When you think about prayer, what words or phrases come to mind?
Hard?
Frustrating?
Confusing?
It does not seem to help.
I’m not sure how to do it.
I’m not really good at it.
At some point in my journey of learning prayer, all those words and phrases were what came to mind when I thought about prayer… but not anymore.
By no means have I mastered prayer… far from it! I still ‘struggle’ to pray. Daydreaming while praying, yep, I still do that. And I won’t tell you how many times, but more than I’m willing to admit via this devotional, I started praying only to wake up 20 minutes later wondering… ‘When did I stop praying and start sleeping?’
All of that to say, I’ve got a long way to go when it comes to prayer, but where I’ve grown in prayer is in how I think about prayer. Very specifically, I no longer see prayer through the lens of ‘burden’ or ‘struggle.’ Rather there is one word that I now use to describe prayer…
GIFT.
Prayer is a gift from God for us.
Prayer is the place where I can enjoy being with God.
Prayer is the place I receive what I need from God to walk with God.
And prayer is the place I receive what I need from God to walk with you.
For a long time… like years and years, I viewed prayer as the place to go to God to get from God what I wanted. Things like, answers, direction, wisdom, clarity, or help. Does God still grant those things in prayer? Absolutely… 100%. God is gracious to give us those things in prayer. But more than getting something from God in prayer, the true GIFT of prayer is God – namely, being with God.
The beauty of prayer is that through prayer, God meets us where we are and God gives us what we need in order to keep going with Him… which by the way, is simply more of God.
As we continue in our 21 Days of Prayer, very specifically, as you begin Day #16, let’s remember that for ALL that prayer is, it is first and foremost a gracious gift… a gift Jesus secured for us in His life, death, and resurrection… a gift we can enjoy every moment of every day.
Maybe simply begin your time of prayer by praying…
“God thank you for the gift that is prayer.”
