Prayer is communication between a Father and His children. In one sense, that is all there is to it. When prayer seems difficult, and we feel unworthy of asking the Almighty Creator God to answer our seemingly mundane requests, we would do well to remember that Fathers want to talk with their children; and most parents will tell you that the communication is much more important than the topic.
With God, however, prayer is not limited by words, but it is a touching of our spirit, with the Holy Spirit of God, that leads us into relationship with the Father. This means that we don't need to put into words, but can simply open our heartfelt thoughts and emotions to our Father God. But how can this be, you might ask? Why would God allow himself to be pestered by millions of prayer requests from us?
The answer is that prayer is a gift. God has given each and every one of us the opportunity to address him directly. Moreover, not only is prayer a gift in itself, but God answers prayers with further gifts. Jesus teaches "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him". John writes in his epistle, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." As a child of God you are invited to come boldly before His throne.
We would do well to remember that the gift of prayer is given out of God's generosity, and not because we have earned it. Sinners as well as saints can pray. Because the gift of prayer is a gift from the Almighty Creator, we come into prayer with reverence, and will often start with praise and thanksgiving, focusing on who God is. But because he is also our Father, we need not fear Him, but can know that God loves us with a greater depth and intensity than any human being is capable of.
Why should we pray? Prayer brings the power of God to bear on the situations that we are concerned about. Prayer is one of the ways that God is able to work in our lives and in the lives of others, and it opens new possibilities. So we can freely bring all of our concerns, our thoughts and desires, our hurts and our needs to Him, knowing that He is our loving Father, who wants to hear from us.
HOW CAN I FIND TIME TO PRAY?
Many of us struggle to bring God into the busyness of our lives. Our busy schedule can squeeze out our prayer time, and when we do pray, we may find it difficult to bring our activities to God as prayer topics. We might think that God can't possibly be interested in our work life, or in our housework, or our leisure time. Yet the God, who is the Lord of all of our lives, is interested in everything we do.
Brother Lawrence was a seventeenth century French monk who knew God's presence at all times. His writings, borne out of experience of the bustle of a monastery kitchen, have much to teach us today. "God is everywhere, in all places, and there is no spot where we cannot draw near to Him, and hear Him speaking in our heart." His central teaching is that we need to practice being aware of God's presence. "Whoever practices God's presence will soon become spiritual." "How can we be with Him, unless our thoughts are with Him? How can He be in our thoughts unless we form a holy habit of abiding in His presence, there asking for the grace we need each moment of our life?" Paul writes to the Ephesians: "Pray all the time, asking for what you need." (Eph 6:18)
Pointers for Prayer: Why not practice the presence of God today? If you have a watch that beeps on the hour, allow it to do so for a day or two, and despite the potential for irritating your colleagues or neighbors, use this to prompt you to become aware of God's presence at that precise moment.
Alternatively, put a colored dot on your diary, or on your mobile phone. Every time you see it, pray a brief prayer for someone in your mind at that time.
As well as finding God in the activity of modern living, we also need to find time to draw aside. Yet this can be hard to do - for one activity leads to the next in ceaseless pattern, leaving the only opportunity for a quiet time, the moment when we climb into bed exhausted, and in no condition for productive prayer.
Pointers for Prayer: If you are often driven by your diary, with one appointment after another, why not let your diary help you? Book yourself an appointment with God for prayer - it may only be a half-hour slot, but you can guarantee that He will never be late for it, unlike some of your other appointments! Look back over your weekly pattern to identify some ten to fifteen minute periods that you can use to be with God. Maybe there is a TV program that you watch regularly, but don't really enjoy.
CAN I HEAR GOD?
