PSALM 89:26 – He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.
THEME OF THE DAY. PRAYER: THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE. We may measure the quality, even the depth of our relationship with the Lord Jesus by our prayer lives. Of all the disciplines in the Christian life – reading the Bible, serving God’s people, faithfulness to the church, and striving for personal holiness, the clearest and most accurate measuring tool of our spirituality is prayer. There are multiple reasons why this is true. Here are two for our consideration.
First, prayer is the language of love; the language of honest heart-to-heart conversation between parties mutually loving each other. Imagine a marriage, a family, or a friendship that was primarily based on what is done for each other and lacked unhurried and undistracted sharing of hearts in conversation. We would question if the parties really grasp what true love looks like in such a relationship. The application for us with the Lord is if we are not developing a prayer life that is all about spending time together, sharing hearts, and deepening the relationship without just asking for things, we are failing to grasp the primary purpose in prayer.
A second reason why prayer is the best test of our spiritual condition is because it reveals if we are truly Christians. Yes, prayer is a discipline needing Spirit-produced self-control and self-discipline, but it is a natural impulse in and from the true Christian. For the believer, prayer is as natural in the spiritual life as breathing is in the physical life. A lack of desire to pray; a lack of urging in the believer for prayer leading to an intimate prayer life with the Lord is a sign of one of two spiritual conditions; there is no new birth or the true believer is so backslidden the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of prayer, is quenched and grieved silencing the urge to prayer.
But there is something else about prayer that says much about us as believers. Not only is it the language of love and a natural impulse in the hearts of believers, it is the place true believers go to bare their souls, to unload the heavy burdens in their hearts. Like the Psalmist in today’s scripture. And in these seasons of prayer, the language is intense. Read the Psalms to see this. Two words used repeatedly to describe prayer that is full of raw emotion and agonizing fervency are “plea” or “pleas” and “cry” or “cries”.
When we encounter the psalmist, mostly David, offering his prayer as pleas and cries, we are drawn to the agony of the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane. The writer to Hebrews offers insight on the intense prayer life of our Lord Jesus – In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence (Hebrews 5:7). These cries are the highest expression of an intimate relationship with the living God. Jesus, and His followers, hold nothing back in seeking the Person and comfort of their heavenly Father. And in these difficult seasons, we grow the most spiritually. In “dark times”, the authenticity of our walk with the Lord shines forth. We seek Him in the language of love; a love that cries out for Him, not only for help, but for relationship – a relationship that unites heart-to-heart with cries, praises, and words that reveal the relation is true and growing. May the Lord help us see prayer for what it truly is – the language of love that cries out to God for a closer walk with Him in all seasons of life.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You for having a listening and compassionate ear to my cries out of my pain.”
QUOTE: “One of the aspects of our relationship with the Lord is the privilege of baring our souls to Him.”