Monday, July 20, 2020
The Value of Prayer
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6 nlt).
If I had to name a sin that was prevalent in the church today, it would be prayerlessness. Breaking God’s commandments is the sin of commission. In contrast, the sin of omission is not doing what we should do.
So often we miss out on what God wants to do in our lives because we don’t pray. Yet prayer isn’t painful; it’s simply a commitment we make in which we call out to the Lord. However, we don’t pray as much as we ought to.
We can pray anywhere, even in times that we’re feeling stuck. Paul prayed in a dungeon. Daniel prayed in a cave filled with hungry lions. Peter prayed on the surface of the water, and then he prayed underwater. And Jonah prayed from the belly of a great fish. The main thing is that we pray.
God doesn’t care so much about the length of your prayers. He doesn’t care about the eloquence of your prayers. But He does care about the heart of your prayers.
That is true of worship as well. God is not so interested in your posture, your volume, or even your pitch (though it’s nice to have great pitch). More than anything else, He looks on the heart.
Jesus said, “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8 nkjv).
You might say, “Well, if that’s the case, then why pray?”
Here’s the answer: Prayer is not informing God; prayer is inviting God. When I call out to the Lord in prayer and offer my petition, I’m not informing God of something He doesn’t already know. I’m inviting God into my situation, into my challenges, and into my problems.
We should think of prayer as a relationship between a father and a child. The value of prayer is that it keeps us in touch with God.
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