The Privilege of Prayer

Women, wouldn’t it be strange if you said you loved your husband, but you never spoke to him? And wouldn’t it also be odd if you did talk to him, but you never bothered to listen to what he had to say? Men, I won’t ask you to comment on that! 

Well, whether or not those things are true in your marriage, unfortunately that’s a description of the way many people pray – or don’t pray. 

Prayer is essentially dialogue between God and His people. It’s communing in fellowship with our Father in heaven who loves us deeply, has chosen us in Christ, has adopted us into His family as sons and daughters, and who longs for us to draw near to Him, align our lives with His Kingdom’s purposes and will, and faithfully follow His perfect counsel. 

But even among Christians, many go about their day without ever giving a thought to communicating with the One they claim to love. 

Or for some, prayer is a one-sided conversation where we do all the talking but don’t really do any listening. And even at that, many prayers are pre-scripted or memorized (which is not inherently wrong, and can be very helpful), but the danger is that maybe all we’re doing is “saying our prayers” but we’re not really communicating with God. 

If we would truly know the friendship of God – a real love relationship with the Creator of the universe – then we must learn how to pray. 

Of course, the Bible is packed with the prayers of godly men and women to teach us how to call upon the name of the Lord. Whether in times of trouble and sorrow, to express our praise and thanksgiving, to intercede on behalf of another, to seek forgiveness for our sins, to ask for provision for our needs or guidance for decisions, or literally anything that pertains to life, God invites us to His throne of grace in the name of Jesus and promises that there we will receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). 

And the pattern of prayer that Jesus outlines for His disciples in Matthew 6 still works pretty well, too, as we engage our hearts and minds with our tongues in prayer to our Father. 

But let’s make sure that in our praying that we take the time to listen for God’s response. Let’s keep our ears open and actively seek to hear from the Lord. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9). And let’s then do the hard work of waiting upon the Lord in faith. If we know that He hears our feeble, yet sincere prayers, and if we know that He responds for His glory and our good, then we would do well to trust Him to answer when and how He chooses to do so.

For surely, He is the sovereign, omnipotent King who reigns over all from His throne in heaven, and who invites us to “cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). He is the God who can move the mountains and part the waters to make a way where there seems to be no way. And He is our Father in heaven who delights in the prayers of His children. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!