Live to Pray

My brother has a phrase that he likes to often repeat; ‘some people eat to live, but I live to eat’. He certainly likes his food! But, this also describes the two different ways of relating to prayer. Some people pray to live, and others live to pray. 

Our relation to prayer is vital, because prayer is our means of communion with God. We all must ask ourselves: Where do we place the importance of prayer in our life? Is it a priority or do we esteem things above prayer? As Oswald Chambers said;

‘Prayer does not equip us for some greater works, prayer is the greater work.’

Such firm conviction in the importance of prayer is key in developing a closer walk with God. 

Sometimes we are so busy seeking a ‘great work’ to do for God, we skip over the very ‘work’ he is calling us to; prayer. The point is not that prayer itself should necessarily be regarded as a ‘work’, but rather we should esteem it of far higher value in the Kingdom of Heaven than we typically believe.

We should realise the absolute limitless potential of prayer, and the immense privilege and honour that it is. Too often we are seeking something outside of ourselves when God has already placed it inside of us. We all can pray. It is not limited to a special elite class of Christians, prayer warriors or intercessors.  

The Purpose of God

Christ came to reconcile us to the Father, and by Jesus we all have access to the Father through the Spirit. Prayer is at the very centre and the purpose of God. To avoid prayer, is to avoid God’s will.

God is waiting for many of us to realise this. 

Prayer is meant to be the focus of our life, not simply a last resort when our backs are against the wall and find ourselves in a needful situation. Prayer is not an emergency exit, it is access to the very throne room of Heaven. Prayer is to be that which everything in our life focuses on. The emphasis is not simply on the activity of prayer itself, but rather what prayer means; communion with God.

Touching Heaven is not the goal of prayer, touching the one who made Heaven is. 

Lord, Teach Us To Pray!

In the New Covenant we are invited to participate in that type of prayer life that Jesus himself had. Christ is our teacher on how to walk with God, and he said ‘a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.’ (Luke 6:40). God’s goal is to make us like Christ, and that includes the way we pray.

The disciples of Christ were to learn everything about their teacher’s way of life so they could copy him. After following him around for so long, the most pressing thing the disciples desired to learn from Jesus was prayer. They said ‘Lord teach us to pray’ (Luke 11:1), not preach, save souls, teach, do good works or perform miracles, but pray. One distinguishing mark of every disciple of Christ is prayer, because it was one of the most distinguishing marks of Christ himself.

Upon the Apostle’s Paul conversion it was declared from Heaven ‘behold, he prayeth’ (Acts 9:11). This marked out to Ananias the disciple the fact that Paul had been converted to a Christian from his former life as a ravaging persecutor of the church of Christ. Saul the Pharisee had turned to Paul the Apostle and the evidence of this was; ‘behold, he prayeth’. 

One thing that marks nearly every religion in the world is some form of prayer. Every person that prays is praying to either an idol or the one true God. 

The Christian is marked by two distinctive things; who he prays to and how he prays. Certainly Paul in his days as a young pharisee would have said many prayers to God (withstanding the fullness of the revelation of Christ at that time), yet the testimony of Heaven is that only after his conversion of seeing the risen Christ, did he truly pray. 

The Old Testament saints and prophets had prayed and seen miraculous answers to prayer, but there was something different about the life of Jesus and his mode of prayer to even these great saints. David the sweet psalmist was a man of prayer, Daniel was a man that prayed three times a day in the face of death. And yet the way Jesus communed with the Father was unique. The disciples who were most intimate with him immediately recognised this and sought to learn this from him above all else. We too should be like those disciples and cry out ‘Lord teach us to pray!’ 

Praying Like the Son

The book of Hebrews says:

‘God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds’ (Heb 1:1-2).

The meaning here is that God is communicating all his will and desire to us through his Son. In the Old Covenant it was by the Prophets, in the New Covenant it is by the Son. As Peter says ‘Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you’ (1 Peter 1:10). Christ shows us a much greater way to God, he is that way, and the example of our relation to the Father. No longer are we bound to Moses, but instead to Jesus. Our prayer life is to no longer be that of a servant, but that of a son.

The only person who can teach us to pray like a son is the Son himself. When the disciples asked to be taught to pray Christ taught them the ‘Our Father’. 

