Tuesday, April 28, 2015

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.
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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12 comments:

  1. You ask some great questions! Over the course of my life, I have learned to pray more and more often and for more and more reasons--now it's more like breathing than it was when I was younger.

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    1. I understand what you mean! I think that the more that we grow in our relationship with Him, the more we start fellowshiping with Him all the time in prayer . . . we realize more and more how much we need Him and how much He means to us.

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  2. I think we all need each other. We have no idea what is going on in our lives - the testimonies - the stories we can tell. Faith is trusting Him even when it doesn't turn out the way we want it to or we are left in the mystery of it all.

    Our prayers go up and we know He captured them in His loving hands to handle for us for our good. I think about you often, wonder what I should pray for you, and trust that what I share touches your heart in some way.

    Now let pray together today.

    You, my dear friend, have learned the value of the yielded heart. We talk to those we know intimately. Know Him intimately draws us into prayer....powerful, but true.

    May the Lord bless and keep you....and make His face shine upon you....~Chris~

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    1. Thank you for those words, Chris! I love the way that you said this: "Faith is trusting Him even when it doesn't turn out the way we want it to or we are left in the mystery of it all."

      The Lord bless you; I'm so glad that you stopped here!

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  3. Thank you for sharing those scriptures- stopping by from #TellHisStory. Lovely music too- soothing to the soul. :)

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    1. Thank you, Katie! I'm glad that you stopped by!

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  4. What a lovely post on prayer, thank you Rebekah for sharing with us at Good Morning Mondays. Our prayer life should be more than a "thank you Lord" before we close our eyes. Thank you for the reminder and encouragement. Blessings

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    1. You're welcome, Terri! Thank you for stopping by! The Lord bless you!

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  5. Convicting and encouraging, Rebekah! (My favorite combination.) Thanks for sharing these vital truths about prayer.

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    1. You're welcome, Sharita! Thank you for stopping by! :-)

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  6. Love it! Thanks for linking up at Women With Intention Wednesdays :)

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    1. Thank you, Jenny; I'm glad that you stopped here!

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