WHAT IS PRAYER?
30th Jul 2014
Over time, relationships change and develop. I love to talk and share with my husband, but I am also happy to be with him without words. We are companionable just being in the same place. At other times we bat ideas back and forth until we come to a common mind. We sense what is going on in each other and wait for the moment to explore, because it can take time to articulate ideas and emotions which are not yet fully formed.
So it is with prayer. I think there was a time when my prayer times were more structured, and although I was not ticking lists, there was an order and ability to quantify time spent in prayer.
More recently, I find myself praying on the hoof - whilst I am doing household tasks or driving the car - in the gaps of life. I do have a consistent time reading the Word and listening to God’s instructions, but do not want to be lazy or neglectful of prayer.
I was talking to the Lord about these issues and was greatly encouraged by His response’ This is what He said to me,
“It is possible to pray, tick the box and then ignore Me for the rest of the day. I would rather you walk with Me, lifting your eyes to Me connecting and bringing praise and petition moment by moment than the “set piece”. So do away with fear and condemnation, and choose to rejoice in what I have provided and prepared for each day. Walk with Me, being attentive to My Spirit - learning the unforced rhythms of grace.”
I still need to be quiet, to spend quality time with my Heavenly Father and friend, but how good it is to be reassured that He understands and enjoys similar rhythms to that which we experience in longtime human relationships.
So keep talking to Him, keep rejoicing in this amazing relationship we have with the Giver and Sustainer of life. Read Psalm 62:5-8, which concludes with these words “Trust in him at all times, O people: pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
by Joyce Sibthorpe
