"Let us please the Lord by thanking Him with grateful hearts." (Hebrews 12:28). Our prayers please the Lord and they change us. Scripture describes our prayer as perfumed incense. Personal prayer is simple conversation with God. Charles Gibson had President Bush on his morning program. The President was talking to individuals who called in. I can appreciate the enthusiasm as these individuals told their friends of talking personally to the President. I can even imagine one of them getting on a crowded elevator and saying to a friend, "This morning when I was talking to the President..."I wonder how many people would be as impressed if you got on the elevator and said, "This morning when I was talking to God…" The Presidency has a definite term of office; God's reign is everlasting. How much better it is to learn how to converse with the permanent rather than the temporary.
Personal prayer occurs in the environment of "God loves me." A British theologian wrote that the main point of Christianity is that "God loves me and my love for him is a reflection of his love for me, and my love for others is a reflection of his love for me. " The uniqueness of Christianity is that it is the only religion in which God is seeking man rather than man seeking God. "I came to seek and to save those which were lost." We pray in response to His love, not to gain His love.
There are three necessary elements of personal prayer:
1. Faith in His existence - the scripture says we would not pray if we didn't believe there was a God to whom we could pray. Can you imagine the consternation if Madalyn Murray O'Hair had arrived in Florida immediately after Hurricane Andrew to tell people that there was no God to whom they could pray? Preaching atheism theoretically might make a celebrity out of you but preaching it in a suffering situation will get you tarred and feathered.
2. Obedience - we are told to "pray and not faint" - "let your requests be known" (requests - not demands) - "let not your heart be troubled" these commands for obedience are not suggestions, and we can be sure that God would not command us to do something that we could not do. We may have to grow into obedience, but that is the object of the faith walk.
3. Submission - we must remember that we are submitting to a loving God. We are not submitting in superstition, fearing the wrath of God; not defeated, but voluntarily submitting. This is the condition of the prayerful heart.
The topic of personal prayer creates interesting questions. Why pray? Does it make a difference when more rather than less people pray? How does intercession work? We could have some great sessions, couldn't we? But my bottom line is that God tells us that personal prayer pleases Him and it undoubtedly changes me.
