I struggle with the idea of prayer. I l love taking to God and I love to sit with him, however, I still don’t understand how prayer works quite yet, and I don’t know if I ever will. The classic questions of why wasn’t this person healed or why didn’t we get an answer always confuses me. I also wonder how God is all knowing and if our prayers could change his plan?
The only thing that makes sense to me about prayer is the mindset it moves us to. We gain a kingdom mindset, knowing the Father’s heart a little bit more. When we are in communion with the King our earthly mindset starts to fall and we gain an eternal mindset.
A tangible way I have seen this in my life is through obedience. Obedience is something I really struggle with daily. God will call me to do something simple and easy but I think its too much of a “sacrifice”. This is all my own flesh. I have so much pride in my heart that I won’t do something so simple for Jesus. But the more time I spend talking with God and understanding more of his character, the more I understand or am willing to respond to the call He has placed on my life. When we spend time with the Lord in prayer, our spirit of yes begins to come alive. This also comes with laying down your cross and self discipline, but once you know the Father’s heart, you are more willing to let Him lead.
I have been reading the book, Prayer by Tim Keller lately and it is so good. Its showing me the simplicity of prayer. Prayer is just being in communion with God and recognizing God’s greatness.
Something that I have loved about putting prayer into my routine is sitting with God and asking Him about his day and hearing his heart for the people I love. I’m realizing that God is our friend and he lets us in on His plans. Talking to him in a way that I would just talk normally has changed my prayer life.
An example of how prayer and being with God has affected my obedience is going on the World Race. At the time when God called me to do the World Race, I was putting myself in God-filled environments and spending time with the Lord. People encouraged me by telling me words that God gave them for me. When I decided to intentionally pray about going on the Race, God gave me peace about my extreme fear of going. His will came in accordance with mine through spending time with him. I was terrified and didn’t even want to do the Race, but spending time with Jesus and talking to him changed my perspective.
Prayer is still really confusing to me but I still really enjoy it and love spending time with Jesus. The thing I love about prayer is just being able to know His heart for me and for others.
