May 24 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Do you have times when you struggle with prayer? You fold your hands and close your eyes but you don’t know what to say. Prayer is an important part of a Christian’s life and an expression of our relationship with our heavenly Father. The contents, style and attitude of our prayer are to give glory and honour to the Lord.

God is not pleased with all prayers regardless of the manner in which they are offered. Some prayers sound pious but are repulsive to the Lord because they do not stem from a heart that is right with Him. Think of what Isaiah wrote, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.” (1:15) The Lord wants us to avoid making prayer into a religious ritual that has little or no substance. We need this reminder! How many times don’t we say, “Okay, let’s pray,” but we have not thought about what we are going to say. How do we pray properly?

Relationships are “lubricated” and built by good conversation. When you get together with family and friends you talk together. If friends do not communicate with each other, you wonder how strong their relationship really is. Prayer is conversation with the living God. We respond to what He has communicated to us. To pray in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord our whole life must be saturated with knowledge of Scripture. By studying the Word of the Lord we learn how to communicate properly with the living God.

There is no one who is more equipped to educate us in these matters than the Lord Jesus. His own life was steeped in prayer. He walked this earth fully drenched in all our cares and concerns. He gave us a perfect prayer. Much more, He gave Himself as our perfect Mediator who continues to pray for us in heaven before His Father.

Contemplate what the Lord Jesus teaches you about how to pray properly. May you, through a continual study of and mediation on God’s Word, be given confidence to draw near to the throne of grace, that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).