Psalm 27:4-8 – One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

THEME OF THE DAY: WHY WE PRAY. Quick. No time to think. Just talk. Give me at least three reasons why we pray. Some of us might answer; “I pray because God commands me”, “I pray because I need God’s help”, and “I pray because I want God to act in a situation or a person’s life.” Those are good, Biblical reasons for us to pray, but I think there is something far more nobler and a higher reason to pray. It is the reason we see modeled in the Greatest Person who ever prayed; the Lord Jesus. Why did He pray, I mean He is God, why pray? The 18th century Scottish pastor/theologian, William Blaikie said of prayer, “Prayer is refreshing as well as strengthening.” He wrote this in the opening of his study on the Lord Jesus’ prayer life found in Luke’s gospel. Blaikie went through the gospel and listed each time he found the Lord in prayer. It is an interesting and instructional study that I would encourage you to do. Time and time again we find our Savior practicing prayer as a delight of refreshing fellowship with His Father. He would go away into desolate places simply to enjoy time with His Father.

Let me repeat my last two sentences; “Time and time again we find our Savior practicing prayer as a delight of refreshing fellowship with His Father. He would go away into desolate places simply to enjoy time with His Father”. Is that how we see prayer? When is the last time we pulled away from the rat race called “life” and got off the fast lane of a too busy life to simply spend time with God in prayer? Unhurried, unrushed, and the type of prayer not heavily slanted toward petitions for help or things. But even more fundamental as the times to do this is our understanding of prayer. Are we seeing and practicing it as Jesus did? Is prayer viewed as a season of refreshment when we get alone with God to enjoy Him without asking anything of Him but more of His love experienced and Person known?

When it comes to reasons why we pray, is this not the highest one? To spend time getting to know the Lord, be refreshed by His Presence, and grow more in love with Him? We fall woefully short in what God desires for us when we come to pray if it is simply offering a list of things in a hurried and mindless manner. Yes, ask Him for help. Yes, share our burdens and petitions, but primarily see prayer as the discipline of delight to spend time with the Lord, basking in His Presence. Think about this in our human relationships and the ones most dear to us. What do our loved ones value more than anything from us? When it comes to my wife, she doesn’t want expensive gifts, date nights in a distracting public place, or me even doing stuff for her. Those are good and proper, but what she values most is me giving her me; unhurried, undistracted, unhindered me in one on one exchanges of heart-to-heart communication and presence. Now take that into our relationship with God. Is that not what He wants from us? Yes. He wants us. He wants us to obey today’s scripture; seek Him and that through earnest prayer to simply be with Him to know Him and be known by Him.

Start looking at prayer as a discipline of delight; the privilege to spend time with God and then start spending time with Him. Not asking for anything but Him. Make it a regular, even daily practice, and watch how we grow in our experience with Him. It will make our Christian life what it is supposed to be; a life of intimate communion and walking with the God who sent His Son to die so we could pray and the type of praying of getting close to Him, heart-to-heart.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see that prayer is far more than just asking You for things or to do something”

QUOTE: “When we begin to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through the scriptures, prayer is a delight”