Prayer

by Rachel Hemans

The idea of prayer is not in order to get answers from God; prayer is perfetc and complete oneness with God” - Oswald Chambers

Prayer so often becomes a duty instead of a pleasure, a discipline instead of a joy. Why is it that it seems so difficult sometimes to pray? Why do we struggle to find words, do not know what to pray about, or keep looking at the clock to see when we have prayed enough? Why does there seem to be more pressure and expectation at prayer meetings to pray well, to be deep and spiritual, to be fluent?

There appears to be so many expectations on prayer, on being effective in prayer and reaching the throne of God. Prayer has become a skill, a talent, something to be practiced and mastered. There are so many things to consider now when praying: the form, content, and delivery.

Somehow I don’t think that this is what God has in mind when he asks us to pray. It is simple communion with God, pouring out whatever is on our hearts and listening for what’s on His. Our hearts can express worship, thanksgiving, petition, confession or intercession - in the end all that matters is we’re talking to God. In doing this, there are inherent principles of trust in God, earnestness, purpose, faith…but the important issue is to be able to come to our heavenly Father without having to analyse how we’re praying, to come to the throne without fear but boldly. For me, Romans 8:26 highlights the simplicity of prayer to the point of it just being groans!

Let us come to the Father in the knowledge that He loves us and wants to spend time with us, for this is the joy of prayer.

Comments

[Aaron]

"The men that will change the colleges and seminaries here represented are the men that will spend the most time alone with God. It takes time for the fires to burn. It takes time for God to draw near and for us to know that He is there. It takes time to assimilate His truth. You ask me, How much time? I do not know. I know it means time enough to forget time."

"He that loveth little prayeth little, he that loveth much prayeth much."

"I have seen many men work without praying, though I have never seen any good come out of it; but I have never seen a man pray without working"