Is prayer dynamic and exciting or dull and dreary in your life? Most believers would say, “dynamic and exciting,” even when it is not. The truth is prayer will be whatever the believer (pray-er) allows God to make it in your life and the life of your church. Prayer can be the most soothing, exhilarating part of a person’s life when you pray with a heart for truly knowing God’s will.
In much of our praying lives today we have turned God into more of a Santa Claus figure. We come with our list of things we want, expecting God to deliver. Prayer is two-way communication between you and God. It is not only about telling God what you want. The expectation of prayer should not be getting God to agree with me. True prayer is me sharing with God and listening for His response, advice, and guidance for my life. Instead of getting God to agree with my wants, prayer is about me aligning my desires with God’s will and His desires for me.
Do you have a vibrant, personal prayer time? Is your prayer life meaningful, fresh, with a fragrance of love and acceptance?
I wrote a piece several years ago stating the time spent in prayer by active church-going believers is twenty-seven minutes each week. This included prayers at church, praying at meals, and before bed or in our first waking minutes. I do not remember now where I found that research but this is what we might deem stronger believers.
Let’s break this down and we’ll round it up to 30 minutes. There are 168 hours in a week and two half hours in each hour. Thirty minutes per week is 1/336 of your week. Not ten percent, not 1/100th, 1/336th of our time in communication with our God. If we spent 30 minutes each day it would still only be 1/48th of our time. Just imagine what God could do – God-sized – if each believer would spend 30 minutes each day in true heart-felt prayer discerning God’s Will, desiring to adjust our lives to meet God’s desires.
Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today I have to spend four hours in prayer just to get everything done.” What a difference in attitude than we carry today. How about you? What is your prayer life like? What can you do today to draw closer to God in true God-seeking, heartfelt prayer?
George Yates is the Church Health Strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, assisting churches and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Learn more at ALSBOM.org/revitalization.
by Dogwood