Prayer is a necessary staple to the Christian faith. It's not just a decorative ritual that we uphold to maintain formality with God, but a means by which we speak directly to and with our Father through our mediator Jesus Christ.
As important as prayer is, we have to admit that there are times when we do not value prayer.
For some people, it can be hard to pray when they're blessed and okay because they don't see the need to come to God as of the moment. For others, it can be hard to pray in trials because they feel that it was God in the first place that brought challenges to their lives, so why bother asking Him to take the problems away?
One thing these two mindsets have in common is that prayer is reduced to nothing more than just our time with Santa before he starts wrapping gifts.
Prayer is not just meant to be a time where we ask God for blessings, protection or provision. While that's part of it, there is so much more to prayer. Many of us fail to see the value of prayer because to us prayer is no more than just a set time to send God a request of materials needed. I admit I can sometimes be guilty of this, but prayer is more than just that. It's a time to seek and commune with God.
Prayer is first and foremost about our relationship with our Lord before it is about getting our needs met. That's why Jesus teaches us to pray starting first with "Our Father..." (Matthew 6:9) acknowledging that we're not just talking to a celestial being that act like a supernatural vending machine but to a Dad whom we can build relationship with, commune with, love, adore and honour.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Prayer and petition is not just a matter of asking, but a matter of seeking God's face. We value prayer most when we start valuing God more because the goal of prayer is to spend time with this wonderful God who loves us.
It's funny how people will pay and go the distance for five to ten minutes with their favourite celebrity, artist or college crush. Why? Because of the value they have for those people.
How about Jesus? Do we value Him enough to want that extra time just staying in His presence regardless of the things we go through or the things we need?
Through Jesus we have access to the holy of holies, the court of the one true living God, and we can go there when we pray. If that's not valuable then I don't know what is. We value prayer more when we realise whom we spend prayer with.
