Prayer is...

It happens all the time, we drive up to a speaker on a board and voice our request.  Easy huh?  Just say what we want and within minutes we are pulling forward to quickly add to our possession that which we just ordered.  This is such an easy time to obtain things.  Using the verse out of context it is a… ”ask and you shall receive” time in the thoughts of many.  But that is not how our asking of God should be.

Many are so accustomed to this type of lifestyle that they think that is how prayer is supposed to be.  Things go wrong, in a tight fix, confused…just throw out the request into the speaker and you shouldn’t have to wait for more than a few minutes and here’s the answer or solution. When you don’t get immediate answers it may lead you to think that God must only snatch up the prayers that sound good to Him. 

Is this really what prayer is?  Is it just a request line like calling in to the local D.J.? A throw it out there and see if this one will be picked up?

No, Prayer is a relationship.

It is that one on one time with a God that desires your fellowship.  He is not a distant God that only allows a one sided conversation.  Rather He is a God that wants you to know Him and experience His love and presence. A God that longs for a growing relationship with you!!!

Let’s think of it this way.  Have you ever said you were close friends with someone but have never spent time with them?  I didn’t think so, how strange would that be?  To build a close relationship you spend time with someone to get to know them.  You learn what they are about, what their likes and dislikes are and even at times what they will say in certain situations.  This is exactly how our relationship with God can be.

As we communicate with Him, and He with us our relationship with God grows.  We voice our thoughts, not just our list, to Him as we share everything that is going on in our lives.  He speaks to us through the reading of His Word. 

John 15:7 states, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.”

T.W. Hunt says it so well, “A love relationship with God is the point at which effective prayer begins.”

So how do we become people who pray effective and bold prayers?

We answer His invitation to enjoy His fellowship.  Make it our passion to know Him and His Word and He promises to respond to our prayers.