08/26/2024
Do we pray in little bits and fragments, or do we carve out the best hours of our day for prayer, and then immerse ourselves in it and the presence of God? When we don’t give our entire selves, and undivided attention, to the Lord in prayer, then what does that say about the value we place on our relationship with Him? Jesus sets a high bar for us when it comes to dedicating ourselves to prayer. To him it is not an afterthought, nor something to be done in passing, no, it is something holy that is to be sweated over, bled over, and that will often take all night to accomplish. Shouldn’t we at least give our Father the best of what we have by dedicating quality time to our prayers?
“During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.”
Luke 6:12 CSB
I like the way that Pastor E. M. Bounds expressed the importance of prayer. He realized the importance of not only the words used in praying, but the deliberate nature of the act. He saw how important praying was to Jesus, and how it defines our own relationship with our Heavenly Father. Listen to his thought…
“To pray is the greatest thing we can do, and to do it well there must be calmness, time, and deliberation. Otherwise, it is degraded into something small and insignificant,” – E. M. Bounds
The time we spend each morning in prayer and communing with God should be the highlight of every new day, but occasionally we are in a rush and hurry through our morning prayers. We have all done this on occasion, and on days such as this, when I am guilty of it, I quickly realize that something is missing, and feel like I have lost my intimate touch with the Lord. My day is incomplete, and there is a hole in it that can’t be filled by anything else. Whatever it was that I gave up my morning time to, it was insufficient, and couldn’t compensate for the time I’d lost in prayer. I dare say that every Christian has experienced this at some point, but what do we do when this occurs? How can we recover from this oversight? Well, we can take a lesson from Lamentations regarding how we should return from sin, and apply this here…
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”
Lamentations 3:40-41 KJV
Is neglecting God, or putting something, or someone, ahead of Him not a sin? Yes it is, but for some it is simply a matter of not knowing what they are doing. New Christians are just learning how to pray as they should, and how to begin their days with the Lord. Jesus realized that that there was a difference between knowing what is right and not doing it, as opposed to not knowing what is right. He even made that distinction from the cross with these words:
“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
Luke 23:34 KJV
We need to be taught to pray just as Christ’s disciples were. Jesus taught them “The Lord’s Prayer”, but long before that, He taught them by His example. They watched as He separated Himself from them and spent hours, and even nights, in secret prayer. They watched and listened as He blessed the Passover meal in the upper room, and in the Garden of Gethsemane He took three of them with Him to witness His fervent prayer as He asked to have the cup removed from Him. We need to learn these things too, and pray just as He did. We need to rise early before the dawn and begin our days in prayer and intimate conversation with God. We need to seek the Lord our God with all our heart, and open ourselves to Him, and His will. We need to spend quality time with Him.
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
Mark 1:35 ESV
Are we ready to learn how to pray? Are we ready to rise early in the day and begin each sunrise in prayer and quiet quality time with the Lord? Are we ready to have our faith renewed each morning?
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for spending time with us in prayer each day, and thank you especially for not rushing through this time, but spending it peacefully, and deliberately in calm repose with us. Help us to still ourselves as we enter our secret places of prayer, our prayer closets, or the solitude of our prayer chairs, and teach us to ask your forgiveness for our sins so that we can enter into your presence comfortably, and made worthy by Jesus of an audience with you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who desires to be with us, and to hear our prayers. Holy are you who sent your Son Jesus Christ to redeem us, and to teach us to pray. Holy are you whose Spirit not only gives us understanding and remembrance of scripture, but also prays for us when the words we have are inadequate. You are merciful and full of grace Father, and you hold us close in your arms as we whisper our most desired prayers into your ear, and you respond in your small still voice. Help us to tarry in your presence, and to praise and worship you each morning. Teach us how to enter into fervent prayer with you, and to bleed over our most heartfelt prayers, just as Jesus did. Thank you Abba for forgiving us for those lapses in righteousness due to our not understanding, but then teach us what is right, and lead us into this knowledge so that we can go and sin no more. Wash us clean in the blood of Jesus, forgiving us our sins… those we have committed knowingly, unknowingly, and by abstention, and then guide us in our prayers so that we are pleasing to you, and worthy of eternity in your presence.
Amen.
“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Luke 22:44 KJV
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rich Forbes