The Privilege of Prayer

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. ~Ephesians 3:11-12

Do you ever feel like devotions or prayer time are just another item on your to-do list? mean, not literally on your to-do list, but it often feels like something we’re supposed to check off before the day is done.

The pastor preaches the importance of daily time with the Lord and you feel a pang of guilt knowing that you haven’t made that a priority lately.

When you do pray, you try to do it quickly so that you can spend the rest of your free time doing the things you want to do.

Sound familiar?

Praying to God is a Privilege

In the daily grind of life, it’s easy to forget why spending time with God is important. Or even more so remember that it is a privilege.

The God of this universe wants to hear what you have to say.

The One who created all things, and is in all things, wants to hear from you.

The Lord who is keeping the world in motion and working on a million different things behind the scenes, wants to have a conversation with you.

God could so easily ignore us. God could so easily be a distant God, demanding our worship but completely uninterested in what is happening in our lives.

Our God is not a God that is far away, but one that wants to have a relationship with you.

He wants you to know Him. He wants you to talk with Him.

Access to God

It gets even crazier when we think about the unlimited access we have to God. We can be bold to go before him. We can easily talk to Him. I can talk to Him right now and be confident that He will listen to me.

I don’t need to go to Jerusalem. I don’t need to go to a church. I don’t need to have a pastor present. God hears my prayers whenever I decide that I want to pray.

n Moses’ time, only he had direct access to God. And sometimes Moses had to climb a mountain to go into God’s presence (Exodus 19-20). But you and I have the privilege of having the Holy Spirit inside of us. There are no barriers between us and God.

Take a Breath Before You Pray

I had a Bible School Professor who would take a moment to pause before he prayed. If you’ve been to bible school you know that you pray a lot. You pray at the beginning and the end of each class, and sometimes you have 5 classes a day. I remember being slightly annoyed that this professor would take that extra time before he prayed, but now it’s one of the things I remember most from his classes.

He was taking the time to ready his heart to talk to the Lord.

If we just took that breath before we talked to the Lord of this universe, we might be more reverent, more filled with praise and have a heart that desires to talk with the Lord, rather than a laundry list of things that we want God to do.

Do we just spout off to God our lists of demands? Or are we cognisant of the fact that the same God who created the whole world in 7 days is willing to listen to you and the worries you have in your life? He is willing to lend an ear as you pray the same thing that you prayed yesterday. He is willing to listen.

I would encourage you to take a deep breath before you pray and consider where your heart is. Are you rushing through it, or are you taking time to marvel at the privilege of talking to God?

So let us, with boldness and confidence, appreciate the honor it is that we have access to our God. Make your heart right with the Lord and talk with Him often. There’s absolutely nothing bad that could come from talking to Him more.