Let Us Pray!

I had a thought in the shower:  why do I pray?  Do I pray to receive results?  Am I motivated by what God can do for me?  Is praying supposed to be like eating vegetables - maybe not my favorite part of the meal but I eat them because I know they are good for me?

Then another thought occurred to me:  isn't praying out of obedience the best reason to pray?  Shouldn't we pray because we are humbled and privileged to enter into God's throne room of grace through the precious blood of Jesus?  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  If I pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." I am a hypocrite if I do not pray earnestly and continually.  God's will is that every Christian be a praying Christian.

Why do you pray?  Prayer is supposed to be more than mumbling words over food or thinking words as we drift off to sleep in our beds:  prayer is to be the highlight of our existence.  In prayer, that great act of faith, we enter into the presence of the Almighty God.  It is the divine harmony of fellowship between our regenerated souls through the Holy Spirit, petitioning, praising, and worshiping our heavenly Father with Jesus Christ interceding as our Risen Mediator.

May God forge in us a hunger and thirst to emulate Christ and rise in obedience to pray.  More exciting than sport, more necessary than our daily food, absolutely imperative for holiness and godliness, let us never neglect the joyous duty of prayer.  Let us pray!