“How should I pray?” (39)

Is prayer a ritual for you? I’d be the pot calling the kettle black if I suggested anyone needed to change their prayer life before my own. Many times it’s a nice prayer at meal time and, sadly, that may be the extent of my conversation with God that day. I have allowed other things to take precedence over my routine that at times a real conversation with my Father has been rare. I have been content with sending him postcard-like messages imagining that would suffice and, despite the fact that the Father knows every thought of mankind (1 Chronicles 28:9), that hasn’t compelled me to seek Him more in prayer.

I know we all have our times of closeness and of great devotion and then other times feelings of separation and drought. How do you know you are in a season of drought? Do you feel lost? Do you feel disconnected? For me, it is also at times the Spirit shaking me (not literally), convicting me of my lack of prayer, lack of time spent with God.

So, how do you get back into it? Do you feel awkward calling on His name when you haven’t done so sincerely in awhile? Do you start out with the Lord’s Prayer? It may seem silly at first, but how appropriate the Lord's Prayer truly is. Sure it's scripted, but if you say it over and over, you will realize the attitude in the prayer and possibly in turn start taking on that attitude, the attitude the Father desires of us. If you have children, do you desire your children to do good works when asked or have an attitude that prompts them to love and serve, doing good works as a result?

I know this devotional is kind of all over the place, at least it feels that way to me. I have so many thoughts running through my mind, kind of like many of God’s thoughts are hitting me and I can’t contain the immensity. It’s almost stressful, so I must keep writing. Who can know the thoughts of God? I guess what I want to get out is despite what we know about the Lord’s Prayer and the desired attitude he longs for us to have but, beyond this, what do we pray for? I can see us (myself) praying for a productive day, a changed heart for others and maybe ourselves, safety, [fill in the blank]. I’m going to go out on a limb, though, and say that the very last thing we ask for from God especially in triumphant times is… for God to be faithful. And what is faithfulness, I mean, what do we perceive of God when He is faithful? His faithfulness means He provides blessings, He is love, He is longsuffering, His Spirit will dwell in us, but do we not also consider the other aspects of His faithfulness, His justice, judgment, and sovereignty to act as He wills it?

You see I’m feeling convicted as I read the prayer of Solomon dedicating the temple to God (2 Chronicles 6). During a dedication I expect great words of praise and adoration, which is conveyed, but not in the same words I would have used (paraphrasing): The Lord fulfills His promises and if even the heavens cannot contain You, how can You be contained by a temple built by man? But as he continues, I count five different and specific times where Solomon ever so clearly asks the Father to be faithful in dispensing His judgment to the people when they turn from Him. Then he asks for God to be faithful in hearing the people’s call for repentance and in turn repay favor to them through forgiveness.

Both the Lord’s prayer and Solomon’s prayer of dedication are very similar: Each prayer revels and boasts His character while in humility asks for His providence and faithfulness. This is when I feel most convicted and now covet a lifestyle of prayer, this kind of prayer, that goes far beyond a postcard at mealtime.

36 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; 37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.

40 “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

2 Chronicles 6: 36-40

39 days!