And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray (italics mine) for you,
asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all
spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Colossians 1:9 ESV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Romans 12:12 ESV
Pray without ceasing,
1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV
Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Ephesians 6:18 ESV
The Model Prayer (The Lord's Prayer). Andrew Murray's Teach Me To Pray. Kingdom Prayer: Touching Heaven to Change Earth by Tony Evans. These are just three examples of people telling us how we should pray. I have no doubt that all of these contain many important elements of prayer. But the starting place of a prayer life is contained within today's verses.
Any prayer life starts with praying. Sure there are models and patterns on how to maximize our prayer life (whatever a "maximized" prayer life is). But before any maximization can occur, there has to be something to maximize.
In fact, one should be on guard against becoming too caught up in the how of praying. In the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus warned his disciples against prayer that lost it meaning due to pomp and circumstance. God is not concerned about posture, pronouns, and procedure. He just wants to hear from His children.
When your child or grandchild wants to tell you about his or her day, you don't require correct syntax, proper use of prepositions, and subject/verb agreement. You just rejoice in the conversation. Being a part of his or her life is more important than the words or phrases used.
Before we can learn how to pray, we have to start to pray. When it comes to prayer, Nike had it right, "Just Do It".
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