Part 2: The Importance of Prayer

“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put Him. We have kept Him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on Him in prayer, we wonder where He is. He is exactly where we left Him.”
--Ravi Zacharias

Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." 
--Corrie ten Boom

Part 2: The Importance of Prayer

Beautiful Savior -- is He to me? 

Beautiful, saving, all-wonderful, all-powerful, all-perfect Friend and Lord? 

How important is it to me that I honor Him, that I commune with Him, that I am guided and directed by Him through the humble, reverent submission and trust of prayer? 

Do I bring Him my griefs and concerns, my frustrations and anxieties?

Do I ask Him for direction and grace and understanding in the ways that He would have me go? 

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

Psalm 25:4-5

Do I talk to Him -- or merely about Him? 

Is He a real and present help in my day to day life? Do I share the closeness of fellowship with Him, or have I distanced myself from Him by being distracted by other things?

Is prayer, is fellowship with the Father, important to me?

It was to Jesus--

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. (Luke 6:12-16) 

His choosing of the twelve flowed from a night spent in prayer, His obedience to the cross-death was undergirded by it, His unbroken fellowship with the Father was the product of it, and an example to us--

Jesus prayed. 

Do we actively, determinedly seek times of prayer with our Father in heaven, or are we distracted by the cares of this life? 

Do we care -- or are we unconcerned about our lack of fellowship with Him? 

Do we set aside special, specific seasons of prayer, to ask for times of revival and refreshing in our spiritual lives? 

Do we truly bring our needs before Him and ask Him and depend upon Him to provide for us -- or do we always seek the help of others before His -- the help of friends, the government, a Google search that yields "answers" and advice? 

Whose help do we honestly seek? 

Is prayer important to us? 

Or is it a nice idea -- quietly placed on the shelf of our hearts next to our dusty Bible memorization? 

Is prayer, is the pursuit of God through prayer -- our breath and help and life? 

Or are we empty vessels through our own quiet refusal of His authority and direction in our lives? 

How, where do we even begin to make prayer a priority in our lives through the grace of His Spirit?

By praying. 

By yielding ourselves, our wills to Him morning by morning, as we walk through the day, as we drift off into the rest of sleep at night. 

By being open to Him -- through prayer -- through a quiet listening heart that lays aside its own ideas of what is good and right and true -- and listens to Him -- no matter the cost. 

When we hear Him speaking to our hearts to our spirits through prayer, calling us to wait, we wait--

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;Wait, I say, on the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)

Calling us to go forward in obedience and trust we obey--

And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. (Exodus 14:15)

Calling us to yield, to submit to His will and authority, we yield. 


I delight to do Your will, O my God,And Your law is within my heart.”  (Psalm 40:8)

How important is prayer to us? 

It is important to the point that we desire His authority, His fellowship, His leading, His blessedness and peace in our lives. 

The importance that prayer takes in our day to day lives speaks volumes of what kind of relationship we have, we want to have with Him. 

If He is important to us, we will pray; we will talk to Him. 

And He will come in then and eat with us and the fellowship will be the breath and touch of sweetness itself. 

Part 3: Next blog post -- The Perseverance of Prayer

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