Why do we pray?

One of the areas you know we have been growing in is in the area of prayer as a church. We are wanting to continue to grow in talking to the Lord and seeing Him at work in our lives and in the life of the church. (It’s why we want everyone to go through a Prayer Cohort at Summit!)
 
I thought I would share one of the daily devotionals that Angela and I read each day from David Powlison. (It is from “Take Heart: Daily Devotions To Deepen Your Faith”)
 
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. —Psalm 61:1–2
 
Why do you pray? I suspect that you and I are probably alike. When we are honest, we say the reason we pray is that we need to pray. It is the door of life. And if we don’t, we perish. If we don’t, we are insane.
In order to explore how prayer goes right, it helps to identify ways that prayer goes wrong. Here are a few ways prayer drifts:

• Prayers can be vague and confusing.
• Prayers can function as a wish list.
• Prayers can be superstitious, a way to ensure bad things don’t happen and good things do happen.
• Prayers can just be a religious or pious practice, a habit that separates the religious from the irreligious.
• Prayer can be a mantra that seeks to evoke good feelings, treating prayer as a psychological experience.
• Prayer can be a reflex—something we simply do before we “get down to business” or after something is completed.
• Prayer can be something we simply tack onto life.
• Prayer can be boilerplate—a simple repetition of stock religious phrases.

But prayer goes right when it is honest conversation with the Lord we need, trust, and love. Prayer is a spiritually needy person’s communication with the God who hears. Whether or not you pray reveals what you believe about everything that really matters. When you pray, you live with a fundamental humility before God and others. This humility fits reality—everyday needs can only be met by God himself.
 
          I found this helpful and encouraging. Ways prayer drifts… ways prayer goes right… so helpful! Can you relate?
         
          Oh that the Lord will grow us in prayer, in honesty before Him.

Held By His Abundant Grace,
 
Pastor John