A few thoughts on prayer (Part I)

                                   A little food for weekend thought...on prayer (Part I)
        "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." Eph.6:18
        "I call on You, my God, for You will answer me; turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer." (Ps.17:6)
        Prayer is hard work--or at least it is for me.  I'm so easily distracted--"prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!"--and prayer time can quickly degenerate into a sudden remembrance of miscellaneous things I "need" to do or into a laundry list of requests that are focused more on wants than needs, more on physical than spiritual, more on family and friends rather than also on God's big world and His big, grand redemptive plan.
         Now praise God He hears us and loves us and answers prayer--according to His perfect will--even with our (or at least my) piddly, sometimes shallow and self-focused prayers.  But that doesn't mean we shouldn't aim higher!  We're told repeatedly to pray, because there is great power in prayer.  Prayer brings the supernatural, transforming, redeeming power of Almighty God to bear in this world and in our lives. The One who knows all and can do all wants us to communicate with Him--to come to Him as our beloved Abba, our Daddy.  Why on earth wouldn't we?
         Moreover, communication with those we love isn't confined to a laundry list of things that need to get done, right?  My brothers and sisters and I loved and adored our earthly daddy, and when we talked to him, we talked about all sorts of things, all sorts of challenges, all sorts of concerns, all sorts of joys.  We laughed. We wept. We spoke. We listened.  We learned. We cried out. We asked. We thanked. We requested. And we didn't communicate only in some daily one shot deal.  No, we talked and shared whenever we were around our earthly daddy.
         Shouldn't that reflect our communication with our Heavenly Daddy? All sorts of communication, all sorts of emotion, and at all sorts of times?  Praising and worshipping Him throughout the day--"Oh Father, thank You for that sunrise...Praise You for Your glorious grace...Thank You for those that I love...Praise You for Your steadfast love...Thank You for these eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to walk, tongue to taste, hands to hold...Praise You that Your mercies are not just "new every morning" but new every moment of every day and every night! 
          But not just praising and thanking....also confessing and requesting and listening.  Speaking His supernatural Word back to Him--not because He needs to hear but because we do and because there is real power in the Word of God, and in the spoken Word of God.
         The bottom line for me, and I suspect for most of us, is to stop searching for some perfect formula of prayer and simply start--and continue--speaking to the Perfect Object of our prayer.
         And who is that Perfect Object?  He is the righteous, holy, omniscient, omnipotent, all-gracious, all-forgiving, all-loving, all-sufficient, all-sovereign, infinite, eternal Lord of Lords and King of Kings.  
        We have the privilege and the joy of coming to such an Almighty One and calling Him my Father, my Abba, my Daddy.  To call that astounding and stunning is completely inadequate.  So we'll just call it glorious and wondrous beyond all imagining.   
         So in this new week the Lord has so graciously given us, let's keep those lines of communication with our Heavenly Father constantly open. Let's come to Him with our sorrows and joys, our challenges and triumphs, our doubts and questions, our confessions and our praises. Don't hold back and don't give up.  No matter what, let's never quit or give up! For as He's told us in His Word--
         "Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." (Lk 18:1)
         "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Phil. 4:6)
         "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." (Col.4:2)
         Father, thank You for Your priceless and wondrous gift of prayer.  Teach us to pray, Lord. Help us to pray.  Give us we ask--for You know how we need even this--the will and desire to pray.  We are weak..but You are strong. 
         And help us, Abba, in the words of I Thess.5:17, to "pray continually."  Starting today. Starting now.
         To God be the glory.