pray

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Talk FIRST to God

One of my spiritual discipline goals that I have had posted on my office wall since 2006 is to talk to God first about all of my needs, desires, complaints, etc before I even think about talking to anyone else about them.  I don’t always do that, but I continue to grow in that aspect of prayer.  I preached a sermon at a recent seminar with the title, “Talk FIRST to God”, that was assigned to me as it fit a series the church was doing.  It fit well with this goal I’ve worked on for eight years and I addressed that topic using the model prayer that Jesus gave as an example on how we ought to pray.

The outline went like this:

Talk . . .

Faithfully to God.
Intentionally to God.
Respectfully to God.
Submissively to God.
Truthfully to God.

In this context, talking faithfully to God has to do with frequency — keeping at it on a regular basis.  “Give us today our daily bread” makes no sense unless I am praying it daily — unless I don’t mind going hungry on days I don’t ask. 🙂  I need consistency — faithfulness — in my prayer life in order to build and maintain a vibrant relationship with the living God.  

When I ask God to “lead me not into temptation”, I need to talk intentionally about the things that I know are a temptation in my life and look to God for instruction and strength to not give in.  For me, temptation gets the best of me when I am not admitting that a particular issue or situation is a temptation.  My intentional conversations with God helps me to know more clearly when I need to stand and when I need to flee.

When I address God as my “Father in heaven” or pray “hallowed be your name”, I am going to God respectfully.  Sometimes I think we have settled for “formal” ways of prayer instead of focusing on respectful ways of prayer.  For me, my word choice and formality isn’t nearly as important as my attitude and internal tone.  As a parent, I know when a child is using the right formal words but there is absolutely no respect being given.  God deserves our utmost respect even, and perhaps especially, when we don’t understand or agree.

When I talk submissively to God, I’m giving up control of things being done my way.  When I pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”, I have to assume God’s will is done perfectly in heaven so I have to submit to that being the case in my life.  This way my prayers for others don’t focus so much on what I want or even what they want, rather they focus on what I know God’s will to be.  I know from scripture that God’s will is that no one should perish but all would come to repentance.  Because it is commanded, I know it is God’s will that believers would be His witnesses to the uttermost parts of the world.  When I spend time in scripture, I understand more of God’s will and it helps me to pray more submissively.

Probably the hardest part of prayer is to talk truthfully to God.  When I ask God to “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”, I need to be truthful about the sin that is in my life and truthful about the lack of forgiveness that I harbor.  It is a lot easier to be generic when I pray about sin rather than be truthful when I pray about sin.  I can easily pray, “forgive my sin”, but it is much more difficult to pray, “forgive my greed, my lust, my apathy, my selfishness, etc”.  Talking truthfully with God makes us feel more vulnerable but it also greatly deepens our relationship with Him when we realize that this truthfulness does not cause us to be rejected.

I pray that you have a desire to talk first to God about everything.  I pray that God’s instruction in my life is a help to you as I share about His work in me.

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Let’s Pray!

“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.  When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.”
 Deuteronomy 4:29-30 (NIV)

 What if our nation was serious about seeking God?  What if our community was serious about seeking God?  What if the church was serious about seeking God?  What if you were serious about seeking God?  What if I was serious about seeking God?

It seems to be okay at every level to seek God, or at least talk about seeking God, during times of great tragedy.  We see and hear calls for prayer from the highest positions in the land to the lowest when planes fly into buildings, when school shootings take place, when bombings cause great fear, when tragedy strikes and we have no answers.  Yes, these are times we need to pray, but I wonder what would happen in our nation, in our community, in our church, and in our life if prayer had the same priority everyday as it seems to have on days of great calamity.

Here in the U.S., today is the National Day of Prayer.  I appreciate all the work that goes into planning and promoting a National Day of Prayer.  It is great to hear and read of so many times of prayer being planned, promoted, and conducted.  We need the reminder to pray for our nation and for one another.  But what about tomorrow?  . . . and next week?  . . . and next month?  . . . and every day between now and the next National Day of Prayer?  Will you still be praying?  Will you still be seeking God with as much seriousness and fervor as you do today?  Will you still be praying for our nation and for one another?  A spiritual revival begins with a revival of prayer.  A revival of prayer begins with one person on one day, but it cannot remain with one person on one day or it will never become a real revival!

I pray that you and I would truly live a lifestyle of prayer and seek to be known by God, to know God, and to make God known — today and every day that God gives us breath!