Growing up I thought that prayer was only what people did before meals. Or when they were faced with difficulties. So prayer was very ritualistic for me. I would might pray, without understanding why I felt the need for it.
As I began to grow in my relationship with God, I began to learn about the real significance of prayer. I learned that prayer is not a ritual. Instead, it's a way of communication. A way of expressing ourselves to our Creator. A way of deepening our relationship with him.
God wants to have a relationship with us, and in maintaining relationships, communication is extremely important. It is true that he knows what is on our hearts and minds, but he wants us to tell them to him.
God tells us to call upon him. He wants us to ask him questions. He wants us to seek him with all our hearts. And he wants us to knock so that doors can be opened for us.
By doing these things we get the best gift of all, which is to know God personally and to have a relationship with him.
Getting to know God
Through prayer, God grows us in our understanding of him. He shows us how deeply he cares for us and helps us to understand how powerful he truly is.
I've been part of so many prayer meetings and I've been blessed with opportunities to lead them too. Every time we meet with God to pray, I am blown away by the bold prayers that students use to cry out to God. I’ve come to realize that we can humble ourselves before him and pray such bold, impossible prayers because God is infinitely powerful and nothing we pray is too small for him.
What a good gift!
As Christians, we tend to downplay prayer, often seeing it as the last thing to do rather than the first. In an attempt to encourage one another, we tell each other, “Just pray about it.” We gravely underestimate prayer, its significance, and its power, and, in so doing, we are robbed of the joy that God intended for us to experience through prayer.
It is through prayer that I talk to God, and because I love talking to him, I find myself trying to encourage other people to do the same. I want people to experience the joy and love that is intended for us in knowing him through prayer.