Prayer is two-way communication. God wants to speak to us when we meet with him in prayer. His desire to speak to us is far greater than our desire to hear from him. He is not going to make it difficult. Often God makes it too simple, and we can miss what he is saying to us because we are seeking the wrong thing - an obviously supernatural voice - audible, and preferably from a six foot angel dressed in white, so that there is not the slightest doubt that it is God speaking to us! We should take comfort from Samuel, who took three attempts before he was able to recognize God's voice speaking to him. ()
Remember that God wants us to listen to him. In Proverbs we read "Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord." (Proverbs 8:34) and Jesus said "My sheep listen to my voice." (John 10:27)
God speaks to us in many ways. Here are some of them:
Through the Bible. The Bible is God's living word. We should not be surprised that when we read a passage there is something in it which jumps out at us that is particularly relevant to our situation. Particular verses come into our minds as we pray, and God will use some of them to speak to us. Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that "the word of God is living and active" and "sharper than any double edged sword." Clearly we need to be reading the bible regularly if God is to use it to speak to us.
Through Others God can use others in unremarkable ways such that they themselves are often unaware that they are being used. We can recognize significance in their words or actions, or in their timing. A series of coincidences becomes God-incidences!
To us in our hearts. When God speaks to us as we pray it can be similar to the "voice" of our conscience. Over time we come to recognize God speaking in our thoughts and placing things onto our minds. This will take practice, and there will be times when you are unsure whether it is God or your own thoughts.
Through words and pictures. Through the Holy Spirit, God can give us certain pictures, visions or words. We may understand the meaning of these immediately, or they may require sharing with others, so that someone else can explain them to us, or God may reveal it to us over time.
Sometimes when we pray God can be silent - we can listen yet hear nothing. At these times it may be up to us to respond to what he has already spoken to us by putting it into practice in our lives. However, we should test things that we believe have come from God. I Thessalonians 5:19 says "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything." Whilst we should believe that the word of God is active today, and that God wants to communicate with us, it is only wise to check out what we believe God may be saying to us. These words don't carry the same weight of scripture, and do need to be weighed carefully. Otherwise we run the risk of believing something is from God, waiting for him to fulfill it, and being disappointed when that doesn't happen, and feeling let down by God. Whilst the principal test is whether something is in line with scripture, God will not give us any words which are not in line with the Bible, His Word; it is also useful to share the message with other mature Christians for their reflection and discernment.
Pointers for Prayer : Hearing God takes practice. Do make sure that you leave some time for God to speak to you in your prayer time, and do ask him to speak to you - tell him that you want to hear his views and that you seek his will.
GUIDE TO PRAYER
One structure for prayer is given by the acronym "ACTS", representing adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (or intercession.) This is one order, where we start off focusing on who God is, and praising him for that. Others find a CATS pattern helpful, beginning by clearing out of the way the things that sadden God in our lives, before we can go onto praise him. Let's look briefly at each in turn:
Adoration is to adore God, to worship him and to fulfill the commandment to love him with all of our heart, mind and soul. As we spend time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer.
Confession allows us to clear away the things in the relationship between you and God which are displeasing to Him. All of us have sinned. John writes in his epistle "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I Jn 1:8-9)
Thanksgiving. From childhood we are brought up to say "Thank You" when someone does something for us, or gives us a gift. Each moment God is blessing us, every minute we can recall the wonderful things that God has done for us, and the gifts that we have been given. And so, we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings. In writing to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that we also need to be giving thanks for everyday, worldly things " I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Tim 2:1.
Supplication or Intercession. Finally we come to ask God for our needs and the needs of others. There are many demands on our prayer time - many topics and issues that we could pray for, so we need to choose, and to be specific.
WHAT TO PRAY FOR:
Pray for others. In the epistles of St Paul, we read of him praying for those he has led to faith, and asking them also to pray for him. So, you too can pray for other Christians, and encourage them to pray for you. Pray for your family members, and for neighbors and friends. It's also good to pray for those who don't know Jesus to come to faith - many Christians have come to believe in Christ through the prayers of others.
Pray for world issues: for peace in difficult situations, for leaders and those in influential positions, for global issues such as care of God's environment, justice for the poor, relief of suffering in less developed countries, and other issues that come to you.
Pray for your own needs too. It's easy to neglect this, but Jesus encourages us to do so in the Lord's Prayer - the model for prayer that He gave us.