank check for us to ask selfishly, but it is a blank check for God to give us every heavenly blessing and richly reward us.

We challenge you to pray.
Take 5 minutes right now and talk to God. Tell Him what you are thinking, feeling or struggling with. Nothing can shock Him or turn His ear away from you. He wants you, just as you are, to come and sit with Him, to listen and learn from His love and grace. He has the treasures of heaven ready to be poured out into your life. All you need to do is ask.

After talking to God for a few minutes, sit still and be quiet. Don’t let your thoughts race and trouble your time with Him. (If your thoughts race or wander, do not try to stop them by more thoughts. Just refocus your attention on God). There will be an entire day to go about your day’s business and plan your day. Just listen to Him. If God were speaking, would you hear Him, or would He still be trying to get your attention? He won’t force you into prayer or listening, because He loves you. He wants to be in a love relationship with You, but you must be willing to give Him a chance.

We want to support you in prayer by praying for you.  No prayer request is too small or too big to bring before the throne of God. If you need prayer, email us at prayer@strongwithGod.org. Your requests will be kept confidential among our prayer team. If it is an emergency, flag your email high priority.

Hold onto your socks, because you might be surprised by His love, mercy and grace. Give Him a chance, and see what marvels unfold in your life!
 

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