Prayer changes things. Indeed it does! I was recently meditating on these words and was inspired to share an aspect of prayer that many may overlook, but one that is a necessary part of a successful prayer life.
You see, God wants a relationship with us. When Yeshua gave the parable about those who would claim to worship him, only to be told, “Depart from me, I never knew you”, he was actually saying, “I never had an intimate relationship with you”.
Think about it. Think about your relationship with your sweetheart, your spouse, your children, parents, your best friend. What makes these types of relationships good? It is sharing, love, communication, being together. When people love one another, they want to spend time together. They want to share their lives with each other, they communicate often, in person, on the phone, through email or texting. They think about one another when they are apart.
Sadly, many of us have a better relationship with total strangers on Facebook than we have with our heavenly Father. The things we enjoy about Facebook are the same things that we should be eager to enjoy with our Father in heaven. Facebook allows us to keep in touch, share pictures, hear the latest news about our friends and family who are far away, yet near and dear to us. Isn't this the kind of relationship our heavenly Father wants with us? We are his children and he wants to spend eternity with us. We are admonished in the Bible to "Seek his face". Prayer is an essential aspect of our relationship with him, but it should be in conjunction with “family time”. We should feel close enough to share everything with him in a familial atmosphere, We should be comfortable enough to tell him everything, to discuss our thoughts, problems, successes, fears, needs, whatever is on our mind. He will listen and, if we will receive it, he will help us and guide us. I say “if we will receive it” because often we will not. His way may, and most often does, require change in us. We cannot choose to walk disobediently before him and expect him to be there for us. We can’t just cry out to him when we need something, when we never talk with him on a regular basis.
Don’t get me wrong. There are many who have never been religious, who have never given God a second look, who find themselves at the end of their rope and suddenly realize their need of his help. They cry out in desperation and he immediately comes to bring them peace and a hope of salvation. That is the first step. The bible teaches that he will accept us just as we are, but we can’t stay just as we are. Repentance must follow. We must be sorry for our sins and turn from them. We must begin building a relationship with our Father and learning from his word, growing in understanding, becoming more and more like him every day.
If we want a successful prayer life, then we need to seek that intimate relationship with the one to whom we pray. He loves us more than we could ever know and reaches out to us daily through his Spirit. He doesn’t want to see us suffer. He wants us to enjoy abundant lives. He wants to bless us with all things, but he will not bless disobedience. Even our earthly parents will not tolerate such behavior. If we love him and believe in him enough to go to him in prayer, then certainly we should love him enough to desire a father-child relationship with him. Surely we will want to have that intimate, loving family time with him, allowing him to share in our triumphs, our failures, our daily concerns. He says in Isaiah 59:1 “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear”.
Do you want God to hear and answer your prayers? Then seek a meaningful, intimate relationship with him. Seek his face. Repent of your sins and turn to him with all your heart, mind and body. He has great plans for you, wonderful gifts he wants to share with you. An abundant life awaits those who choose to come to him as “Abba”, Father.
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