In Quietness and Stillness

When you hear the word prayer, what thoughts come to your mind? Do you envision someone with their hands folded, eyes closed, and head bowed? Maybe you think about someone who speaks beautiful words of affirmation, encouragement, or even Scripture. Perhaps you see your pastor, worship leader, or small group leader as the only one who has authority in their prayers. 

Prayer is so much more than bowing our heads, closing our eyes, and speaking eloquently. Each of us can have a strong prayer life even if we don’t have a title to go with it. 

When I was first learning about prayer, I was afraid to pray in front of others. I felt my words were not as good or as powerful as others. I wanted to get better at prayer, so I attended a small group that focused on prayer. I’ll never forget what the leader said during one of our first meetings. 

He said, “It does not matter what anyone else thinks of your prayers. Your prayers are not for them. Your prayers are a conversation with God, and they are for His ears first.”

This was a relief for me to hear. I was concerned with what others would think of my prayers, but God showed me that what mattered most was that I came to Him in prayer. 

In its most basic form, prayer is a form of communication between us and God. In any relationship communication is important. God is not expecting us to say all the right words or to pray beautiful, flowery, elegant prayers. He wants us to come to Him with all our concerns in surrender, trusting Him to work everything for our good, but this is only part of it. 

While we are to do as 1 Peter 5:7 says, and “cast our cares upon the Lord,” prayer is more than listing our needs before God. Prayer is an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Him. It is two-way communication with Abba, Father. In any relationship if one person did all the talking and never listened, what would happen? Chances are that the relationship would suffer. 

Listening is an important part of our relationship with God. Sometimes when we pray, we have a part to play in the answer to our prayers. God wants us to not only come to Him and make our requests known, but He also wants us to listen for His still, small voice in the silence and praise Him while we wait for His response.

Psalm 46:10 says,  “Be still and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” (NLT)

In the quiet and stillness, when we come to God and let go of all our concerns, we are allowing God to show us His goodness and faithfulness. When we surrender our concerns and dreams to Him, we are trusting Him to take care of us because He loves us. That act of surrender and trust honors the Lord. In these moments, He often speaks through the Holy Spirit living within us and provides us with the peace of knowing that He keeps His promises and that He will take care of us.

Prayer is powerful. Let’s not forget we have an amazing opportunity to spend time with our heavenly Father through prayer—sharing our concerns and listening for His reply. 

What steps will you take today to strengthen your prayer life?

But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me. (Psalm 66:19-20)

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Scripture is quoted from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.