First, You Pray

In my early years of adulthood I learned an important truth about prayer.

When our family moved just before my senior year of high school, a new chapter of my life began. As hard as it was at the time, hindsight and many years later I can honestly say that I am very grateful for that season of change. Obviously because I met my future husband, but also because of the opportunities God placed in front of me to begin growing in my faith. Though I had made a personal decision to follow Christ when I was 12, I hadn’t had the opportunity to learn what that decision really meant for my life.

When my husband and I started dating that senior year of high school, we were both “new kids”. His family had moved there that summer as well, and our paths crossed in a home economics class! He was a pastor’s son who was serious about his faith, and on our very first date he asked me to go to church with him the next day.

I was smitten.

Saying “yes” meant that anxiety would keep me from getting much sleep that night, but saying “no” could possibly cost me any hope of him asking me out again.

My thinking wasn’t far from the truth. Though I didn’t know how many chances I would get, I would later find out. Because he was a Christian, he was committed to following God’s plan for his life–and that included his belief (based on Scripture) that he should only date girls with a like-minded faith.

Not willing to risk it, I chose him that night.

For those of you that don’t know my story, let me back up a few years and remind you of just how different we really were in those early years. My future husband was second of four boys in his family and I was second of two boys and two girls in mine. His dad was a pastor and though our family had attended church for many years, in my elementary years it all changed. Only twelve years old, I was suddenly in a family that didn’t attend church at all and the change was drastic. What had once been the foundation of our family suddenly disappeared with nothing to fill the void. It wasn’t just church “activity”, but it was the relationships with others and with God. No more conversation about God. No more learning about Him or learning from His Word–no more spiritual growth.

After that scary first visit to a new church, I discovered a renewed passion for God, His Word, His people and His presence. One of the first areas that changed when I started to grow in my faith was my prayer life. At one of the most crucial times in my life–those young adult years–I began to seriously consider what God might want for my life. Some of the most life-altering decisions come in those years post-high school, and my perspective on prayer changed.

… or more accurately–my prayer life began a transformation.

My immaturity as a believer was evident in prayer. I often saw prayer as just something we were supposed to do at mealtimes (showing our gratitude for God’s provision) and at bedtime (asking for God’s protection) or sometimes just out of desperation (as a last resort). The truth is, I had never been taught to pray and the only prayer I had seen modeled in my childhood was typically either a rote prayer or a traditional memorized prayer. I don’t remember it ever feeling personal.

When I finally read what Jesus said about prayer and learned what the Bible teaches, it became not just something I felt like I was supposed to do to make God happy, but a lifeline straight from my heart to His.

PRAYER IS A LIFELINE FROM YOUR HEART TO GOD’S

In one of my favorite books on prayer, Enjoying the Presence of God, Jan Johnson quotes Martin Luther: “Prayer isn’t a performance, but a ‘climbing up to the heart of God.’” I couldn’t love that more. God is our Heavenly Father and His desire is that we would want to come to Him. Desiring His presence should be our first response, not a last resort. After all, it is only through Jesus opening the door and the prayer of repentance that we are given the privilege of coming into His presence!

“This is what the Lord says: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that he understands and knows me—
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.” Jeremiah 9:23-24

In Luke 11 when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He modeled it for them:

He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say, Father,
your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves also forgive everyone
in debt to us.
And do not bring us into temptation.”

In verses 9-13, He goes on to encourage them:

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Can you see why I might say, “First, You Pray?” Not just transformational, but foundational to my relationship with God is this discipline of prayer. How could I possibly understand His Word or how to obey it without prayer? Why would I want to make those life-altering choices without Him, or better yet, why would I not want to come to Him for wisdom in handling the day-to-day ones?

I know that for some, prayer is intimidating. Jesus surely sensed the motives behind the disciples’ request. Feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness are a part of the human condition. Jesus took that opportunity to reassure them that God the Father encourages us to talk to Him. He then demonstrated for us the importance of prayer, along with a glimpse of what it should look like–not a necessarily a prayer to be read or scripted, but the continual practice of spending time with the Father.

ASKING. SEEKING. KNOCKING.

What a privilege it is! Let’s not forget that Jesus’ purpose for coming was to conquer the sin that separated us from our Creator. His sacrifice was–and is the pathway to God’s presence. Do you want to know God better? Talk to Him. Read His Word. Spend time with Him. His door is always open to the one who is honestly seeking Him.