“The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:17-18 ESV)
Do you pray? I do not mean that kind of prayer that precedes a meal or bedtime. I mean, do you really pray?
I find the title “prayer warrior” an odd moniker. Certainly, there are those for whom devoted prayer is a particular calling. But I fear that when we assign such titles to gifted intercessors, we risk inadvertently providing an excuse to leave prayer “to the experts.” For many of us who do not consider ourselves “prayer warriors,” often feel satisfied to merely give a few words supplication or confession here and there, and then go on with our day. Prayer warriors are not the only Christians engaged in warfare (Ephesians 6:10-20), so why should they be the only Christians devoted to the practice of prayer?
The most spiritually damaging seasons in my own life have been those in which earnest prayer was most conspicuously lacking. If prayer is, as theologians have often said, the very lifeblood of the Christian life, ought we not avail ourselves of it in a most diligent manner?
After Hugh Latimer, the 16th century English martyr, was burned at the stake for his Protestant faith in 1555, his friends entered his house to gather his belongings and put his affairs in order. Upon entering, it has been said that they found two divots in the hardwood floor next to his bed, where he knelt every day for years, appealing to his Lord on his own behalf and that of his congregation. These are the literal marks of faithfulness, and one can only begin the imagine the profit he brought to his own soul and his ministry by the hours spent in prayer in that humble position.
David affirms that the Lord “is near” to such a one. If you long to feel the nearness of the Lord in your life, you ought to take nothing more seriously than cultivating a habit of prayer. Prayer is not medicine we take on special occasions of spiritual sickness but the very air we must breathe to maintain spiritual life. If the judgment of God is manifested in separation from him (Genesis 3:24; 2 Thessalonians 1:9), then for the Lord to be near is his supreme blessing. After all, God’s presence is what makes heaven itself glorious (Revelation 21:3); how much, then, ought we to savor his presence in prayer?
Calling on the name of the Lord is not something we just do once at the moment of faith, but something we must do over and over and over again every minute of every day until Christ returns or the Lord calls us home. To borrow the language of the hymnist:
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
David continues that our calling on the Lord must be “in truth.” Calling must be sincere, of course, but sincerity alone is not enough. Coming to God wrongly can be just as detrimental as not coming at all (Leviticus 10). His Word must inform our calling upon him (John 17:17), and our calling must be reverent.
Jerry Bridges notes in The Practice of Godliness,
One of the more serious sins of Christians today may well be the almost flippant familiarity with which we often address God in prayer. None of the godly men of the Bible ever adopted the casual manner we often do. They always addressed God with reverence.
Elsewhere in Scripture, we are called to be “sober-minded” (1 Peter 5:8)—or, as one pastor described, serious about serious things. This also applies to prayer. When we call on the name of the Lord in prayer, we are entering, in a sense, into the very Holy of Holies. Though we are unlikely to be struck dead as Uzzah was for irreverence (2 Samuel 6:7), we would be foolish to approach God without first duly humbling ourselves.
We have every reason to come to the Lord boldly (Hebrews 10:19-22). May we do so, understanding the majesty of the One whom we approach. In so doing, we receive not only all the promised benefits that are ours in Christ but enjoy the very nearness of God himself, which is of inestimable value.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
You have given us the privilege of calling on your name and promising to draw near when we do so in truth. Teach us to make daily use of this privilege, that we might be strengthened and blessed to continue faithfully to the end.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayer Requests:
- Tuesday: Pray for missionaries in South Asia who are engaged in language learning.
- Wednesday: Pray for missionaries who serve as chaplains in military and prison ministries.
- Thursday: Pray for missionaries who are seeking to open new countries and fields of ministry.
- Friday: Pray for safety and success for missionaries serving in construction.
- Saturday: Pray for missionaries using business as missions, to do their work with excellent and so honor the Lord by their work.
- Sunday: Pray for missionaries who are unable to gather with their congregations due to sickness.
- Monday: Pray for missionaries serving in theological education to teach with clarity and precision.
