Maybe you’re not a Christian of the same type as me. Maybe you’re one of those to whom prayer comes easily and is not difficult. If so, you are blessed. However, I am willing to bet that there are several out there that are like myself. We don’t always know what to do when we approach the throne and our minds can stray.
I will say at the start of this that I do not see prayer in Scripture as a dialogue. I will not be writing anything on hearing the voice of God. I will admit, there are times I would like to, and I doubt that I’m alone, but I just don’t see that as a common practice in Scripture. I think if it happened even, I would become too focused on an experience and not focused enough on truth such as the Scriptures.
I thought last night about that. I thought that sometimes it seems hard to pray and those who read my blog yesterday know what I’m talking about. I wondered though why it seems hard. What is prayer? Prayer is simply talking to God? Why would one have a hard time talking to God?
Maybe part of it is that we don’t know what it is. Some of you are thinking “Well you just told us what it is. It’s talking to God.” Yeah. I did say that. Does that mean we fully grasp what it is. It would make as much sense to say that kissing is having the lips of the male meet the lips of the female in a romantic gesture. It is only until you begin thinking about it that you realize what that really means.
What does it mean? If I knew entirely, I’d be a wiser man. It means though having the audience before you listening of the most awesome being of all and the most awesome one that will ever be. It means that you are in the heavenly throne room and you have the attention of the one sitting on the throne who can do all and knows all.
Yet what makes it hard? Could it be that we don’t believe he really listens to us? We know he hears us and maybe at times we doubt that. Do we think that he’s listening to us. Do we think he might be saying “Well here he comes again to go on and on about all these little insignificant things.”
Could it be that if God is the creator, God has more interest in his creation than we do? We may think it doesn’t matter, but God has infinite interest in it. That girl you have a crush on? God is interested. Your case of the sniffles? God is interested. Passing your final exam? God is interested. On deciding to be a missionary in a foreign nation? God is interested. No matter how big or small, God is interested.
Where did we get this idea God is only interested in big things? Are not big things themselves made of smaller things? Are we to say that a doctor who can perform major surgery is uninterested in dealing with the common cold? Could it be we have been making God in our image?
Could it also be we don’t see ourselves as good enough? I think many of us are still stunned by how holy God is and how sinful we are, and well we should be. However, are we not aware that if there was nothing good in us that he would not have us enter into his very presence? What is good in us? It is his image and that we are created in it. All the goodness we have is that which is participating in his goodness.
This isn’t pantheism. This is theism. We are participating in the goodness of God for there can be no goodness outside of him. He allows us to come because we are image bearers and we as Christians have been made worthy to be in the presence of the holy of holies. We can truly boldly approach the throne.
Isn’t that a great verse also? He wants us to do that. BOLDLY APPROACH! We can walk right up to the throne and start talking to the one who sits on it. Isn’t that awesome if we think about it? If only we could grasp the truth that lies in this, and indeed, I am speaking to myself as well.
So why do our minds stray? I don’t know entirely. Maybe some of us just have a harder time focusing. It could just be that we don’t really know the truth about what we do. It could be we have become so familiar with prayer we have sadly allowed familiarity to breed monotony, something that no child of God should ever have. That, however, is another blog.
Well, these are my thoughts on prayer. Maybe I’ve blessed you some. Maybe you are like me and realize you’re not alone. Here’s a good suggestion. Pray for me. I shall pray for you as well. I may not know you, but God does and he can handle things. I hope that I will pray he does.
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