I have always prayed. Even before I knew who Jesus was, I prayed to God throughout my life. I believed that God heard my prayers, but my understanding of God and how He worked was extremely narrow and limited. My discipline or practice of prayer was equally narrow and limited. I would pray the “emergency” prayers in a time of urgent need. “Please, God, help me find a place to live before I have to vacate where I am at.”
I would pray the “bargain” prayers, “God, please let me do well on this exam, and I promise I will study more next time.”
My practice of praying could be characterized as “ditch praying,” where I only prayed when I was in a “ditch,” oftentimes one that I dug myself and needed help. “Ditch praying” is not bad because we pray for a need. God wants us to turn to Him in our time of need, but not only in our time of need. God wants us to turn to Him all the time. Back then, I didn’t turn to God all the time because God was not at the center of my life. I was at the center of my life. I believed that I had to figure life out and scrap and learn quickly to get the most out of it and to achieve the happiness that everyone seemed to be after.
Fast forward 20 years, and I finally figured out that I didn’t have it all figured out. I was 41 years old, and everything in my journey was progressively pointing me to Jesus. I didn’t understand why or how, but I knew Jesus was the answer, and I had to follow Him. So I did. I took that leap of faith.
Do you know what they tell new believers? You have to pray, pray, and pray some more. Pray every day. But no one explained how to pray or why we pray. And when somebody discussed prayer, many assumptions were made, which put the new believer on the spot to ask questions. This was frustrating because, as a new believer, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I remember being confused by long-time or lifelong Christians who also confessed to struggling with prayer.
What about prayer made it seem difficult to grasp for new and some long-time Christians? Does it matter? What is the big deal about prayer? What is prayer exactly, and how do you do it? Why pray? When should we pray?
These are all questions that I will explore and hopefully shed some light on in weekly posts over the next month or two. I will share ways that helped me trade the sporadic “ditch praying” for a continuously engaged relationship with Jesus.
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Until next time, have a blessed week!