Let Us Pray!

By Suzanne Horn

I often hear it said that prayer is simply communicating with God. In my experience, good communication is rarely simple; it takes effort.

Having been sent to Catholic schools, I memorized prayers. Even now, when attending Catholic services, they come back to me easily. I thank God for the truths I learned to proclaim through those prayers. However, I fell away because I didn't understand relationship with God. Through God's wooing, despite my wayward lifestyle, I finally understood, at age 32, that I personally mattered to God; and I asked Jesus to become not only my Savior, but my Lord. Since then, I have learned much more about who He is. No matter what I learn, it always leads me to love Him more. Yet, I still struggle sometimes in really believing that I am important enough to Him that He is really WITH me and IN me 24/7. But one thing that keeps drawing me to this truth is that I feel His presence most when I have heart-cry communication with Him.

Like good human relationships, our relationship with God begins with longing to be close. God wants us to know He passionately loves us and desires for us to passionately love Him. He recently taught me in a new way, through a fellow Central member, that He gives us the choice of inviting Him into each part of our lives. So I seek to no longer have thoughts of my own just bouncing around in my head, but rather I speak them to Him "to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

The other crucial part of real communication is listening. One tried and true way God touches me is with His love letter... the Bible. In listening to what He has to say about the importance of prayer, I found over 314 references in 46 books from Genesis to Revelation. God's inspired Word shows His people praying in thankfulness and praise, praying with persistence and trust in His goodness for: a spouse, a child, personal healing, resurrection, an end to disease epidemics, protection, weather conditions, conviction of sin, confession, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, freedom from captivity, wisdom, taking earthly risks for righteousness, fairness, faithfulness, victory in battle, comfort in defeat, revelation of secrets, foreigners to know God, God to reveal Himself, changed minds, leaders, nations, and the raising up of kingdom workers. God makes it clear that He desires us to pray about what matters to us and to pray that we know what matters to Him. This is the relationship He desires. His Word tells us time and again that He hears the prayers of the righteous and He answers them.

In January 2006, Central chose a memory verse to be our focus for the year.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40).

God's Word and the testimony of our transforming lives make it clear that prayer is the fuel through which God invites us to be joint heirs reigning with Christ in the power of His shed blood to redeem lives now and forever. Let us pray! Lord, hear our prayers!