I’m so dependant on well performed prayers of intellectually perfection that I swell up with anger if another believer does not achieve what I consider a well spoken prayer. “In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart, John Bunyan.” I know it’s my pride that is the chief blame and nothing more. When Brother Lawrence stated, “We ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly, and imploring His assistance in our affairs just as they happen,” my thoughts about how theological my prayers should be were utterly destroyed. Every time I heard someone start their prayers with, “dear daddy”; I would always scream inside my head, “They must not have a deep relationship with God. God should be respected with more of an reverential title, such as father.” I was deeply confused with other Christian’s liberty because I thought they were not necessarily committing sin, but that they were in error. Glory and thanksgiving to God because he showed me that it was my insecurities, within my own salvation, that were the reasons for all my concerns for other Christian’s prayers.When I do have a quite time, with God in prayer, my mind never fails to drift into a grandiose desire or desires that I have conjured up throughout the day. Brother Lawrence talks about rejecting every thought while in prayer and focus totally on God, but that spiritual disciple has always been very cumbersome to me. So, during some of my most stressful days, I do seem to forget the necessity that prayer should be. “Probably the number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of believers is that we try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom. Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission, but what have millions of Christians done? We have stopped believing that we are in a war. We have no urgency, no watching, no vigilance, and no strategic planning, just easy peace and prosperity. So, what do we do with the walkie-talkie? We tried to rig it up as an intercom in our houses, cabins, boats, and cars—not call in fire power for conflict with the moral enemy, but to ask for more comforts in the den, John Piper.” The main problem with me in prayer seems to be my lack of conversing with God throughout the day. I tend to only acknowledge God in times of great need and not as I would with a dearly loved friend. One of the primary points of practicing the presence of God is to acknowledge him at all times, whether we feel like it or not. Prayer is much more than just presenting request before God, it is a continually act of admiration for God’s grace in all situations of life.
