How does prayer connect us to God? Prayer is more than just a few words spoken to God before a meal or before one goes to sleep. Though it can simply be said that prayer is how “we make contact with God, and likewise God communicates with us.” Prayer is a lifestyle of communion with God in which we develop a deep intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. This deep intimate relationship with the father is what allows us to become friends with God.
Prayer for me as a Christian leader is extremely significant. Prayer is what allows me to come before God and learn who He is and what He wants for my life. Furthermore, He not only gives me instruction for my life but gives me instructions for how I am to lead those that He has put me in charge of. This intimate time with God is needed for every Christian. It is what builds every Christian and helps them grow in their faith.
[bctt tweet=”Prayer is what allows me to come before God and learn who He is and what He wants for my life. – Josiah Robles” via=”no”]
Praying with Fellow Believers
Prayer, however, is not just a personal practice but one that can and should be done with fellow believers. Corporate prayer opens the door for God’s Spirit to unify all those that are seeking Him in prayer and as they pray to the Father, the Father’s blessing them and unifies them in His name. Without prayer we will not know who we are in Christ and what He wants for our life, because without prayer we can never truly and intimately know Him.
Prayer is how we communicate with God and how He in return communicates back to us. Prayer is not a one-sided conversation. Furthermore, prayer does not start with us, as prayer is our response to God and what He has done for us.
[bctt tweet=”Prayer is not a one-sided conversation. – Josiah Robles” via=”no”]
God Seeks a Relationship with Us
Since the beginning, God has called us to Him and spoken with us. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, we can see God seeking us. “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day… Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to Him, ‘Where are you?’” (Gen. 3:8a, 9). God was looking for His creation because He is always seeking to have a relationship with us.
It is in this calling to His children that God opens the door for prayer and our response. This dialogue format is extremely clear when we understand that this was the main reason for the salvation of the world through Christ. God set forth a plan to bring back His children into communion with Him.
This is Part 1 of a three-part article on prayer written by Artios student Josiah Robles. Part 2 will follow in a few days.
- Need to learn more about prayer? Register for our WOA 311 Prayer Ministry course here!
- Interested in learning more about Artios Christian College? Click here.
- View the upcoming Artios class schedule here.
- Have questions about how you fit into Christian leadership? Check out these resources:
Bibliography
Foster, Richard. Prayer, Finding the Heart’s True Home. New York, HarperCollins, 1992.
NKJV Thinline Bible, Large Print, Copyright 2017 by Thomas Nelson
Treier, Daniel and Walter Elwell. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2017
