Pondering Prayer

When I ponder the power of prayer I am speechless. The reality that I have instant and unlimited access to the throne of Almighty God places a sense of awe and fear in my spirit. For on one hand I am thrilled to be granted the freedom to "approach the throne of grace with confidence," (Hebrews 4:16 NIV). However, I am also mindful of the holiness of God and the necessity to consider His all consuming purity, when drawing Him into conversation. This is what I think about when I ponder prayer, yet, I most certainly am not aware of this every time I pray.

The days unfold with their series of experiences which set our minds racing to the Lord. With prayerful hands full of petitions we sit with the Father and present each desire carefully. With countless requests and multiple needs to express we can forget to offer praise in our communion. Though our intentions are good when we seek the Father's care, we can easily fall into a pattern of hardened prayer.

Oswald Chambers states; "When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do." The fear of God escapes us and we temporarily lose sight of who it is we stand before. Likewise, we conduct ourselves as if there were no propitiation for our privilege: we forget it is only by the blood of Jesus that we are able to come into the presence of God. For without the covering of Christ we would perish before the Lord.

"Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored," (Leviticus 10: 3NIV).

God delights in our coming to Him in prayer. However, He must be revered. Taking time to consider whom we are about to address--before we speak--may help us focus our minds on the holiness of God. In doing so, it seems natural our communion would start with praise. For as we set our minds first on the glory of our Father, will we not recall His goodness, faithfulness and love? How might our prayers be changed if our first moments before the throne were spent in adoration? Might we pray differently? Absolutely.

Chambers asks believer's; "Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray?"

When we truly see the Lord, we will be drawn into worship. Our time in worship will produce a deeper intimacy with God and as this intimacy continues to grow, we will find our minds transforming to that of Christ. Therefore, our prayers for others will take on dramatically new perspectives. Chambers encourages the saints to stick to the "work" of standing before God on behalf of others, claiming there are no "pitfalls" in intercessory prayer.

The privilege of prayer is a treasure to behold. When we realize the value of this gift, our prayer life will not only be enriched, it will likely grow. All the while, we are the blessed recipients of the intercessory prayer of Christ. And that is something else worth pondering!