An Active Prayer Life

When you think of prayer what comes to mind? Your childhood bedtime, kneeling by your bed, perhaps? Sitting around the table at dinner time and saying grace before the meal? How about being in church on Sundays and hearing your pastor pray for those who are sick and hurting?

While all of these reflect prayer that is admirable, I would like to focus on personal prayer life. You, me, Christians everywhere…we are all seeking a close, personal relationship with God and it begins with an active prayer life. You might argue it begins with the acceptance of Christ into our hearts, but didn’t that begin with prayer? In fact, that prayer of confession, repentance, and acceptance is probably the most personal and significant prayer any of us have ever prayed. It brought us humbly to the throne and gave us freedom from our past, present, and future sin. Not much compares to it.

I named a few things at the beginning and they each have their place. Maybe you aren’t a kid anymore, but you might have kids. Nighttime praying is a special time between parents and children, or between any adult who loves the child in their care. It is a time to be thankful and to be reminded of the wonderful sacrifice made by Jesus. It’s also a time to be an example of Deuteronomy 11:19 where we are told to “…shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Do you say grace each time you eat? When you’re home and when you’re out? I confess, I don’t. I get caught up in the moment of the environment or the company sometimes and I don’t. God knows I don’t so there’s no point in trying to convince you! Romans 14:6 says, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.” I read that I see “You woke up, give thanks to God! You have a meal, give thanks to God! You fast, give thanks to God!” That’s just my interpretation, but it makes sense.

Every Sunday at church there are times of prayer and reflection. And, yes, sometimes there are prayer requests for those who need healing and those who need salvation. We should all want to pray for those people because God hears our prayers. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” So says 1 John 5:14. Is it always God’s will to heal? It may be easier to accept that His will is not for healing when it’s someone we aren’t close to, but we still need to be intense in our prayer even when it isn’t someone we have a personal relationship with. And we need to be more intense still if the prayer involves salvation that someone hasn’t accepted yet. Given the choice of healing or salvation, the choice is clear. We can pray for both, but always according to His will. If this seems harsh, talk to someone who lost a loved one to cancer, but who knew Jesus. Then talk to someone whose loved one was healed but never accepted Christ, even until death. As Christians it is our duty to share the gospel and our greatest joy comes from knowing that those we love will see God’s face one day.

I’m going to assume you’ve prayed a prayer of salvation and are seeking a deeper connection with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. (If you haven’t prayed a prayer of salvation, I encourage you to do that. I’ll put a short prayer at the end.) So what exactly is an active prayer life?

“Rejoice always,  pray continually,  and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians to encourage them. But how realistic is his admonition to them? Rejoice always? Pray continually? …in all circumstances? This is God’s will for us? Do you feel like God’s will is out of reach and not quite realistic? If we look at the words at face value then it would appear as such. But to rejoice always is to find joy in what Jesus has done for you. It doesn’t mean you never have sorrow. In fact we are told in 1 Peter that “sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.” Joy comes from within; it comes from knowing that Christ died for you and that no matter what struggles you might be facing, joy is always an option.

Pray. Continually. This is the bread and butter of our spiritual relationship with God. Does God imply here that we should do nothing else? I don’t believe so. After all, He has given us talents to use to serve Him and blessed many of us with families to care for. If we spent all of our waking hours on our knees in prayers we would hardly be able to care for our loved ones. It does mean that we can have a heart of service and gratitude in all we do. We can wake up and say a short morning prayer of thanksgiving and throughout the day we can take moments to give thanks, offer praise, sing a song of worship, or simply look up and acknowledge the Creator when we walk outside. Pray is personal and it doesn’t have to be a formal occurrence. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for intentional prayer done in a devoted way, with our hands folded, eyes closed, and total focus.

Prayer should be a conversation with a friend, a friend named Jesus. It shouldn’t be forced or rehearsed, and we shouldn’t say what we think He wants to hear. God already knows what’s in your heart so you can’t fool him. So why try? Speak the truth, pray what is in your heart. The more you do this, the more genuine and heartfelt your prayers will become. And the more you will see God answering them. Before you turn to someone for advice, seek God’s wisdom. When you are faced with a difficult decision, open your Bible and prayerfully seek answers. Prayer builds our relationship with God. It doesn’t take time away from more important things; it opens up doors that will lead to the blessings which God has in store for you. Blessings that will exceed anything you can imagine!