The Prayer of First Resort

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.” – Oswald Chambers

Someone once said prayer is a conversation between two friends. If this is so, why do we put so little hope in prayer except when we are at the end of the rope? Self-reliance is the norm. God-reliance is the exception.

I think one of the main reasons for is our basic misunderstanding of God’s character. We know he is holy and just. We are aware of God’s righteousness. But it is God’s closeness to us that we have a difficult time grasping.

Prayer is meant to be a daily and natural experience for the believer. I’m afraid there is too much of the “old man” in me sometimes and prayer gets pushed to the background while I try to work out things on my own with my own strength using my own resources. But I have a friend who has the ultimate strength and the ultimate resources and he loves me.

This week, before things start to get tough, try praying. God is on your side. He cares. God wants to be an intimate friend. Let prayer be your first resort.

Comments

[John Leek]

Bob Stamps reminds us that Jesus (as fully man) is seated in honor at God's side. He is our mediator and prayer partner. When we pray we do so with Jesus. God doesn't have to be distant and we never have to pray alone!