I wonder how many of us are ever truly happy with our prayer life?  My guess is some give up on it because it doesn't work for them.  These are people with some element of faith but no living communication with God.  Saying prayers eventually overtakes any desire for a real relationship with Him.  We should not look down on any who struggle with the divine dialogue.  It can and does happen to more believers than we imagine.  But the reality is this does not have to happen.  Anyone can learn how to build that heartfelt prayer life that satisfies the soul if not the mind.

Our mistakes usually begin with seeing God as the source for whatever we want in life.  Praying is little more than taking a grocery list to Wal-Mart.  What is missing is the truth that God is far more than that.  He is called our father among many other metaphors.  One of the keys to a real prayer experience is the gift of knowing Him.  Some make the mistake of thinking how you pray matters more than just praying.  These are people who hear the words of others and imagine they cant say it as well.  Sometimes our struggle is in knowing what we are praying about.  We fail to listen as God corrects our approach to Him.  A large part of praying is about the listening.  This is meant to be a two way conversation after all.

Scripture plays a huge role in a deeper prayer life.  It is our God speaking to us through the stories and truths of the past.  We discover that what God said can become something He is saying to us now.  This works in two ways.  We can stand on the given promises of God in scripture.  Some of the things we find there are just basic givens for a believer to grasp.  Prayer can be taking those truths to give a confidence or clarity to our desires.  God may even use those words to redirect us in the process of praying.  Our hearts move from just our desires to His will.  But sometimes we come across specific scripture that speaks to our heart at a given time.  We learn something new about God or our life that we can translate into our conversation.  What happens is we take what God whispers in our heart to build a boldness in our praying.  We basically agree with God then move that into action.  To me this is a serious invitation to Him for real growth and answers.

One of my common models is the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6.  You can take that prayer for use in almost anything if not everything that burdens our heart.  Always remember it begins with the truth that God is our Father.  He is our source for all we really need.  It is a reminder that we need not compete for His attention.  Any decent father already has a mind to hear his child when called.  Our recognition is He is one enthroned firmly in heaven.  Now this is not a word that God is distant from us.  It means that He can be trusted to have the power to answer our cries.  His heart is tender and not cold.  We will try to say more over the next few posts about this.  I leave urging you to go back to reflect on this prayer of Jesus to allow it to speak to you.  Let me assure you that it has much to say.

Bro. Trey