Prayer

I have found myself convicted by the Holy Spirit, through the words of my friend at A Pilgrim on the Canterbury Trail, of my deficiency in regards to prayer and study of the Holy Scriptures. I, too, have called myself a Christian for quite a few years, since sometime in the early eighties, and still I manage to go days without study and quiet reflection or time in communion with my Lord. I know that I am not alone, and that there are those who have overcome it with the Lord’s help. I take heart in knowing these things, but at the same time it saddens me that our adversary is so successful in his labors.

Enter the words of encouragement from friends. I have had the pleasure of corresponding through email with a fine man, a deacon in Christ’s church whom, though we have never met face-to-face, I have come to appreciate for his wisdom and charity. I wrote to him a couple of weeks ago in total exasperation and received from him words so simple I was almost ashamed to have not thought of them myself. He said, and I was quite glad to listen, that prayer is neither limited to sitting alone in a quiet room and speaking with intent to God, nor kneeling behind a pew in the local parish church. We pray, whether we know it or not, throughout the day. God hears our thoughts…He knows our hearts.

When we sing that favorite hymn that we can’t seem to get out of our heads, He hears it and knows that we worship Him. When we help someone in need, we honor Him, and He is pleased. When we cry out in frustration, He hears us and knows that we really cry out to Him. When we look around and wonder at all that He has made, He knows that we recognize Him as Lord. When that sudden revelation comes to us while driving, it is He who gives it to us. We pray throughout the day, and He hears and answers us.

This is not to say that quiet reflection and prayer are not needed. If we look at the example of our Lord, we find that He often went off by himself to pray. Even He, the Son of the Living God, recognized the need for one-on-one communion with the Father. It is during these times that He received peace and strength for the path laid before Him. And so it is with us. We need that time of solitude, that peaceful communion with the Father who strengthens us.