Prayer is Important

Prayer is important.

Seems kind of like an obvious idea, doesn't it? Isn't prayer how we talk to God? Shouldn't we pray more often for our friends, family, and ourselves?

But I wonder, how often do we pray? We should be praying every day. Prayer is supposed to be a lifestyle for us, never ceasing (1 Thess 5:17). And what do we pray about? Do we follow the model prayer that Jesus gave us, commonly called The Lord's Prayer (Matt 6:9-14)? How often do we pray for God's name to be hallowed, or for His Kingdom to come, for people to be saved? How often do we pray for our church and our pastor?

To be honest, my record states "not much."

There's no real excuse for not praying. My only reason for not praying as often as I should is that I'm lazy, which is not a good reason at all.

Now, I'm not saying that we need to be on our knees, head bowed, eyes closed, and hands folded all the time. In fact, I'm not aware of any Biblical command to pray like that. We certainly can, but we don't have to. Jesus always looked up to heaven when He prayed. The tax collector in Jesus' parable was too humbled and ashamed by his sin to look up to heaven when he prayed for forgiveness (Luke 18:13). Paul wrote down prayers in his letters (he had a scribe, so he was saying them aloud to someone, but I think it still stands). You could pray at home while washing the dishes. You could pray at work in your head. You could pray while driving (just don't close your eyes). The point is to be praying and thinking about God and His will all the time, whether we're alone or with people (that's not to say we should be too distracted by praying to interact with those people; just interact in a Godly manner).

If you can indulge a thought or two, I personally find it much easier to pray by writing prayers down. I don't have to be praying aloud to do this; in fact, it's probably better if I don't. But it helps me organize my thoughts better and allows me to really think about and look at the words I'm praying to my Lord. I write them on the spot and, if I feel I've left something out, I add it. It also helps to keep me focused so my mind doesn't wander off.

The main reason I think this is legitimate is because the purpose of prayer is to align our thoughts, minds, actions, hearts, souls, and lives with the will of God. If I'm actively thinking about everything I write, isn't that what I'm doing? I find I learn a lot more and feel much closer to God when I write down my prayers. My heart is full of joy and worship!

So yeah, prayer is important. And if you're having trouble thinking of what to pray about, I would urge you to look at the Lord's prayer. Really dig into it. What is God's Kingdom? What does it mean for His name to be hallowed? Have I sinned in some way I need to confess to God? What is God's will? (Hint: You can answer the last one with John 6:38-40, among other verses). Perhaps reading a passage of Scripture can give you ideas. The other day I prayed out of Mark 10:17-31, the passage about the rich young ruler. I praised God's worth, how it's greater than all our possessions. I prayed that we might be willing to give up everything for the Gospel if need be. I also thanked God for His provision and for saving and sanctifying us, among other things.

Get to it! Keep a journal or a book, write down things you want to pray for...do something that will help you and remind you to pray every day. I don't want to be lazy about prayer anymore and, if you've been lazy, I would love for you to join me in a journey towards a much better, much richer, much more right, and much more fulfilling prayer life.