Monday, April 4, 2011

Prayer: Our Words to God

How precious it is that the Creator of the universe wants to have a personal relationship with me! And the key to any relationship, particularly our relationship with our Heavenly Father, is communication. We need to be in constant communication with God in order to grow our relationship with Him. And so, we pray. Some might say that reading our Bibles is how we get to know God. While that is partially true, it's hard for a relationship to really develop with God without prayer. Prayer is communicating with God. It's official defined as "devout petitions to God" or "an act of worship" or "spiritual communion with God". We can read the Bible every day of our lives, but until we call out to God and ask Him to be Lord of our lives then we don't have a relationship with Him. You know, I can read all kinds of books on Brad Pitt. I can find out all I want to know about him on the Internet. I can find out when and where he was born. I can find out about his career, and even about his family. But if I went to his house with all this knowledge, they still wouldn't let me in. Why? Because I don't know have a relationship with him!! We've never talked! It's the same with our Heavenly Father. In order to get into His eternal house that He has prepared for us, we must have a relationship with Him. Studying the Bible isn't enough. It's good, but it's just not enough. Romans 10:9 says it's with our mouths that we are saved. It's by confessing to our Father our need for Him that starts our relationship moving in the right direction. If you still don't think prayer is important, well, consider Jesus. He prayed. He prayed a lot. Most people that have ever attended church could probably even quote one of His prayers to you, The Lord's Prayer. That's out of Matthew 6, and it's a great prayer to say! However, I think prayer is a lot more than just reciting something to God. We need to express ourselves to Him. We need to tell Him our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our disbelieves, and our struggles. And we need to listen to what He has to say to us. That's real communication. That's when our relationship really starts to grow. How's your prayer life? Need a good reminder to pray. Well, why not pray every time you are at at stop sign or a traffic light. Or, why not set a reminder on your smart phone. There's a lot of way we can develop our prayer lives. Let's start today!

No comments: