Week 1 | Day 5 | Teach Me to Pray

Command:

This, then is how you should pray. Matthew 6:9 (NIV)

Read:

…commune with God at all times. Rom 12:12 (TPT)

Reflect:

As a young Christ follower the words “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) made no sense to me. I mean how was I supposed to do that? I figured it was just a religious cliche and not to be taken seriously. Throughout the years I noticed that this idea pops up in scripture frequently; “be constant in prayer, be persistent in prayer, pray at all times.” Perhaps I should give this some thought. What does it mean to pray all the time?

I knew that prayer means to communicate and commune with God. A deeper dive revealed that this means to be aware of his nearness so I can participate in his presence. It began to make sense to me that if I was going to pray a lot, I needed to notice Christ nearby rather than think of him abstractly and far away. Talking with God requires this. Since his presence is constant, I can aspire to be consistently aware of and participate in his presence. 

This requires developing a new practice of noticing Christ in the gaps between the many things that constantly demand my attention throughout the day. Between the people, tasks, events and situations that fill my day there are gaps of time. Some are quite brief, and some are expansive. In those gaps I can pause and notice his presence, enjoy his loving attention, and inquire into his vast database of goodness and wisdom. I find that vigilance is required to develop any consistency in this practice. And the payoff is a nice dose of the peace of Christ that surpasses common understanding.

React:

Be giving constant attention to prayer, constantly vigilant in it with thanksgiving, Colossians 4:2 (Wuest)

Pray:

Master, teach me to pray.