Let's Talk About It

The Bible speaks frequently regarding the importance of prayer. King David, described as a man after God's heart, continually sought communion with his Heavenly Father through prayer. During his earthly ministry, Jesus often retreated to be alone with God in prayer--especially during the most difficult times in his life (Matthew 26:36-46). We know, through God's Word, that we are to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17), we are to pray for others (1 Timothy 2:1) and that our prayers are powerful and effective (James 5:16).

So why is it that prayer is such a challenge for God's men? Why does spending time with the One who created us in His image often take a backseat to all of the other activities in our lives? Why do we often find our prayer time becoming an obligation or worse yet a missed appointment, rather than the life-giving necessity that it is?

Psalm 139:1 says: O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. Since He is all-powerful and all-knowing, God knows not only what we want but also what we need and when we need it. When we limit God to being our cosmic ATM machine, we limit his infinite wisdom to the limits of our limited understanding. We force ourselves to either doubt the power of prayer or the ability of God to answer. Yet, when we pray in Jesus' name, we alter our priorities and open the door for blessing beyond what we can imagine.

We have the promise that our prayers in Jesus' name will be answered in a way to bring glory to God (John 14:13) and we also have the warning that if we pray with the wrong motives, our prayers won't be answered (James 4:3). We also have the assurance that if God makes us wait for an answer, He is strengthening us in the process (Psalm 27:14).