Recalibrating Prayer (PrayerLife)

Warren Dunes State Park (Michigan)

For those who have joined me in PrayerLife:

It is always good to return to square one and remember just why we are praying people. Let us recalibrate, and re-tune our minds to the basics. Here are some of the salient points, as I see things. Here is why I pray.

• Prayer is a relationship with God. To pray is to communicate, to converse, with God.
• This means that to pray is to be in relationship with God.
• To pray is to conference with God. The subject of the God-conference is: what I (the praying person) and God are doing together. To pray is to collaborate with God. This is why Jesus prayed.
• To pray is to accept the invitation to the God-conference. The "prayer room" is the control center of the universe; viz., the presence of God. Jesus-followers are invited to enter into this room, this place, which is essentially a place of the heart.
• Praying involves speaking to God, and listening to God speak to me. The ability to do this is gained by actually praying, by having a prayer life.
• Prayer brings a deburdening. In prayer I bring my burdens to God, and cast them upon him (1 Peter 5:17). In prayer I find healing. My healing is for the sake of God and his kingdom.
• Prayer brings direction for life. The direction God gives me is kingdom-oriented. God is about the 24/7 business of establishing his rule and reign. God directs me in paths that lead to this.
• In the ongoing activity of prayer I experience formation and transformation into Christlikeness (Galatians 4:19). Prayer is the connection whereby I gain more and more of the mind of Christ and the heart of Christ. To pray is to change.
• 1) Jesus prayed. 2) Therefore, I pray. Or: 1) Jesus needed to pray. 2) Therefore, I need to pray.
• 1) I want to pray. 2) Therefore, I pray. Desire always leads to discipline; desire without discipline is an illusion. The desire to pray grows in the activity of praying. My own experiential discover of the God who is there and conferences with me is my great incentive to pray. Only God can give this, and I'm stopping now to pray this for you.