Prayer may be the most heavily used word in the Christian lexicon. But it may be the most misunderstood, taken-for-granted, confusing part of our faith. We talk about God a lot more than we talk to God. And we thoughtlessly banter around word sets like, “Thank you for this day,” and, “Please forgive me for my sins,” without even contemplating what we’re saying.
Men pray. Men have been praying for a long time. Men have seen prayers answered positively and with silence. Men have felt the joy and affirmation of seeing God move in response to prayer. And they’ve felt the pain of praying their hearts out for something or someone and having God say, “No... not going to happen.”
Men need a clear understanding of prayer; what to pray for, how to pray, how to lead their family into prayer, and how to lead when the answers come, whether “yes,” “no,” or “wait.”
Moreover, men need to learn how to listen to God. This may be the most ignored yet most powerful piece of our Faith. We talk, talk, talk to God and never give Him a chance to speak to us. And we struggle to hear His voice, to distinguish His from the voices of the evil one and those that seem to just come from our own “head”.
Prayer is one of God’s most precious gifts to His adopted sons. Isn’t it time we stopped “playing church” with our prayer life? The God of the universe has made Himself fully available to us. We need to discover how to connect and to leverage all His willing love for us.
