October: Prayer

Prayer is one of the most important and crucial aspects of the Christian walk and life. Without it, we are, at best, attempting to live a life that is largely estranged from God—and at worst, we are totally self-deceived, living completely separated from Him and His grace.

For many believers, prayer is one of the spiritual disciplines we strive to master—and hopefully, one that ultimately masters us. One who was mastered by prayer was Martin Luther, the Reformer, who famously said, “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” He understood that prayer was vital to the Christian walk and life.

One of the points I want to draw from Luther’s quote is that one of the primary roles of prayer is communion with God—working in a way, place, and manner that He desires to work in and through us. Luther was not focused on being productive by his own standards or means, but by the ones set for him by God. He knew he needed close fellowship with God to ensure he would be precisely where God wanted him to be and doing exactly what God wanted him to do throughout the day.

This view of prayer—as both fellowship and alignment with God—is the key to a life that is led by the Spirit rather than driven by self.

The following is an excerpt from The Doctrine of the Christian Life and I believe Frame does a greater job than I at explaining the role that prayer has in our lives.

“Prayer is a means of fellowship with our heavenly father… and is a form of fellowship as well. In Luke 11:9-13 , Jesus says that prayer is like a child going to his earthly father (cf. Matt. 6:9) The child wants something, and the father is eager to give. But the father does not give until the child asks. And of us who are fathers or mothers understand the dynamic here. We want to give good things to our children, but even more we want to have a good relationship with them. Our heavenly Father wants the same. He does not want to be an automatic dispenser of goods, but to really be out Father”