Prayer should not be seen as simply another duty to perform in the believer’s agenda or a box to check off on a weekly attendance slip in Sunday School. No, it is never to be that lowly in regard. Neither is prayer intended to be optional in the Christian’s life; not something we engage in if we so choose. God’s desire and design for this divine communication is not to be an activity we ignore.
During this time of pandemic, shelter at home, one of the hard parts of being restricted in mobility is not being able to spend quality time with our children and grandchildren. Yes, we can call and take advantage of the various face to face electronic options, but even those have undesirable limitations. I want to touch and be touched; I want to have a conversation that is not rushed, and not with a playing card sized image of the ones I love. I am the Dad; the Grandpa who wants to be reached out to; to be appreciated for wisdom and knowledge and counsel. I desire to be engaged by my family because I need it more than they, perhaps. I want to be loved, respected, admired, appreciated; I want a mutually wanted intimate communication having love as the prompter. Is that so bad?
Then, why would it be different with the One Who created us? One of the deeper levels of understanding about prayer is the intended divine purpose behind God’s many invitations for us to pray, is that it is not just about you and your wants, needs, and desires, it is for Him and His desires to have a deep relationship of intimacy with the one He created and redeemed. As much as I want my children to be with me, God all the more wants His children to be near to Him because they understand His love for them.
In the Creation account in Genesis, chapter 2:7says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
There is something here that is often overlooked or misinterpreted. This breath of life in the man goes far deeper than simply air into the lungs. Every created living animal, bird, fish, and things that creep on the earth requires air to breathe. In all these other living things it is not recorded that God breathed into them their first breath to “jump-start” their lives; it was a part of the design and the command, “Let there be . . .”
Man was the only creature designed to be a spirit-being having a soul that would come alive by the living Spirit breath of God. A “Living Soul”—a spirit within that could, would, and should have a deep, personal, relationship with the Creator God! That, beloved, is what was lost in Eden; the breath of God! We lost the ambiance of intimacy with God!
However now, for the born-again believer, by faith in Christ Jesus, that Breath of God is breathed back into man by the Holy Spirit’s immediate entrance (incoming life), quickening the spirit in man into that New Life with God!
“This is the air I breathe.
This is the air I breathe;
Your Holy Presence living in me” (LIAM HOWE, TAHLIAH BARNETT, TIMMAZ ZOLLEYN)
Prayer, for the submitted, surrendered, walking in the Spirit, child of God, is the life-flow of the redeemed in intimacy with God. What it would be best seen in, will be what I refer to perfect prayer. Perfect prayer is when the Holy Spirit breathes a prayer into the unselfish intercessor (one who not only breathes in God, but breathes out God as well), what needs to be prayed as the Father’s will. The faithful intercessor then prays the conceived will of God from the Spirit, to the Father: “Thy will be done . . .”
Church, will you live; will you pray? God wants you to engage closely with Him, and work with Him. Pray On!
