PRAYER: THE SOUL’S STEADY CLIMB TOWARD GOD

Prayer is the soul’s steady climb toward God, the holy exercise by which we lay hold of His promises and cast our burdens upon the One who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). It is not a cold formality, nor a duty performed to quiet the conscience, but the living breath of the renewed heart.

When we pray, we come to the throne of grace where mercy flows freely to the needy (Hebrews 4:16). In prayer, faith stretches itself upon the promises of God and finds them firm beneath its weight, for “the Lord is near to all who call on Him” (Psalm 145:18).

The believer learns that prayer is the key that opens the storehouses of heaven, the channel through which strength is given to the weary and wisdom to the perplexed. God declares, “Call to Me and I will answer you” (Jeremiah 33:3), and again, “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Prayer lifts the heart above the tumult of the world and anchors it in the unchanging Christ, who ever lives to intercede for His people (Hebrews 7:25).

And yet prayer is far more than asking. It is the expression of our union with Christ. Nothing we do is meant to emanate from ourselves. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Prayer is the lifting of our eyes to God, the turning of the heart toward the One in whom our life is hidden (Colossians 3:3). It is the continual abiding Christ commanded when He said, “Abide in Me” (John 15:4).

Prayer is something we may study and contemplate for the rest of our lives, for it is the pathway into deeper fellowship with the living Christ. He has promised to hear: “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry” (Psalm 34:15).

Prayer was His idea, His invitation, His gift. Therefore, we obey His call: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), until the day our communion becomes sight and our petitions become praise.

BDD