Personal Perspective on Prayer
I was asked by a staff member of
Marketplace Ministries to write an article on the topic of prayer for their
magazine.
What meager words can I offer to convey the value and purpose of
communicating with God – especially to men and women who faithfully serve to
demonstrate the love of Christ in the workplace? It occurred to me that our own
inadequacy is precisely why we pray. We come in our weakness with all our needs,
trusting in the All Sufficient One to help us. It is not the eloquence but the
earnestness that enables us to connect to the heart of God.
As I doubted my capacity to write something of sufficient quality, I avoided preparing this article. I suspect that could be true of our prayer life as well. If we feel we need to be perfect or articulate, or have robust courage and confidence before we can approach God, we will hesitate to make petitions and be reluctant to enter God's presence.
I propose a few points to ponder:
Prayer
is a privilege - When considering the awesome
reality that we are permitted to approach the throne of God, I am often
reminded of the courage of Queen Esther. She risked a death sentence to come
uninvited before the king to present her request on behalf of her people.(Esther
4::14-16) We serve the King of Kings who does not grudgingly grant permission
for us to cower in His presence but urges us to boldly approach Him. He cares
and compassionately hears our requests. (Hebrews 4:14-16)As I doubted my capacity to write something of sufficient quality, I avoided preparing this article. I suspect that could be true of our prayer life as well. If we feel we need to be perfect or articulate, or have robust courage and confidence before we can approach God, we will hesitate to make petitions and be reluctant to enter God's presence.
I propose a few points to ponder:
Prayer is a priority - Often we view prayer as a last resort. We can have the misguided attitude that we must exhaust all human effort before seeking God's help and guidance. The Psalmist wrote "early will I seek Thee..." (Psalm 63:1) I believe that could mean not only first thing in our day, but early in a circumstance. Don't wait to pray. A common dilemma is the erroneous belief that we are too busy to pray. It is vital that we take time to pray. We are instructed to always pray about everything. (Phil.4:6, 1Thess 5:17)
Prayer is powerful - There are a multitude of promises in the Bible about the effectiveness of prayer. God is able to do beyond what we can imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) Nothing is impossible (Mark 11:23, Luke 1:27) not because of some strength we muster in ourselves, but because of faith and trust in God's power.
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