Day 18: Experience Godās Presence in Prayer, Part 1
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth;
and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.
Acts 17:26-27
We need a reminder about why we pray. One reason we should remember is that we are building a relationship with God. Sometimes I catch myself going through the motions of prayer, but not actually seeking God in prayer. Following the pattern of prayer found in this devotional, we have the responsibility to not allow the prayer time to just take us through the motions to check off the box that we prayed. We never want to just say the words, just to say we prayed. Letās ask God to give us an increased desire for His presence in our prayers.
One preacher told others, he developed a real intimacy with God by praying every day, morning and evening, never missing a day. After he spent time reading Scripture, he meditated on the passage and then moved into his prayer time. He said it took about two years following this pattern before he regularly experienced the presence of God when he prayed.[1]
R. A. Torrey in his book How to Pray gave this advice on experiencing God in prayer: āIn order for a prayer to really be āunto God,ā there must be a definite and conscious approach to God when we prayā¦. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite and vivid consciousness that we are talking to Godā¦. And be more taken up with Him than with [our] petition.ā[2]
God listens to our prayers and responds according to His will. Take a moment and praise God because He is wise, smart, and good. Praise Him, and then thank Him for hearing our prayers today. Remember, we not only want to build our habit and endurance in prayer, but we also want to build a relationship with God, too.
Prayerwork, Part 1: Psalm 113 gives our imaginations a way to think about God listening to our prayers. Read Psalm 113, and notice that even though God is way higher than usāabove the heavensāand even though He is higher than us in wisdom, power, and holiness, He still stoops down and notices even the poor and needy.
Prayerwork, Part 2: Today every time you pray, imagine God stooping down to notice and listen to your prayers.
Prayerwork, Part 3: Set your timer for two minute increments, and pray three prayers, for two minutes each. As you pray, imagine God stopping down to listen:
Prayer 1: Praise God for two minutes
Prayer 2: Confess to God for two minutes
Prayer 3: Thank God for two minutes
Note: If you use the Jesus prayer today, when you remember to turn your thoughts to God, make sure you concentrate on what you are saying to Him. Donāt allow the Jesus prayer to just be sound filler, but really pay attention to your words and your interaction with the Father.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears usāwhatever we askāwe know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14-15