Prayer – A Holy Longing
By Glenda Ward
McDowell County
“Jesus, are my prayers hitting the ceiling and crashing back to the floor?”
“Father, am I praying wrong?”
“Father, I would pray more if I knew how to pray.” Do these questions and statements sound familiar?
The prayer God always answers is “the Lord’s Prayer”. Prayer is all wrapped in love. Prayer is a place where we find God waiting for us. Prayer is the door we enter to discover God’s heart of unending grace. Prayer is home. Prayer is coming into the presence of our Heavenly Father as a child would come to a parent safe and secure in their love to talk about things in their life; looking for hope, direction and guidance. Prayer is a precious gift. We can come into the presence of God for security in what we need. Prayer is a Holy longing to know God more, to experience His love that surpasses all understanding. Prayer is to be embraced by His merciful presence. Prayer is to lose ourselves in His redeeming purposes so we can find ourselves. Prayer is a sacred journey that guides us into becoming the person God has called us to become.
God sets the standard for morality. He is a God of mercy and justice who cares personally for each of His followers. Our Holy God expects us to imitate Him by following His high moral standards. Like Him, we should be both merciful and just; like Him, we should sacrifice ourselves for others. Peter tells us to be like our Heavenly Father – Holy in everything we do. Holiness is being totally devoted to God, set aside for His special use, and set apart from sin and its influence. We are to be set apart and different and what makes us different are God’s qualities in our lives. Our focus and priorities must be His. Grace, peace, and holiness are ours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Stay in tune with God in your sacred journey through continuous prayer.
The whole prayer is love. Jesus longs to teach us how to pray so we can be lost in His love. Prayer is more than just talking to God. It is the art of learning and listening. The more we immerse ourselves in reading the Bible, the better our ears attune to the voice of God. Prayer is more than just asking God for things. Jesus said God already knows what we need (Matthew 6:25-32). “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus encourages persistent prayer offered with a sincere heart. Jesus provided a model prayer to His disciples (and for us) to be imitated and duplicated. In prayer, we should pray for God’s work in the world, pray for our daily needs, and pray for help in our daily struggles. Prayer is Holy and we can honor God’s name by being careful to use it respectfully in remembering His Great Holiness. We can never pray too much if our prayers are honest and sincere.
The prayer, “the Lord’s Prayer” that Jesus gave to His disciples as a model prayer can be found in Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 – 13; “After this manner therefore pray ye:” “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter chapter 1 verse 16).
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Glenda Ward is a member of Grand View Baptist Church in McDowell County. She is the mother of five grown children. Glenda is a Christian writer/author of “Something to Think About” – weekly Christian Articles. She writes Church Programs & Bulletins, VBS Material, Christmas and Easter Programs; all material based on the KJV of the Bible. Also testing the field in tributes, individual memorial writings, etc. You can read more good Christian news from Glenda HERE.
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