Prayer, part 1

According to U.S. News and Beliefnet, only 68% of Christians say they pray more than once a day. This should be a big concern for believers as prayer is our direct link to God. It is the most powerful tool we have, yet very few Christians utilize it.

1. Pray to know him better.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Northfield 

A main goal of prayer is to know God better. We do this through the very act of praying and also by asking God to reveal himself to us.

As his creation, we have nothing to offer God except our desire to know him and have more of him, so these requests are our best form of worship. It is also a request he promises to fulfill. "But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29). Richard Foster says, "Real prayer is life creating and life changing." When we enter into constant conversation with our God, change is bound to occur. Foster explains this best when he says, "In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God's thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills." Prayer is our invitation for God to invade our lives, our thoughts and our hearts to do his will and bring change in us.

Since prayer is just is God pouring into us through our requests, be ok with silence in your prayer. God wants to use those moments of stillness. We rarely take time to pause in our busy lives so prayer is a perfect opportunity to do so. Since prayer is a way to learn to think God's thoughts after him, it is a good idea to pause from our thoughts, even mid-prayer, so we can pick up on what he would have us pray and what he wants to do with our requests.

2. Pray for his blessings to be poured out on ourselves and others.
 Not only should we ask to know God, but knowing him allows us to ask him for other requests. Often times our lack of prayer is a gospel issue because we do not see ourselves as wholly dependent on God for all we want or need. However, we are told in Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Our heavenly Father is overflowing with good gifts, we just need to confidence to ask for them. If our motives are pure and we have aligned ourselves to God's desires, no request is too great.  God delights in our large requests because it shows we believe in his ability to fulfill them. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7).

As we make requests, we must not neglect praying for others. Not only does it expand the scope of what we expect God to provide for us, but praying for someone can show our love for them. Foster says, "If we have God-given compassion and concern for others, our faith will grow and strengthen as we pray. In fact, if we genuinely love people, we desire for them far more than it is in our power to give, and that is our cause to pray."

Finally, in all your prayer, be yourself. "God is looking for a relationship with us, not whomever it is that we are trying to act like when we come to him," says Stephen Miller. There is no need to put on a lofty tone or alter your language in prayer. God does not want a fake, over-spiritualized version of you. He wants you. Your desires, your love, your will, your needs, your requests. The greatest blessing we can glean from prayer is a raw, genuine relationship with God.