The words ‘Our Father’ are the foundation of all  Christian prayer, it reflects our sonship and demonstrates the reality of our relationship. Only a son can pray such words. This means prayer is built upon a foundation of belonging, care, honour, security, protection, relationship and love, rather than simply service. This is what Paul found in his conversion as he writes in Galatians:

‘And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.’ (Gal 4:6-7)

The centre of our life and prayer is love for the Father based on our relation to him as our Father. All service of sonship is a willing obedience out of love to the Father. 

The one rule and pattern of life that Christ himself showed us was his deep love for God and others. His prayer was not just a discipline, a routine, a quiet time or a habit, it was a fire of love in his heart, and a natural outflow of his love for God.

Like a cup flowing over with love, that love for God also flowed over into love for others. Just as when Christ was transfigured on the mount, light came from within him, revealing the divine light inside. That was an indication of his deity. It was also an example to us, for Christ is in us. When he prayed the light of divine life flowed from the inner river of spiritual light inside of him and it radiated out from him. The light of life is revealed and the Son of God is made manifest shining out of the body through prayer. 

Prayer is ultimately the cry of the Son in the heart for the Father. There is no higher action a human being can undertake than the fervant prayer of love to God. One aspect of the meaning of praying in the Spirit is praying as a son.

Prayer is a reflection of the Son. It is how the Son relates and communes with his Father. Jesus in us yearns for that intimacy with the Father, that divine spark, the flame, the light, the fire, seeking to ascend the Heavens and approach the throne of Abba, Father and to dwell before his face.

The Key to God’s Heart

John G. Lake had a vision from God where saw an angel give him a message. He recounts ‘As the angel was departing, he said: PRAY. PRAY. PRAY. Teach the people to pray. Prayer and prayer alone, much prayer, persistent prayer, is the door of entrance into the heart of God.’

I have had the privilege of knowing several saints with deep intimate relationships Lord. There is a dear sister whom I had the privilege of meeting that had such a love for God and deep prayer life that was beyond what I had seen before. She has a deep intimacy with God, who has responded with many miraculous answers to her prayers.

I asked her advice from what she had learned over the years regarding prayer. I do not place this here as to be some kind of law for prayer, but rather as sharing a dear sister’s experience in her walk with God. 

Here is what she had to say: 

‘All spiritual blessings and physical blessings are in prayer. Prayer is a blessing. In my thoughts and experience, if you include praise, meditative prayer (silent prayer), and prayer in tongues, and pray for 2 hours every morning and evening, so at least 4 hours every day, then the darkness will disappear, the soul and everything will be at peace. 

When you pray and praise for 4 hours or more hours every day, the power of the Holy Spirit will begin to appear.

You must break through with prayer first. If you break through the spiritual world and solve all problems, everything on this earth will be solved on its own. This is a spiritual principle. 

God will be more pleased with you, meet you, and your relationship with God will become closer. He will give you many spiritual gifts and anoint you to be used.

But remember, a heart that loves and has mercy for souls comes before seeking the power of the Holy Spirit.  

If you are too obsessed with the power of the Holy Spirit, it can become greed, so if you first ask for a heart that has compassion for souls, and if you do this, then all the good powers and gifts of the Holy Spirit will be given to you. 

Hallelujah.’ 

Some reading will see the time listed and be shocked or deflated when comparing with their own standard of time in prayer. 

God knows where you are at. 

It is not expected immediately for you to go from four minutes of prayer to four hours as of tomorrow. Rather, it is a habit and mode of life that is to be cultivated over time. 

There is also an immensely practical aspect to this, no person prays for an hour if they set themselves to pray for ten minutes. We should not be so constrained by legalistic time limits, but we should recognise where we need to grow and discipline ourselves in our relation to God. It is not God’s will that we passively sit and burn away precious time. Sacrifice and discipline are necessary in the Kingdom of God. 

Praying for hours at a time, also doesn’t necessarily make you more spiritual, it’s about the depth and quality of prayer, not the length. There’s a reason why the Bible doesn’t say to pray for ‘x’ amount of hours daily.

The command in scripture regarding time in prayer is that we are to ‘pray without ceasing’ (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Therefore, prayer should be like breathing; constant, consistent and as soon as it stops for too long we know something is wrong.

Whilst we should recognise that prayer isn’t measured by length, I also do not want to diminish the purpose of this exhortation, which is to stir us all to spend more time alone seeking God’s face in the secret place.

‘It is not a matter of time so much as a matter of heart; if you have the heart to pray, you will find the time.’ - Charles Spurgeon. 

To sum this up in one word: pray.