Prayer
To most Christians prayer doesn’t seem like a discipline, and maybe that’s the problem? Maybe prayer is way more intricate and has way more depth than we think? Maybe the power of prayer that we say we believe in is actually real and at work today? Prayer for many people is what you do 3 times a day before you eat, if someone is sick, or if you need something. Don’t get me wrong prayer does include these things, but prayer is so much more. Prayer is central to our faith because it thrusts us into communion with God. Prayer is the source that keeps our faith well, and keeps us from being spiritually arid. It is the way we access the peace of God because it puts us in contact with Him. It also grows our relationship with Christ. Think about it how do you grow closer to a human? You talk to them, get to know them, hang out with them, you spend time with them. Prayer works in the same way, it brings you and Jesus closer and betters your relationship. Prayer also builds up the Church when we pray for our brothers and sisters and even those who don’t believe. Maybe prayer doesn’t seem as important because we go about it the wrong way. For so long I thought I had to say the “right things”, or follow some formula when praying, I thought prayer was about thanking God for what He has blessed me with and asking for more. And while those things have their place in prayer they are hardly the core of it. God doesn’t want us to be superficial and “right” when we pray to Him. He wants us to be open. God wants us to be real. He wants us to tell Him how life really is, good or bad. I mean He already knows what’s up so why not acknowledge it and let it out. God wants us to open up the floodgate of our heart and poor out everything to Him whether that be a flood of praise, pain, or mourning God wants it all! He wants us to tell Him the good bad and the ugly, if we don’t we will end up strangling ourselves with thoughts questions and fears that we weren’t meant to keep inside. God invented prayer. He has (metaphorically) called/texted everyone that has ever lived and He is waiting for us to respond in a real and true way. And the call doesn’t end at amen, it continues on forever and He is always on the other end waiting to hear about how life going. Prayer is to be real, open, and honest like a child to a Father. Prayer is communing with God. Prayer is our lifeline.
-Zach Hollifield