Hello! I’m so glad you stopped in today because we have some really exciting stuff going on. If you’ve not been here in awhile let me fill you in quickly.

For the month of September, I am sharing with everyone what I’ve learned about prayer and praying. In the last post, I shared what the Bible says about prayer. Read that juicy little bit here.  For the next 3 posts, we’re going to explore what prayer is. I hope you’ll stick around, share, and enjoy! I’m glad you’re here. Ready? Here we go?

Scripture gives many examples of what prayer is. For the sake of these posts, we’re going to look at 5, maybe 6 scriptures each post for the next three posts. I was blown away when I realized how much the Bible teaches about what prayer is.

I’ve heard many people question why we should pray if God already knows everything we want and need. The first scripture I found that answers that question is 1 Corinthians 1:5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—  and Matthew 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

These two verses tell us that even though God knows everything, more than knowing us, he wants us to know him and it’s through prayer that we let God know WE seek a relationship with him. When we pray, we are entering a relationship with God. Prayer opens the lines of communication and allows us to experience a relationship with him.

Prayer is about a relationship with God

Have you ever read any of the Psalms? I’m sure you have. Many of the Psalms are simply people (mostly David) talking to God. Read Psalm 139. This is David just talking with God. It’s David sharing what is on his heart, on his mind, and what is going on in his life with his creator. David praises and worships; he questions and searches; he brings problems and concerns. Don’t we all have those things happening to us every day just as David did? Sure we do.

Prayer is simply talking to and with God all day.

When we spend the day talking with God we are bringing to him everything that is happening in and around us. We are seeking his wisdom, answers, grace, and mercy. It’s knowing we can approach him and he will hear us. Hebrews 4:16 tells us to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. We have a God who wants to offer us these things firsthand, but we have to go to him courageously knowing these things are there for the taking.

Prayer is firsthand. 

When we stand before God in prayer we are baring our innermost thoughts, fears, ideas, concerns, desires, dreams, mistakes, sins, and more. He knows everything about us and we can’t hide from him, but he wants us to come to him and lay bare our hearts and souls. He longs for us to show him everything. He wants us to share. James 5:13-16 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Think about when our children were small and brought something they wanted to show us. We had probably seen that type of bug a hundred times, and yet, even though we knew it, we were still thrilled with them wanting to show us and tell us all about it. Or when they came to you to confess they had been throwing the football in the house and broke our favorite lamp. We, as parents, already knew what had happened, or at least had a good idea, and yet, we needed our children to learn they had to take responsibility and tell us. That’s what prayer does for God. As our Father, he needs us to tell him everything even though he already knows.

Prayer is transparent

We have an amazing force on our side and so many times it is the last thing we turn to in both good and bad times. We often choose to talk to our friends, our co-workers, our parents or a stranger standing in line at the supermarket. When the real power lies in our prayers. 1 Timothy 2:1 says prayer is first of all, not after we’ve spoken with everyone else, but first of all. I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people—

It’s human nature to talk and share. God wants to be the first one we talk with. He isn’t telling us we shouldn’t talk to others too, just that he’d like us to tell him first. It comes back to the relationship he longs to have with us. He desires us to constantly be talking with him. In the hard stuff, in the easy days, during our morning coffee, at the conferences and meetings, during house cleaning, and in every single part of our day. God desires to talk with you about everything!! No, really, absolutely EVERYTHING!!!

Prayer is an incredible force

As you start your day today, I pray you think about all prayer is. It’s a firsthand, transparent force that puts us in a relationship with a God who longs to know us. I pray you will see how God took the time to create an amazing communication tool that doesn’t cost us a monthly fee, where there isn’t a data limit, and we don’t have to be in a wifi hotspot to use it. We can be who we are in any given moment and all we need to do is talk to him. It really is just that simple.