Thought for Monday, August 6th

August 6, 2012

The Road To A Relationship With God

Is Paved With Prayer

Part One

“Why Pray”

One of the key components of any successful relationship is communication.  The same principle holds true for our spiritual relationship too.  In order to have a open and healthy relationship with God – we must be willing to communicate with Him.

Some people ask why we place such a serious amount of significance on having a prayer life: because after all isn’t there a verse in the Bible that says; God knows what we need before we even ask. (Matthew 6:8)  But we must also remember there is another verse that says we do not have, because we do not ask. (James 4:2)

“Though we cannot by our prayers give God any information, yet we must by our prayers give Him honor.”

-          Matthew Henry

We are challenged to pray continually without stopping or ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)  This requires us to have an attitude of prayer and implies that prayer should be our first reaction and response to almost any situation.

“Unless I have the spirit of prayer, I could do nothing.”

-       Charles Finney

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Ephesians 6:18

“All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives.”

-       Delma Jackson

“By prayer we couple the powers of heaven to our helplessness, the power which can capture strongholds and make the impossible possible.

-       O. Hallesby

Today’s point to ponder asks the question; ‘Why do we pray:’  We pray, hopefully because we love our Father, who gave us both physical and spiritual life and we want to be more connected and better in tune to Him, who He is and what He wants for our lives.  We pray because without prayer we are weak and the power of God that can be released and manifested in us becomes somewhat limited.  We pray because it pleases God and shouldn’t it be our ambition and desire to please Him?

And maybe most importantly: we pray because; “Prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays.” – Soren Kierkegaard

“Now let us, Have a little talk with Jesus, Let us, tell Him all about our troubles, He will, Hear our faintest cry, And He will, answer by and by; Now when you, Feel a little pary'r wheel turning, And you, know a little fire is burning. You will, Find a little talk with Jesus makes it right.”

= Lyrics from ‘Have A Little Talk With Jesus’ by Cleavant Derricks

Today’s Prayer 

Father, I want a deeper and more meaningful relationship with you: and I want this relationship to be constantly growing and becoming more intense: and I know one of the keys to me doing my part to make this happen: is that I need to have a very active prayer life.  So help me to pray more, to listen more and to act better.

“Give me your eyes

For just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I’ve been missing

Give me your love for humanity.

Give me your arms for the brokenhearted

Ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me your heart for the ones forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see“

-  Lyrics from ‘Give Me Your Eyes’ by Brandon Heath and Jason Ingram