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Do you remember your first prayer, the first time you talked to God?
I don’t remember the actual first time, but I do have a pretty good idea of what I prayed because I prayed it every night with my mom or grandmother when I was a little girl:
“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Thankfully the weight of my imminent mortality didn’t fully hit me at 5 years old!
My prayer life has waxed and waned since those early days; but since my 30s I have been on a journey, compelled by the Holy Spirit to deepen it. What that has meant for me is that I see and experience more and more the precious necessity of prayer—the gift that it is and how truly life-giving and soul-reviving it is, especially praying with and for others and things outside myself.
Prayer for me is a desire and a discipline, and I believe I struggle with and grow in both all the time. Whether prayer for you feels like a daily battle, a lost art, or an echo chamber, in the spirit of encouragement I’d like to offer a few truths I’ve learned along the way that I hope spur you on to pursue a life of prayer.
1.Look Up: Prayer deepens and expands our relationship with God.
I once thought of prayer as just the way people get answers to their problems, like a vending machine or Magic 8 ball. And that certainly is one reason we pray. Proverbs 2:6 (ESV) says, The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. We seek God and His Word for help and direction.
But talking to God is about more than just getting answers to who you should marry or where you should live. From the very first page of Scripture we see our God is all about relationships. And there is no relationship without communication. This is the life-giving exchange: we hear from God through His Word; we speak to Him through prayer.
Hannah is one of my favorite examples of a pray-er in Scripture. In 1 Samuel 1 we meet her, childless and living with her fertile sister-wife who would “provoke her grievously to irritate her” (v.6). The scene in verses 9-15 is Hannah in the temple praying, and we read that she was “deeply distressed…wept bitterly…pouring out (her) soul before the LORD” about her desire for a child.
If you’ve ever poured out your soul to someone, you know that logic is not usually part of the conversation. You’re emoting, getting out every feeling-saturated thought to someone you trust. This is what Hannah was doing with the Lord. There were no rules—she wasn’t worried about saying the wrong thing or looking like a fool. She was burdened, and she was taking it to the Burden Bearer.
So, who do you pour your heart out to? Or where? Social media? Your friend who always takes your side? Next time consider talking first to the only One who can truly do something about your situation. There is no over-sharing with God. He sees and cares about every detail of your life. And He is powerful and loving and intends only good for you.
2.Look Around: Prayer provides perspective.
The Bible is full of prayers we can use as our own. God loves to hear His words prayed back to Him. He wants to hear our specific requests too, but perspective is gained when we filter our requests through the truth of Scripture.
A few years ago my son wasn’t able to find a job as quickly as expected, and my mind went to all the anxious places that mom’s minds go. I asked the Lord to provide a job for him, but there were bigger things at stake. This was an opportunity to pray with eternal perspective for my son. Colossians 1:9-10 (ESV) provided the 10,000-foot view I needed:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
What was this situation doing in his life that I could not see? How could the Lord use it to make my son more fully pleasing to Him? Praying this way moves us from “Please let this or that go well or go away”, to “Use this to transform my child (and me!) into the image of Your Son so that whatever happens, You are glorified.”
Praying Scripture lifts our eyes above what we can see to what heaven sees, and moves us in His direction.
3.Look Ahead: Prayer is part of our eternal worship.
Revelation 5:8 (ESV) is one of the most beautiful passages about prayer in the Bible:
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (emphasis mine)
Our three children are grown, but I still have just about every card, note, and letter their tiny hands scrawled out for me when they were little. I keep them in a drawer that they are going to have to clean out some day when I’m gone! They are my treasures.
John records a beautiful image for us of the way our Father treasures our words to Him. Notice, there aren’t golden bowls for the really good prayers and silver bowls for the pretty good ones and wooden bowls for the boring ones. From the cries of Hannah’s heart to the beautiful praises of King David, they are all of equal value to the Lord.
This is encouragement for anyone who thinks her prayers aren’t “good enough”. What you say to the Lord—whether in your heart or with your mouth, with eloquence or in agony—isn’t judged or criticized. All of it is treasured by Him.
And think of this: our prayers are mingled in those golden bowls with the prayers of the saints of the ages. From Nehemiah and Moses to Mary and Paul. With William Tyndale as he was burned at the stake. With Amy Carmichael, bedridden for decades, unable to do the mission work in India that she called “a chance to die”. With Corrie Ten Boom as she suffered in Ravensbruck concentration camp. With our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world right now, who are standing firm for Christ.
All of our prayers are collected as incense before the Lord now and will be present before the throne at the end of days.
I began by asking about your first prayer. Now I wonder, when was the last time you prayed? When was the last time you prayed with others?
Every Sunday morning I receive another gift from prayer. During our first service I gather with my sisters in Christ and we pray for our church, our staff and leaders, the needs in our body and the world. The time with these dear women deepens my relationships with them and with the Lord. Their prayers bless me with new perspective, and our hearts are united in worship before the throne of grace.
I can’t tell you how instructive and edifying it is for me. It is a quiet earthly practice that resounds in heaven.
Whether you use Scripture as a guide or cry “out of the depths”, there is no better endeavor than pursuing a life of prayer. Alone or gathered with the saints, you can pour out your heart to fill the golden bowls of heaven and watch God work until the end of time to answer you.
Leslie Strader
Leslie Strader is a freelance writer and editor and for 10 years was the Women’s Bible Study Coordinator of Bethel Bible Church. She has authored two Bible studies for Big Dream Ministries - The Amazing Life of Jesus Christ and Empowered: The Amazing Church of Jesus Christ - along with several others as part of Bethel’s WBS Curriculum Writing Team. She and her husband Ross have been married since 1995 and have three children and a son-in-law. They have served Bethel since 2006, where Ross is the senior pastor. Leslie loves spending time with her family, cooking (not baking!), and the pursuit of wisdom and joy in Christ with fellow believers.
