Day 61: What Are Some First Steps for “Walking in The Truth”?
Romans 12:12
Rejoice in hope, endure in persecution, persist in prayer.
Today, we discuss the second of our Core Exercises: Prayer. Prayer is simply entering into an ongoing conversation with Father God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Prayer is a response to Father God’s first words of blessing and grace given to us in Christ.
In Discovering The Way, we discussed our first Core Exercise: Hearing the Word and Seeing God’s Glory. To grow spiritually healthy we need both the proper diet (The Truth of God’s Word) and spiritual exercise. Take a look at our definition for spiritual exercise again:
Key Definition: Spiritual Exercise
Spiritual Exercise is any activity that engages your body and your mind in a way that affects your core—your heart. Although these exercises require our effort, they always work in cooperation with Father-God’s empowerment—His grace.
Our first, foundational exercise involved reading, hearing and studying the Scriptures so that we clearly hear what Father God has said to us and see the glory that is revealed in Christ. Our second major exercise is Prayer and it is a response to hearing God’s Word.
Core Exercise 02: Prayer—Responding To Father-God’s Word
Prayer is the natural response to our first exercise of reading and hearing the word of God. God initiates towards us in His Word; we respond in prayer. And as we pray, we may be surprised that God reveals His presence to us there as well. Now, take a look at these passages:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 4:2
Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
Ephesians 6:18
With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.
As we pray, we are bringing our day-to-day world into the vast scope of God’s sovereign Kingship and Kingdom. We confess to Him that we exist by His will and desire and that we desperately need His grace in order to survive the forces of chaos and despair that surround us. This is a good point to remind you of our definition for grace:
Key Definition: Grace
Grace is Father-God’s undeserved and unearned favor given to us freely in Christ that gives us access to His unlimited power in the Spirit.
As we pray, we are trusting in all that Father-God has freely given us in Christ. We are entering a conversation with the One who is “able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us…” (Ephesians 3:20).
As we pray, we gain an eternal perspective as our words are shaped by FatherGod’s words in the outworking of His Divine will. Prayer is our means of discussing with the Father what He is doing in us and in our world through the work of His Spirit within us.
So, How do we pray? Praying is something that we can do all the time, anytime. We can pray out loud, but we can also pray silently in our hearts and minds. Praying is something that we simply do and as we do it “constantly,” it becomes second nature to us. If we take the attitude that prayer is simply talking to The Father in Christ through the Spirit, then we enter prayer as a conversation, a dialogue.
There have been many books and studies written on “how” to pray. The Scripture is rich with examples of prayers—the Psalms, Jesus’ prayers and instructions, Paul’s prayers, etc. For now, it is important to realize that how we pray is not nearly as important as just developing a consistent prayer life. Here are a few suggestions to get started:
Set a regular time, each day that you devote to prayer. This doesn’t have to be a long time, just a couple of minutes to start. Also, when you have a moment of “quiet” or space in between activities, pray. I find that the time I spend driving in my car is great time to pray. Also, when it comes to mind, pray. Many find that praying many short prayers throughout the day is easier than having one longer prayer time. The goal should be for us to develop a constant attitude of prayer, which is to say doing all things in conversation with the LORD.
As you get in the habit of praying, begin by simply giving THANKS to Father-God in Christ for all that He is doing in and through you by His Holy Spirit. Think about ways to give Thanks for who He is (gracious, powerful, merciful, loving, wise, etc.). Think about ways to give Thanks for what He has done and is doing and will do… Giving thanks sets us in the right frame of mind.
Now, simply ask the Lord for what you need, your Requests. Take all your needs and desires to the Lord. In prayer, we are opening our lives to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves. We may also be praying for others. One of the great privileges we have as God’s beloved Children is that we can intercede, pray for others, putting their needs before our Heavenly Father.
Be AWARE and sensitive to the reality that Father God may respond to you as you are praying and after you have prayed. Thoughts, words, images, ideas, impressions my come to mind and as they do, take note. Part of praying is becoming sensitive to the voice of your Father.
There are many more things we could say about prayer and it is a topic that is worth pushing into deeper. The main goal now is to simply provide a simple way for you to get in the habit of “praying without ceasing.”
Take a few minutes to review what we have said about prayer and the suggestions on how to make this a regular part of your daily habits.
Now, make some specific plans to work this into your daily habits.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
