Matthew Henry once said, "you may as soon find a living man that does not breath, as a living Christian that does not pray." Christians depend on prayer more than anything else because it is our direct connection to God. We should be praying before we worship, praying before we read the word, praying before we make big decisions, important decisions, or before we do anything. We should pray in the morning and at night. To be honest, we should never stop praying (1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 1:3-4; Colossians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
A Christians cannot grow without prayer being a part of their lives. The more you prayer, the more you talk with God, and talking with God is how we grow. There are four types of prayer: adoration, which is to give praise and glory to God, confession, which is to repent of your sins and tell God what you have done, thanksgiving, which is to give thanks to God for all that He has done, and supplication, which is to make a request unto God. These for prayers are what the Christian life is based around. We must repent of our sins always! If we want to get to know God, we lift up adoration and worship Him with our prayers. If we want to just be positive and thankful, we make sure that God hears our thanksgiving. When we have a need or a desire, we pray with supplication.
Well, now you know that Christians should be praying and it is good for us. It is one of the five ways of spiritual growth, after all; but what about the next step? How should one pray? Well, in all honesty, with prayer and meditation at hand, it is easy to find out how to pray.James 1:6 says, "but let Him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." When you pray, know that God will do it! Simple as that! Do not let doubt set in. Psalm 66:17 says, "I cried to Him with my mouth, and a high praise was on my tongue!" Just open up your mouth and praise God! Who cares what it sounds like or what attributes you are praising God for? Just let the praises ring! Prayer can be in singing and art as well! Psalm 95:2 says, "let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!" When we give thanks to God, let it out in any way! It does not matter how many times you say it, let the praises ring! Oswald Chambers once said, "we have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties."
When it comes to prayer, it is our lifeline to God. We cannot afford to brush off this aspect of a Christian life. How can we go without talking to our Lord and Savior? I have never seen a real Christian who does not pray. It is more than necessarily. It is fundamentally essential. If you want to see a Christian's relationship with God, ask them about their prayer life. It is the easiest way to tell about a Christian's faith and trust in God.
If there is an issue between you and God, pray right now! What is more important than prayer? What is more important than talking directly to God? Our prayers should never cease! We should never stop praying through the whole day. R. A. Torrey once said, "those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer."
-D
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