Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to you. – Psalm 143:8
In the above Psalm, David saw the necessity of seeking God to direct his steps. He looked to God for guidance for the needs of each day. Oh, how I wanted to be like David but I found it tough to discipline myself to begin the first hour of my day alone with God! So God and I used to be rather casually related to one another. Now however, we get together a lot and we are not talking on the run but carrying on soul-searching conversations. I feel as if I have gotten to know God a lot better since I consciously put time aside for praying, be it in the morning or any time of the day.
I’m enjoying God more and more these days, simply because I discovered there is hardly a better way than to spend time alone with the Creator of all things. When I escape from the noise of the world and have solitary time with Him, I emerge refreshed and rejuvenated. Most of all, I find peace. Prayer is an open door to God’s ear and heart. I know I can bring anything to Him, and He will not reject me.
Do you realize that as believers, we have the immeasurable, fathomless power of prayer at our disposal? When we are saved by faith in Christ through the riches of His grace, we were given access to Him. What a privilege to be able to enter the Throne Room of God with boldness and confidence. Unbelievers have no such resource. They must deal with crises in their limited strength and wisdom.
A refrain I hear regularly from new Christians who are learning the practice of prayer is “I don’t know what to pray about”. This is also something most of us still struggle with periodically. God understands and allows many circumstances in our individual lives to serve as promptings to prayer. He may speak to us through His word, a Sunday sermon, or even through an illness. Ultimately through our prayer, God wants us to spend more time with Him, to draw closer to Him and to see and sense His heart.
Do you sometimes find it difficult to pray? I do – it’s not that we don’t want to pray – especially in times of distress, we need God more than ever. But when our heart is breaking, prayer sometimes seems impossible. However, God has provided the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter. In such times when our vision is clouded by confusion and grief, and overwhelmed beyond words, the Spirit takes our unformed prayers to God on our behalf.
Very often, we call upon the name of God only in times of stress; but, if we want to be ready for crisis, then we must seek the Lord when everything is working well for us. During such time of prayer and reflection, we have the opportunity to calmly dwell in His Word, building on an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father and laying a solid foundation in the Word that will provide sure footing later on when troubles come our way.
Our modern world works against our need to set aside quiet moments to listen for God’s voice – we are surrounded by countless distractions and voices in need of our attention. Effective meditation demands seclusion. Even Jesus knew that it was vital to take a break from the demands of life in order to truly commune with the Father.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. – Matthew 6:6
This same principle holds true for our prayer lives. Can you, at some point of time turn off your mobile phone, television, computer and simply listen for His voice? My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him (Psalm 62:5). Times of waiting are times of great blessing. When we learn to wait on the Lord, we position ourselves to hear His voice. Eventually, we can overcome the competing pressures of the world by co-operating with the Holy Spirit through inward transformation. As we continue to take in the Word of God and stay in communion with Him, God will reveal more of Himself and His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Well, as I persevere in the discipline of stillness, I will find those quiet moments in our Loving Father’s presence becoming incredibly precious to me. It is during this MCO that I have found more time for personal prayer, praying in small groups and uniting in one voice with fellow brothers and sisters of FBC in corporate prayer. How about you?
Photo by Chris Flexen on Unsplash
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