Prayer

Prayer in the life of Christian is essential for our growth and richness of life. It is awe inspiring to realise that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who created the universe and all that’s in it, wants to chat with us. I suppose when you reflect on Adam and Eve’s relationship with God before the fall, God showed His delight in chatting with His children.  So, our prayer times can be seen as ‘chat with Dad’ time and are a conversation rather than a monologue. When we are in the habit of prayer, it becomes a natural expression of our relationship with the Lord and not just restricted to a specific time each day. There comes a richness in our relationship with God when we spend time praying in different contexts and situations.  What I love about prayer is that it can follow a structure to guide us through the process of praying giving us a pattern and prompts while allowing for our personality and passion to be significant elements in how we pray. There are very few relationships where I bring a list to read out – my doctor is one and currently the project manager for our house rebuild is another. I certainly don’t just bring a list of requests when talking to Yvonne or my children.

Prayer for a Christian is not an isolated occasional event that is based on wanting results only but a privileged place of a daughter or son spending quality time with the Father. Results to our issues and requests do come but our prayer is much, much more than that. It is a wonderfully rich spirit filled relationship with the One who loved us so much He sent His Son to bring redemption and forgiveness of sin for each one of us. 

I hope that over the next weeks you will enjoy the journey of exploring and practicing different aspects of prayer.

Nga Manaaki

- Rex