Devotionals - Discover the Book - July 18, 2011

Talking to God ALL THE TIME

One of the first lessons we give to our infant children is how to talk. We look at them as they first learn to follow us with their eyes and say “momma…daddy” and so on. We teach them how to talk, and they learn by imitation and repetition.

One of the first lessons we need to learn from our Heavenly Father is His ‘how to talk to Me’ lesson. These lessons are what the Bible teaches on prayer. If you have never done so, you would be enriched beyond measure to go from cover to cover in this book and personally find out all that your Father wants you to know about prayer.

• Prayer in the Word of God is mentioned about 350 times.
• The word “pray” and “prayer” however are actually translations of ten different Hebrew words and seven different Greek words. So we might say that God offers us an amazing multitude of personalized options in our approach to Him. Each of these 17 words portrays attitudes and approaches to communing with our Great Almighty King!

Prayer is often seen as being like incense in the Scriptures. Note the prayers of the saints in Revelation 5:8. The famed Old Testament scholar Wilson notes this word means, “To entreat, to make earnest and fervent prayer, which ascends like incense before God. Others think the primary meaning is power and abundance, as well as sweet odor.”

All of us need to exercise ourselves in ceaseless prayer. As Jesus told His disciples in Mark 9, there is territory we will never enter for Him without learning the secret of Supplication which is fasting (denying ourselves) and praying (seeking God’s intervention and help in specific events and people). So today we need to discipline ourselves for the purpose of prayer!

Here are just a few simple habits that many of us have learned to practice. These simple methods can revolutionize the prayer life of those who find extended prayer difficult:

• READINGPRAYER: Don’t simply read through letters, but read and pray.  After each paragraph quickly pray about what you just read.
• WATCHING PRAYER: When you watch something take place live, or on TV, immediately pray about what you are seeing.  Especially do this after news programs.
• TALKING PRAYER: When you talk on the telephone, pray for the person you’re talking with.  If it is a believer, you can pray together on the phone.  This will likely lead you to a double ministry of prayer and encouragement!
• LISTENING PRAYER: As you hear things in a meeting, on the radio, or almost anywhere - quickly lift to God in prayer what you are hearing.
• WRITING PRAYER: As you shoot off emails – send them with a touch of God requested by prayer. When you write a letter or card (which is a great ministry in itself), pray about what you are writing and, of course, for the person you are writing to.

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