But we also mentioned yesterday that there are at least five avenues which we engage in following Christ. The second of these avenues we will explore is prayer.
This is an area in which I am continually in need of growth. It does not rank high on the list of things I do well. So these remarks are those of one on a rocky journey in this area.
If the primary way in which God reveals Himself to us is through His Word, our primary response to Him is through prayer. If we are to follow Christ’s example, we will respond to life with prayer. On multiple occasions the gospels record Christ separating Himself from people in need to go meet with His Father in prayer (Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 9:28 – 29; 11:1). Seems counter intuitive, at least to our modern way of problem solving thinking. Rather than diving into the fray, He pulled away to pray.
It is hard. It sometimes feels futile. It is necessary to respond in any relationship. Like any relationship we have to learn how to best communicate with the other party. It takes time and practice. To say that this has just brushed the surface of this avenue of following Christ as a disciple would be a gross understatement. There is much more that the Bible has to say about prayer. If you do not have access to a Bible study program, BibleGateway.com is a good resource. I did a quick query on the word “pray” in the search engine and got this list of references to pray in the New Testament. It might be helpful to scan through these to remind ourselves of the central place prayer has as a core discipline of a disciple.
This is an area in which I am continually in need of growth. It does not rank high on the list of things I do well. So these remarks are those of one on a rocky journey in this area.
If the primary way in which God reveals Himself to us is through His Word, our primary response to Him is through prayer. If we are to follow Christ’s example, we will respond to life with prayer. On multiple occasions the gospels record Christ separating Himself from people in need to go meet with His Father in prayer (Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 9:28 – 29; 11:1). Seems counter intuitive, at least to our modern way of problem solving thinking. Rather than diving into the fray, He pulled away to pray.
It is hard. It sometimes feels futile. It is necessary to respond in any relationship. Like any relationship we have to learn how to best communicate with the other party. It takes time and practice. To say that this has just brushed the surface of this avenue of following Christ as a disciple would be a gross understatement. There is much more that the Bible has to say about prayer. If you do not have access to a Bible study program, BibleGateway.com is a good resource. I did a quick query on the word “pray” in the search engine and got this list of references to pray in the New Testament. It might be helpful to scan through these to remind ourselves of the central place prayer has as a core discipline of a disciple.
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