WHEN SHOULD WE PRAY?

The one thing that should be most common among God’s children is often the most ignored. Called to pray without ceasing, we are in such a rusty condition that we spend days without praying, sometimes weeks.

LIKE OXYGEN

Prayer should be the air we breathe, but our pride—sometimes subtle, often on full display—causes us to be oxygen-deprived. The in-and-out of constant communion is rare among us, and because of that we suffer a deprivation we can ill-afford.

HE’S WAITING

But it is not because of God. Over and over, He reminds us of His willingness to hear. He sent His Son to clear our sin-debt so there can be no condemnation, and His blessed Spirit to indwell us and aid us with groanings and urgings even beyond words. We have no excuse for our sparse communion with God.

Often the most neglected times are the neediest. We are besieged with problems and worries and fears that can make us despair. We have questions and decisions that are weighty (for us), and we become overwhelmed and confused. It is here that we most need to turn to our Father. He is waiting, and He will give His attention to any desperate child (as amazing as that is).

He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute and will not despise their prayer. (Psalm 102:17)

The great problem is never Him; it is us. Our souls are untrained in how to pray. We neglect Him in the easy days, and we do not learn the language of Zion, making it harder to access Him when the waters are boiling.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.  (Psalm 32:6)

Our inability to locate Him in trouble is not His absence, but our infrequency. We are unschooled in how to reach Him. But He is waiting for all of His children, undeterred by our immature absence.

LEARN FROM THOSE WHO’VE PRAYED

Look at the oldest and wisest saints. They are prayer-ready each day. They know God’s voice and run to meet Him as they open their eyes each morning. They turn to Him in praise at the slightest reminder of His goodness and look to Him for guidance at every turn. They have seen their need and God’s gracious willingness. They understand how life is to work and have settled into an abiding life, fueled by unceasing Scripture-fed prayer.

God is real to them because they have seen the folly of the earth’s offerings. They have cut through the noise of a deafening world and learned how to enter the Throne room of heaven, their soon-home. And God is as present to them on a warm, spring day as He is in the darkness of winter. They are practiced and ready, and so is their Father.