“We do not forget to eat: we do not forget to take the shop shutters down: we do not forget to be diligent in business; we do not forget to go to our beds to rest: but we often do forget to wrestle with God in prayer, and to spend, as we ought to spend, long periods in consecrated fellowship with our Father and our God.”

-Charles Spurgeon

Perhaps no practice in the Christian life is as important as prayer. The Apostles named it as their preeminent duty along with devotion to Scripture (Acts 6:4). When pressed by the King of Persia, Nehemiah prayed first before giving an answer (Nehemiah 2:4). Jehoshaphat heard of the great horde coming against Judah, and immediately set his face to seek the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:1-3). Christ gave parables to teach that we ought always to pray (Luke 18:1). Paul plainly commanded that we pray “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

As Spurgeon noted above we seem to remember to give our time to everything but prayer. It becomes a spiritual practice relegated to a pile of good intentions and plagued by the mindset of I should, but I don’t.

In what follows I offer a simple reminder of the nature of prayer as well as practical steps for beginning a life of fervent devotion to prayer.  

The Nature of Prayer

What is prayer? In simplest terms, it is the act of communicating with God. Although a suitable starting point, defining prayer in this way is a bit like saying that the ocean is deep. It is not untrue–but this barely begins to describe the fullness of its nature.

So, what do we mean when we say that prayer is communicating with God? 

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, we are told that “…the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). Under the law of Moses, the veil within the temple guarded the Most Holy Place–an area that contained the glory of God’s presence. The book of Hebrews tells us that according to God’s Law, only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place–and he could only do this once per year after making the appropriate sacrifices (Hebrews 9:7).

In other words, almost no one was permitted to enter into the glory of God’s presence, and even the person who was had to meticulously adhere to the sacrificial requirements. After the death of Christ, however, the veil was torn in two. This is both a literal and symbolic occurrence. Literal in that it actually happened–the veil within the temple literally split in half. Symbolic in that it made known a critical truth: the death of Christ satisfied the wrath of God such that all who are in Christ now have peace with God (Romans 5:1) and therefore are able to enter into His presence. The torn veil communicates to us that through the work of Christ, believers can approach the throne of God with great confidence, knowing that we will be heard by our Father in heaven (Hebrews 4:16). 

The idea of anyone in Christ being able to draw near to God through prayer would have been nearly impossible to comprehend for a Jew in the ancient near east. Yet this is the privilege you and I have if we have placed our trust in Christ as our Savior. Prayer is not a rudimentary uttering of words into the void. It is not the thing you’re supposed to do before eating dinner. It is not a ritual performed to try and earn God’s favor. Prayer is the privilege of a pardoned sinner. It is the entrance before the very throne of the God who formed the heavens and upholds the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).

Consider for a moment what you are really doing when you pray. Consider the high privilege of entering into the presence of your Creator. Consider the price that was paid for that kind of peace and communion with a holy God. With these thoughts in view, we must ask ourselves: how could I neglect so great a privilege? 

When we neglect the privilege of prayer, we neglect the great gift of fellowship with God bought for us through the work of Christ. We also starve ourselves of spiritual strength and invite the threefold enemy of the world, the flesh, and the devil to gain a foothold within our soul. When we neglect prayer, we do so at our own peril. 

Beginning Again

My aim is less about heaping condemnation on believers who have a feeble or inconsistent prayer life and more about offering a sweetly convicting reminder of what we are actually doing when we cast prayer upon the pile of good intentions.

Perhaps your prayer life is struggling, and you aren’t sure where to begin. Here are three encouragements on beginning–or beginning again–as a man or woman of prayer that I hope you will find helpful:

  1. Search and pray the Scriptures. God’s Word is replete with some of the most beautiful, eloquent, visceral, and God-honoring prayers we will ever read. Not only should we read them–we should also pray them. What better prayers are there to offer God than the words He has given us? Certainly the Psalms are a great place to start, but we ought not forget the many other passages as well. Personally, I find great encouragement from the prayer of David in 1 Chronicles 29, the prayer of the Levites in Nehemiah 9, and the prayer of Daniel in Daniel 9. 
  2. Prayer should not always be private. Some people may believe that prayer is only something we do alone. Though that is certainly important, we cannot neglect the power of corporate prayer–whether during worship on the Lord’s Day or simply among a group of Christians. Yes, Jesus commanded us to pray privately (Matthew 6:6), but it was also the corporate prayer of Peter, John, and the early believers that God answered to add boldness to their preaching (Acts 4:31). If your prayer life is struggling, perhaps the best thing you can do is find a brother or sister to pray with. 
  3. Begin praying. One of my favorite quotes is from the Puritan Richard Sibbes, who said: “By prayer we learn to pray.” When you are not sure where to begin, simply begin. Praising, pleading, asking, hoping, or confessing to God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit–this is the place from which a deep and abiding prayer life begins. 

When we forget prayer, we forget one of the greatest privileges bestowed upon us. We do not forget to eat; we do not forget to sleep–may God in His grace grant us help not to forget this most critical aspect of life in submission to Him.

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