Prayer can and should be one of the most deadly weapons in our arsenal. It should be what turns our belief in God from a religious notion to something real, something alive. It takes rules and turns them into a relationship with a living and loving God. But prayer does not need to be a theoretical thing, a ritual or something abstract and boring. Neither is it complicated or ineffectual. Prayer is however harder to explain than I first thought. Here’s what prayer isn’t:
- Prayer isn’t just something you turn to in times of crisis. Prayer is for every circumstance and should be a response in times of celebration and triumph as much as trial and trouble.
- Prayer isn’t a miracle cure but it is an excellent first step in turning around any circumstance. Prayer is not a Christian way of getting whatever you want. It’s a way of communicating with God. A way of sharing what you’re feeling and hearing from God.
- Prayer isn’t useless. Prayer isn’t endlessly sending up prayers to some distant and powerless God. Prayer does matter and it does work.
- Prayer isn’t for the super-holy. Prayer is for anyone and everyone. You don’t need to be qualified and it’s not about works.
- Prayer isn’t one-way. It works both ways. A common gripe of new Christians is that they don’t know how to hear from God. One of the most common ways I believe he communicates is via prayer.
Prayer is something for all circumstances- something for the good times and the bad, the mundane details of our day-to-day life and the heavy stuff- the desires of our hearts, the stuff that makes our heart sing or sink. But prayer is not for super holy and religious, it’s an accessible tool readily available for us all to use as a way to engage with God on a daily basis. Prayer is a two-way conversation with God and my life would not be the same without it.
by Sara Bennett