Improving Your Prayer Life
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What do you want your prayer life with God to look like?
The truth of the matter is that what you desire from your relationship with God is likely what you desire your prayer life with God to look like. If you are satisfied with having a “lukewarm” relationship with God, then you will likely speak to Him on an infrequent basis, most often when you need something. However, if you want a deeply personal relationship with God, then your prayer life should reflect that.
It’s All about the Relationship
The most essential thing for you to realize about prayer is that this is the means that you are using to build a relationship with God. However, a lot of people get stuck on the word “prayer,” believing it is too much of a formal means of communicating with God. If you took the word prayer out of the conversation, calling it “chatting” with God, the likelihood is that you would view this time with Him much differently.
Do you think your time with God would be increased and you would have more conversations with Him if you didn’t call it prayer?
If so, what feeling do you have when you are using that word?
The reason we are stuck on this word is that it is used in a very isolated way. This is your communication with God and Him alone. You would never use this word in another way. For example, you would never say something like, “I am going to pray with Rob.” The word itself can be somewhat intimidating and limiting.
However, it is not intended to be viewed this way. In fact, the purpose of prayer is to build an intimate relationship with God that goes far beyond the intimacy you have with any other. It is about having some time talking with your Father every day.
Changing Your Heart
If you were asked, you would likely say that you want a close relationship with God. You want to know the plans God has for you. You want to understand how God is moving in your life. You want to know what your future may hold. Our sovereign God has the answer to all of those questions.
What do you want to know from God?
Now, before continuing, it is important to note that God is not going to reveal everything to you. He has plans and knows what lies ahead for you, but you should not expect that He is going to tell you it all. However, He is willing to tell and show you a lot.
This comes by building an intimate relationship with Him. You would not expect someone to reveal a lot of personal information about themselves or what they think of you if he or she did not know you. People’s comfort in sharing information with you comes from knowing you in a more personal way.
God wants a personal relationship with you as well. He wants to share a lot of great information and insights with you. He also wants to know that you can be trusted with all that information and those insights.
That occurs when a deep relationship is built. That starts by spending a significant amount of time chatting with God every day. If the word prayer is a hang up for you, then let’s call it a conversation, chatting, hanging out, or whatever term you want to use that will get you in front of your amazing God every day.
What each of us needs is for the gap between what we want our relationship with God to look like and what our prayer life looks like to be narrowed. If you want to know God more personally and to be more involved in what He is doing, then you need to spend time hanging out and chatting every day. Not just five minutes, but hours every day.
That seems like a lot, but is it really? The likelihood is that you spend a significant amount of time every day around your friends. You discuss all kinds of things with them. Keep in mind that Jesus is your friend as well. In John 15:15, He declared that He would no longer call his followers “servants,” but would instead call them “friends.”
You are a friend of Jesus. However, keep in mind that your friendship is only going to be as strong as the amount of time that you spend with God. If you want that friendship to be tight, reliable, and intimate, then you need to work to make that so.
What Is Prayer About?
To help you, it is important to remember all of the things you have learned about prayer. If you cannot remember these, then look back at previous lessons or ask someone. You may not have been instructed in these areas yet, so seek the help of others. So, ask yourself…
- What is prayer?
- When should I pray?
- What should I pray about?
- Who am I praying to?
- What do I want for my prayer life?
- What is God saying to me?
- What kinds of things can I talk to God about?
- How often should I pray?
- For how long should I pray?
- What does God want to know about me?
If you can answer these questions, then you are on the road to improving your prayer life. The next step will be to apply all of these answers. So, it is time for you to start growing closer to God by spending more time chatting with him every day.
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