“I'll be praying for you.”
“We'll lift that up in prayer.”
“Will you pray for me?”
Prayer. A petition. An earnest request. A plea of the heart. The cries from our inmost being. Our hearts raised on behalf of others. Our hands stretched out. Entering the throne room of the Most High. Bended knee. Clasped hands. Heads bowed. Eyes closed.
So many words and phrases come to mind and can be tossed around when it comes to prayer. This is barely scratching the surface. When I was at training camp a few weeks ago, my idea of prayer was shattered. Blown completely out of the water. And a new, living, breathing, powerful truth replaced it.
The power of prayer. The power of lifting our voices to our Father, the King of the Universe. When we pray, we come before the one who created us! This truth still is sinking in to me, and it will be for the rest of my life I'm sure. It's hard to grasp just how blessed we are, how priviledged to be able to pray. To come before the one who controls everything, and pour out our hearts and petitions. And that He LISTENS. That he ACTS. He moves- today.
Not just in the Old Testament, not just when He was walking here on this earth. He is moving RIGHT NOW. And we have the ability to usher His power into our midst. Into our lives, our situations, our circumstances, and those around us. His power rests in us, and is alive in us. This is utterly exciting!
So why don't I, why don't we, take more time to come before the King of Kings? Why is it that we can find time to spend on thousands of other things: the internet, facebook, making 5 appointments a day, coffee time, working out, dinner dates, the list goes on and on. But when it comes to spending time in serious prayer, we cringe and look at our date books and say, “Well, maybe I'll have a few minutes for that in two weeks.”
I know that I myself am guilty of this. That when someone asks for prayer, I say “Sure! I will pray for that!” And then five minutes later, I have forgotten. Or I'll fall asleep while praying or writing in my prayer journal. Or running late, so I shave off a few minutes of my quiet time. Why is it that we can toss off prayer so easily or put it off?
When I was in Tennessee, I raised my voice with two hundred other people. As one body, we stepped before the King, our Rock, and laid our hearts at His feet. I can't even describe to you in adequate words what that felt like. I hear my own voice, to hear the voice of many others, come before God in prayer at the same time. It made me weak at the knees, it made my eyes well with tears. There was such love, such tangible love. My skin was covered with waves of goosebumps. With our hands stretched out, and our lips crying out to our Father, we could get a glimpse of His glory. It was absolutely beautiful.
That moment changed me from the inside out. It began the transformation in my heart of how I view prayer. That it is this living connection we have with our Father, and it is His mighty power. Many times that week, our squad gathered together in heart and hand and prayed over a lot of different situations. It was freeing. It was alive. It was God's power, and it was beautiful.
It challenged me to my core to absolutely drop to my knees, and lift my heart to my heart, and raise my voice in prayer whenever the time calls for it. In that exact moment, pray. Pray without ceasing. There is a reason we are told to “pray continuously.” There is an amazing power in it. There is freedom waiting there. There is complete and utter joy and contentment there.
I challenge you, to pray. Can you imagine how different the world would look if we all earnestly prayed to our Father, prayed without ceasing? How much love would flow from our lives, and what even our tiniest speck of faith can be in our Father's hands? It will move mountains, it will shake the world.
So lift up anything on your heart. Lift up your thanksgiving, lift up your sorrows, lift up everything, no matter how trivial. Because God does care- even about the smallest things, and He loves us. And He answers in His own way and His own time. And even if we do not see the immediate fruit of our prayers, He is still God and He is still moving and working.
So pray. Pray and taste His glory and freedom waiting there.
