I haven’t always been able to pray.
Of course, I knew the Lord’s prayer and would try to remember to say it before falling asleep at night. To be honest, most nights I fell asleep in the middle of it because I was so tired. I remember feeling guilty about that but then God reminded me that He didn’t want my end of the day; He wanted my entire day.
Pray continually.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
He wanted me to be aware of Him, and be in conversation with Him, all day.
As an introvert, I’m in my head a lot so throughout my day I would find myself conversing with God here and there. That was great but still, something was missing.
The way I conversed with God showed what I understood to be the nature of our relationship. That is, He was far off, up there in the Heavens, seeing me but not actually with me. He shifted my thinking about that with a vision a couple years ago.
The vision is of a busy mom. She goes from task to task, doing one chore after another while her son keeps asking to play with her. She tells him “later, I promise” and move on to another task but feel guilty. Eventually, she’s about to put some laundry into the washing machine and sees him off to the side on her left, waiting patiently for her to finish so they can play together. She’s about to tell him “later” yet again, but instead finds herself saying “come do this with me”.
The teaching I received at the time was not about the obvious – choosing to spend time with my kids instead of endless chores; although that’s a good lesson too! It was that God is with us yet we can be so distracted with “doing” that we miss out on the gift of His presence. I was doing this with my devotional time in the Word. Years later, I saw the same thing happening in my prayer time.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
Philippians 4:6-7
A lot of times, especially when I was struggling, I felt like there was no point in praying because God is sovereign. He’s in control and He knows it all. But He invites us, commands us, to pray because He knows we need to be in relationship with Him. Imagine your relationship with a spouse, child, or close friend. Though you may know what they’re thinking, to some extent, you still value hearing it from them. What happens in the process is more than information shared or a request made. There’s bonding, encouragement, and a relationship nurtured. So it is with us and God.
There’s a lot that can be said about prayer but I won’t get into it further here. The main point of this post is to encourage you to nurture your relationship with God through continuous prayer. To boldly approach the throne of our heavenly Father with whatever is weighing on your heart. Through Christ, we now have immediate access to the Father. That is a gift and a privilege.
Free Printable
Here is a free printable that I created containing some of the elements that I used to create the journaling page featured at the top of this post. It contains three pages including a scripture plan on the topic of prayer. You may use it to journal, create a prayer book, etc. I pray that it blesses you.
Please keep in mind that this printable is provided for free and all I ask is that it be for your personal use only. Also, please do not bookmark, pin, or share the download page itself, but link to this page instead.
Download the file through this (Google Drive) link here – Say a Prayer – or click the image below.
