PRAYER

1 Samuel 12:23

“Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.”

If you know anything about honest, healthy, and growing relationships, you know that communication is key. There must be sharing and listening. That listening must be the kind that strives to understand what is being said to you, not merely listening in order to respond.

A marriage and other kinds of true friendships grow and are strengthened by the sharing of our hearts, our concerns, out victories and our failings, our hopes and dreams, our perceived needs and assumed wants and listening to the same from our friends. Real communication is vital.

If you say that you have a living relationship with God and then in the same breath state, “Well, prayer is not my thing.”, then you need to ask yourself the hard question, “Do I really have a relationship with the Lord Jesus?”

Prayer is vital to anyone who is following Jesus Christ as Lord. You articulate your utter dependency on the Lord to live out His life within you. You pray through His Word asking the Holy Spirit to teach you, to speak to you, to guide, correct and encourage you. You speak to God in worship, in praise, in thanksgiving, confession, and repentance. One of God’s greatest gifts to a follower of Jesus Christ is direct access to Him in all things through that relationship with Jesus the Father has given you.

In prayer we surrender and abandon the lie, the folly, that we can live life as it is meant to lived by our own wisdom and in our own strength. Prayer is seeking God, Himself, to know Him and to grow in love and gratitude that will change to way we live out our lives. If God, the Son, demonstrated the need to seek God, the Father, often and intensely in prayer, then it is a no-brainer for me to realize how much I need to be in the Lord’s Presence in prayer.

Samuel’s statement above shows the necessity and vital importance of prayer not just for our own selves, but for others in our sphere of influence, and indeed for the whole world. Peter in his first Epistle calls the followers of Jesus Christ “a royal priesthood.” We are to stand before the Lord in prayer for others and before others declaring the Gospel of God’s grace and justice.

I have learned that when the Holy Spirit brings anyone to mind, and it can sometimes seem like a non sequitur, I take it as a call to pray for that person in the Spirit. I have found that in the immediacy of that intercession the Lord will sometimes give me insight as to why I am praying, but sometimes not. If I have insight given, I keep praying into that word of knowledge. If not, then I was not meant to know, but pray on I must because the Lord has brought the person to mind.

It was said by someone, somewhere, “The one who prays for me, loves me twice.” Do not neglect time with the Lord in prayer. As it is in healthy and growing relationships, sometime sitting in silence in the other’s presence is inexpressibly sweet. Sitting in the Presence of the Lord, just letting His love wash over you is better sometimes than a thousand words neatly articulated. You do both in true communication…you speak, and you listen.

1 Samuel 12:23

“Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.”