What is your earliest memory of prayer? For me it is probably one of my earliest memories. My mom would have us say our prayers each evening before we would go to sleep. That is how I learned to say the Lord’s Prayer (the prayer Jesus taught His disciples). We, of course, also prayed the following:
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
God bless {fill in the blank}.
And fill in the blank we did! I’m sure it went on and on for fifteen minutes listing all those people (and perhaps pets) we wanted God to bless.
These simple prayers were always said at night. We also said “God is great” before our evening meal. I suppose we weren’t very thankful for breakfast and lunch!
So, does that mean that prayer is reserved for the evenings and before meals? Of course not. How about the morning? Many people feel that we should spend our first part of the day with God because it starts the day off on the right foot.
Then there are those who only pray when there is a need—maybe a loved one is struggling or hurting, someone you know is sick or dying—the big, difficult things of life. After all God is pretty busy running the Universe. We wouldn’t want to trouble Him.
Actually the Bible teaches us that we are to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). But I can hear you saying, “How will I get anything done if I’m on my knees with my eyes closed all the time?” Good question! To answer that question, perhaps the best place to start is to talk about what prayer is—it is simply talking to or communicating with God. It is how we connect with Him. If you want to get to know someone better you spend time with them. To pray without ceasing means that you are in constant communication with God.
As for just praying for the big stuff—nope! If we are to pray without ceasing that would have to be a lot of big stuff. This verse also leads us to believe God wants to hear from us. He’s really not too busy! We are to pray prayers of praise, prayers of thanks, prayers for others, prayers of confession and prayers for help.
We can pray for wisdom, discernment (help knowing what God would want us to do), guidance, healing, to be able to resist temptation, that God would show us how to bring Glory to Him in what we do—and yes, even to bless our food. The list is really endless.
Hopefully this conveys that we can pray about anything and often. I will caution you, however, to remember who you are addressing. Prayer is a privilege and He is still the God of the Universe who deserves our awe, respect and reverence.
If you find prayer difficult, you are not alone! But don’t give up. Perhaps that should be your first prayer—“Lord, help me to pray.” If there is known, unconfessed sin in your life it could be causing you to avoid talking to God. Since He already knows about it you might as well confess it.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 NIV
How awesome it is to know that God wants to hear from us. Talk to Him often and freely. He’s just waiting to hear from you!
Have a great day!