Prayer: Reminds us who God is

 

Daily Gratitude Year 10 - Day 92 : Today, I am grateful for prayer.

This quote strikes a perfect chord:

"Prayer isn't to remind God what your problems are, but prayer is to remind your problems who God is." -Unknown

How often do we approach prayer more like a shopping list or a letter to Santa. Neither are what God intended.

What an amazing thing is was on that "Good Friday" when the curtain to the Holy of Holies ripped and everything changed. The Lamb purchased or sin debt and sealed it. Paid in full!

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God," -Hebrews 10:19-21

We can come to the Father with repentant hearts and approach the throne of His grace without fear because of Jesus. The intimacy with God, damaged by sin, restored.

Prayer is how we communicate with God. We can go boldly before the throne because of the cross. He longs for each of us to want a relationship with him, but he does not force himself on us. He waits for us to invite him in to stay.

God already is aware of our trials, our troubles, our turmoil and our circumstance. Humble hearts, seeking his face with the courage to pray "thy will be done", will find peace beyond human understanding. We can't explain it, but it is as real as gravity.

Our prayers should remind us who God is... not sound like a shopping list. In full surrender, there is freedom. Another paradox of His truth.

Paul once referred to himself as "an ambassador in chains". In the many prison cells where Paul was held for preaching the Gospel of Christ, he found a freedom he had never tasted when he was chasing religions rules, killing disciples of Jesus and adhering to "the rules". In Jesus, he found deliverance. His freedom was through and in Christ. Prayer was his hotline to heaven, not to tell Jesus of His troubles, but to seek guidance and direction so he could fulfill the mission or answer the call to "come home".

That hotline is still open 24/7.

Today, I am grateful for prayer.