By Pastor Dave
Prayer is powerful. It is also foundational to a Christian’s life. Many people ask “What is prayer?” The true answer is that it is communion with God. Now what does that mean? Communion is the act of talking, listening, dwelling and living together. Now lets look at each aspect of communion separately.
Talking. This is you sharing your thoughts, your fears, your hopes, your needs with God. This, for most people, is the only part of prayer that they ever do.
Listening. This is you learning to hear from God. What is God saying to you? What is God’s answer to your prayer? What is He telling you to do or not to do? Many people never discipline themselves to listen to God the Father. Listening takes discipline and a heart that wants to hear from God. When we learn to listen, we can get direction for our lives and answers to our questions.
Dwelling. This is the practice of spending time meditating on God, reading the Bible, waiting on God and singing and worshiping. It is just spending time with the lover of your soul.
Living together. Here is where you make an effort every day to speak to God, to listen to God and to dwell with God. Here is where you take God with you in your thoughts everyday. You bring God along with you to school, to work, to family events; you keep God in your thoughts all day long. You purpose to keep Him with you.
So, talk to God, listen to God, dwell with God and live with God.
Still not sure how to pray? Look at Matthew Chapter 5 verses 9-15. This is a pattern of prayer. It is known as the “Lord’s Prayer” which is an inaccurate title. A more accurate title would be “A Pattern of Prayer”. Verses 9 & 10 are God focused, Verses 11, 12, 13 are self and others focused and Verses 14 & 15 are God focused. Start your prayer by praising God, worshipping God and acknowledging God. Then ask for God’s intervention in your daily life and ask Him to help you forgive others as He has forgiven you. Then close your time with giving God the glory He is worthy of.
The best way to pray is…..do it!