Closer through Prayer

by Jason Burns

Hebrews 10:22-23  //  “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings” 

God invites us to come closer and closer. How do we do that? The best way is through prayer!

I’m convinced that most of us want to be people of prayer, we just don’t know how. One of the most refreshing moments to me in the whole Bible is found in Luke 11:1.

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”

Why is this encouraging? Even the disciples who were closest to Jesus needed help when it came to prayer. Have you ever had this experience?

You were inspired in a moment to spend more intentional time with God, but when it came time to do it, you prayed everything you knew to pray in 39 seconds and then didn’t know what else to do.

Or maybe you find yourself frustrated because you create the space and time for prayer, but you keep getting distracted. I heard a pastor once say that prayer often felt like a jungle full of banana trees and every time you’d focus on one, a monkey would swing by and distract you.

To make it worse, we all compare ourselves to our perception of others. I have friends who like to talk about how they pray with their spouse, holding hands, for at least an hour every day. I never seem to have time for that.

Here’s an entirely new way to think about prayer. Instead of seeing distractions as distractions, view them as opportunities to share with God what is actually in your mind and on your heart. If it’s big enough for you to think or worry about, it’s certainly meaningful enough to talk to God about.

We have a tendency to think about or process our thoughts over and over again. Experts call this ruminating.

Ruminating is the process a cow uses when it chews grass, swallows, regurgitates, and then chews it some more, which starts the process over again. When a cow ruminates its food, is it getting better or worse? It’s worse – way, way worse.

What do you think happens to your thoughts when you ruminate on them? The truth is, you don’t have the proper perspective on your challenges, struggles, and thoughts to think your way into a better life.

So what happens? You ruminate and your problems get bigger, scarier, and much worse than when you started. What happens when you take your problems to God? You get perspective. Your problems seem much smaller in comparison.

Let’s go back to Jesus. It says that Jesus was praying in a “certain place.” It means He had created an intentional space to be with God.

Here’s my challenge to you. Over these next 21 days, let’s create a habit of intentionally getting closer to God. The best advice I ever heard on this was to pick your best, sharpest time of the day. I’m a morning person, and often my time with God happens hours before my kids wake up. You might find that you are most alert at night. Either way, find a time and then designate a place for God.

When we do this, we’ll begin to develop the habits of prayer that God desires.