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Topic:Significant prayer
DEVOTION OF MARCH 31
READ THE SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 6: 18-24
Pray at all times with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Ephesians 8: 18a
There is a powerful relationship between putting on the full armor of God and praying. These two things must go together; in fact the one occurs as a result of the other. It is not enough to put on the armor of God; you must also pray. But it is not enough to pray, but it is necessary that you put on the armor of God. It is impossible to separate these two concepts. Putting on armor is essentially something that is done in relation to the sphere of your thoughts. It is to adjust your attitude and your heart to reality, to things as they are. It is thinking and thoroughly examining the implications of the revealing fact. This is always something that needs to be done when trying to face life.
The apostle does not reverse this, saying: “First pray and then put on the armor of God.” That is what we are trying to do, and that is why our prayer life is so weak, so helpless. There is great practical help here if we follow carefully the order designed in the Scriptures. I think most Christians would confess that they do not feel satisfied with their prayer life. They feel that it is inadequate and perhaps not as frequent as it should be. Sometimes we struggle, trying to improve the quality as well as the quantity of our prayer life. Sometimes we adopt schedules that we try to keep or long lists of names, projects and places that we try to remember in prayer. In other words, we start with doing, but when we do this we are starting from the wrong place.
Prayer continues by putting on the armor of God. It is the natural and normal result. I am not suggesting that there is no place for Christian discipline; Of course there is. I am not suggesting that we are not going to need to use our will, put it into action and follow it in its entirety. Of course there is this need, but the place where discipline should be is not in praying first, but in “putting on the armor of God.” First, think carefully about the implications of our faith, and then the prayer will flow naturally much more easily. When it appears in this order, it is a meditated prayer, a prayer that has a purpose and meaning.
This is the problem with a large part of the way we pray today. It is less profound, somewhat superficial. Sometimes our prayers are just something simpler than children’s prayers: “Now I go to sleep. I ask you, Lord, to keep my soul. ” What is needed? Prayer must be the result of the things we think very seriously about and the implications of faith. This adds depth, meaning and meaning to it. So the prayer must be direct and with a purpose.
If you examine all the content of the Bible’s teachings on this great topic of prayer, you will discover that under all the biblical presentation is the idea that prayer is having a conversation with God. What the apostle is saying is: “After you have put on the armor of God, after you have thoroughly thought about the implications of your faith in the different ways we have suggested previously, then speak to God. Tell him everything, talk about his reactions, tell him how he feels, describe the relationship with the life around him and ask Him what he needs. ”
Forgive me for the way I have seen prayer as if it were something insignificant and optional. Help me take it seriously and realize that you have made it my point of contact with you. Teach me to pray.
Application to life
Do we have to be struggling to pray, or do we feel that we pray infrequently or inadequately, or do we realize that our prayers are really superficial? How can we talk to God in a real and meaningful way?
