Pray without ceasing
Its healthy for believers to make prayer a constant part of their lives in Luke 18:1 the bible says “ Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” From this we garner that prayer is not optional for any person who wants to have a relationship with God.
I recognize that it is indeed difficult to build a culture of prayer at a personal level but the Lord is so good because as we continue to desire to meet and speak to him in prayer He gives us the grace to pray.
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart
Luke 18:1
Seeing God as a friend
You may be asking yourself, how do I begin to make prayer a part of my daily life? The first step would be to recognize God as your father and friend and then begin to communicate with Him on a daily basis. This will then be followed by you setting aside time to speak to the Lord in the morning as you start your day and in the evening as you end it.
Reading your bible and learning from it
As you continue to build your capacity in prayer, you can then move to reading your bible and learning how to pray from prophets and other people highlighted in the holy book. Elijah is one good example, prophet Elijah had made prayer such an essential part of his life that he prayed until rain came after a 3 year drought period in Israel. He had built such a close relationship with God that whatever he asked God in prayer He received. Seeing people like Elijah reap from their time in prayer will encourage you to pray.
Learning from Jesus
You can also lean on Jesus to learn how to pray as Christ Himself gives us guidelines on how to pray through the “Our Father” prayer listed in the four gospels (Mark, Luke, Matthew and John). Its also in the gospels that we see Jesus taking time away from His disciples to seek His Father in prayer at various points of the day. This is something you can learn from Christ and mirror into your own life.
Prayer is a space for us to honor God , a space for us to recognize that we live by the grace of God and not by our own strength. It is in prayer and in His word that God offers Himself as the light unto our path.
God is inviting us to pray
The point on the need for Christians to pray without ceasing is also belabored in the old testament text in Isaiah 43:26 where the Lord tells us to put Him in remembrance, to state our case and He will acquit us.
Put me in remembrance let us contend together state your case that you may be acquitted
Isaiah 43:26
What we learn from these texts is that God is constantly reminding us that He wants to hear from us, that we are His and He is happy when we bring our needs and thanksgiving to Him on the table of prayer. He is giving us an opportunity to incorporate prayer into our daily lifestyle. It is through persistent prayer that we will be able to build intimacy with the Lord.
