I try to pray. It kind of comes in spurts. For a few days, I will be totally excited about my prayer walk with God, and then all of a sudden, it's like I hit a wall. Either I'm stressed over school, or I'm exhausted because of my overbooked schedule, or I'm just going through the motions. Those are the nights where I crawl into bed, my thoughts jumbled, my conscience prodding me to pray, but I ignore it. I reconcile myself thinking guiltily, "God understands. He knows I'm too tired to think. I'll get back to Him tomorrow."
You know what I'm talking about. We've all had those nights. Our prayers end up being a few mumbled "Thank you"s and "Please"s. Well, I don't know about you, but when I try to get a new perspective on my prayer-time with God, I feel pretty foolish. But, maybe that's a good thing.
What is prayer? First off, it sure isn't a bunch of "Do's and don'ts" for God. He will listen, no matter what we say, but we are not the ones writing the future. I often hear people pray "Thy will be done," before uttering 'Amen.' But sometimes I wonder, do they really understand what that means?
Say we prayed for God to save our poor sick aunt, ending with "Your will be done." If our aunt does not recover and eventually dies, will we remember asking for God's will to be done? Chances are, we won't. Because how on earth could it be God's will for our aunt to die? We may become angry; bitter towards God for letting something so awful happen. But what if it was God's will? We are finite. Mortal. Small. Weak. How could we ever even hope to comprehend God's plan? At the moment, it may seem like everything is falling apart around us. It may feel like God has abandoned us. The reality that we have to hold on to is that God is watching over us all the time. He never left us, and never will! He sees the bigger picture. What if the death of your aunt was the gateway for her friend, or someone you've never known, to come to Christ? The Lord does work in mysterious ways, it's true! Just because we don't think it was the right thing to happen doesn't mean God can't see the way his plan is impacting other people- in ways we never could have dreamed of! When we pray for God's will to be done, you better believe that His will is perfect!
So then, what is prayer? Simply put, we are talking to God. Sound cliche? It's sad that our 'Christian' ears have gotten so accustomed to the word God. We know he's our heavenly Father. We know he saved us. We know he's always here. Somehow, the less we bother to try to grasp that our Father is God, the more distant and less personal he becomes. I don't want my Jesus to be a backpack Jesus. Someone who I pull out only when I need help. Don't call Jesus 'Lord' if you aren't letting Him be Lord of your life!
Now let's think about God. Let's see... what's a good simile? Oh wait- never mind. There are none. God is incomparable. There is no way that anyone could find anything that can compare to God! Think of the universe. Think of how vast it is; how huge and mysterious and beautiful it is. Even in this technologically advanced world of ours, the brightest minds are still blown away by the greatness of the cosmos. There is only one who understands it. Not only does He understand it all, but he designed it all. Every orbit of every speck of dust around every planet around every star around every galaxy! Isn't that amazing? Well that One who understands all, is in all, and through all, and who created all, He is God- and He calls us His friend!
Have you ever seen diagrams comparing the earth to the other planets- say Jupiter? Then we zoom out and see Jupiter compared to the sun- it's a speck! Then we compare our sun to other stars- it becomes the speck! And so on and so forth. Yet, although we are SO small in this dark and incredible universe, although we are hardly a fleck of green and blue tossed into a blanket of blackness, although we are all destined to die, God is THERE. On that tiny dot of a planet, God is there! That is where His people live. That is where He sent His perfect Son! His perfect Son, who was bigger and more mighty than all the powers of the universe combined, that righteous and Holy Son became one of us. All these things, God did for us!
I'm going on a different track now. Who's your hero? Well yes, mine is Jesus too, but I mean earthly hero. Perhaps a celebrity? Author? Musician? Well, let's pick the Queen of England. Let's imagine, for just a minute, that Queen Elizabeth knew about you. She heard about you, somehow, and let's say she wanted to meet you. However far away you are from England, you get a notice in the mail. The Queen of England wants you to come to Buckingham palace. She wants you to come, no need to bring your belongings, for she's going to give you royal robes to wear and everything you need will be supplied in a heartbeat. No need to worry about money- the cost is covered. First class flight to London and first class service the whole time. Now, I know this is a stretch, but what would you do if that happened? I think most of us would jump at the chance! That's a most grateful offer, indeed! If this scenerio doesn't aspire to you, just replace Queen Elizabeth's name with your all-time favourite singer, actor, or athlete.
Now here's a thought- what if the designer of those worldly "super-people," wanted to have a chat with you? The one who inspired them to pursue a future in music, or in drama. One person who made all of the world's favourite people, and the one who made you along with them! What if that one person, on top of all that, is the one who provides you with your food, clothes, shelter, friends and family? What if He is the only real person? When everything dies, and the world ends, what if this One is the Only one who will last? I could go on forever but my point is- this person is God, and He DOES want to have a chat with you. He wants to always be talking to you!
We may be excited when the popular person in school compliments us, or if the teacher commends our work, but do we jump for joy when the Ruler of the Universe hears our small words? He's sitting right there beside us. We don't need to cry too loud- he's closer than we think. He doesn't want a formal, unpersonal, frightened few words of "thy, thou, and thee." If my best friend talked to me like that, I don't think we would be too close. When was the last time you talked to your parents like you lived in the Middle Ages?
The reason is, we want our conversations with those we love to be close, personal, and intimate. Our best friends are usually the people who we spill all our emotions on, and they are usually the easiest to talk to. It bugs me that I can talk so easily to my friends, telling them everything that's on my mind in a heartbeat, but then when it's God's turn to hear my thoughts... it's usually rushed and abbreviated. A couple "Bless 'ems," and "Thank yous," and "Help mes."
Probably one of the reasons a lot of our prayers are distant and halfhearted, is because it's different talking to someone we can see than someone we can't. God's knows that. But He also knows that those who continue to have faith even in things Unseen will be the ones to have a prosperous life, storing spiritual treasures for heaven.
He sees your thoughts, doubts, and questions. He knows what you're going to talk to Him about even before you do. So why bother, then? Well how can you expect your relationship with Him to grow if you don't talk to Him? Reading the Bible is super important, yes. It's God's word to us, yes. But prayer is something else. It's our chance to speak directly to God. A lot of times when I'm praying by myself, I drift off and begin rattling off a list of requests. Then suddenly, it'll dawn on me who I'm talking to. God. That's a word thrown around hastily all the time nowadays, and it's sad. But this is God we're talking to! Jesus! And He is actually right there listening to us! Isn't that an incredible thought?
Next time you pray, try to focus on just talking. God loves when you talk to Him, it brings you closer! It's your one-on-one time with your creator and Savior. He is always right there waiting, and it brings Him joy when you choose to go to Him before anyone else. It shouldn't be hard to talk to the One we say we love the most, should it?
