I sat before my mirror, and I couldn't help but think about the turn that my life has taken since I began to pray intentionally.
Growing up in a Christian home, prayer was fashioned as the only means of appeasing God. I was made to believe that God, who resides high in heaven cannot be seen but he can be talked to in prayers which seemed like begging.
God was presented to me as a deity that can't be approached, neither can he be spoken to as friend. This was all I thought about praying to God when I was growing up.
I saw God as a wicked king that doesn't want his subjects to come close at all. I felt prayer was just an ordinary act. This was what I had in mind till I grew up. I became born again and I began to see reasons to pray.
I started praying the way I have been taught. This was my pattern, from thanksgiving to asking for forgiveness, to petition and then thanksgiving again. I thought I was doing it right until I saw the understanding of how Christ wanted me to pray. I discovered that Christ wanted me to pray as communication unto God, not as if I am begging a wicked deity.
I saw that God was not who he was painted to be. God, though omnipotent, desires to his children come before him in prayers. His reasons for prayers was not to create a pattern out of it, but rather to make it a lifestyle.
Most times, Christians have made prayers patterns, instead of making it a lifestyle. Prayer is communication. Just as you will stand before your earthly father, or sit opposite him and ask him questions about life, telling him your opinions, telling him how you feel, God wants all of his children to talk to him the way we relate with our earthly father.
Making prayer a pattern quickly weighed me out and I was always checking out for time. Twenty minutes in prayer is always like ten hours during those times I say I am praying.
Most times, I struggle to spend thirty minutes. This was because I did not make prayer a lifestyle rather I made it a pattern. Prayer should not be out of compulsion, neither is it optional because you would always speak to your earthly father daily. It is a necessity to succeed in life.
Jesus Christ said to his disciples, “watch and pray, that you might not fall into temptation”.
Prayer is a relationship, it is fellowship, it is communion. It goes beyond mere shouting and screaming at the top of our lungs. Would you scream and shout when taking to your father? No, you wouldn't.
Why? This is because you have built a relationship with your father. It is the level of relationship that makes you approach him and say “Dad, can I speak with you for a few seconds please?
That is the same way prayer should be. You should always expect feedbacks, responses in prayer. This is one favorite and interesting thing about prayer. God, will always speak back to you. He will talk to you, he will respond to your questions, he will spare few minutes with you.
Praying helps to overcome a lot of obstacles. It enables you to build a spiritual capacity and that is why you shouldn't make it a pattern, rather it should become a part of you. When it becomes a part, you find it easy to do.
Many say they find it difficult to pray, this happens because they have not made a lifestyle out of it. Praying is easy when you make it easy.
How do you make praying easy?
🔹Make it a lifestyle.
It is not important you start on long hours, if it is ten minutes, make use of it wisely. You can be weary when you start on long hours. At first, when I was going to make prayer my lifestyle, I began on short times and from there I grew. It is not how far, but how well.
🔹 Approach God as friend to friend.
Most times, God has been painted to us as a wicked King that cannot be approached. Approach him as friend to friend. Talk to him like father to child.
Prayer is one key factor to living a victorious life. No wonder Christ was always seen praying at every time of his life.
God desires fellowship and communion from you, not once in a Blue Moon sessions with him. He desires to see you daily, expressing yourself to him, sharing your opinions. This is the way to live a transformative life.
"Embrace prayer as a lifestyle, not as a pattern."
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