How do you approach prayer? What attitude is evident when you pray? What are your motives when you pray? What desires, passions, sorrows, joys, and emotions are present when you pray? Prayer is talking to God who has already started the conversation with us. Prayer is an act of obedience toward a loving heavenly Father who spoke first.

I think too often we approach prayer casually, conveniently, cavalierly, selfishly or only as an emergency when we can’t figure things out on our own. We don’t treat our conversations with God as a beautiful time of fellowshipping with and talking to our intimate Father who is in heaven. Prayer should never be an add on or a tag to the end of something (dinner, our day, a close call, etc.). Prayer should be part of the warp and woof of our daily lives.

Let’s look at Jesus as an example of how to approach prayer…

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

He got up, He got away and He got down to business. Jesus didn’t want the noise, the pressing needs or the clamoring crowds of the day to steal His time of talking with the Father. He was very intentional about prayer, and His followers should do the same.

Take time to meditate on what Mark observed about Jesus and ask the Lord to challenge your prayer life. The way we approach prayer says a whole lot about how serious we believe God can handle things in our lives. It reveals our trust in God.

Grace & Peace,