Priority, Persistent, Purposeful Prayer
by Amey Edens
It never occurred to me when I was in the trenches of raising my own children that one day I would have the blessing of becoming a grandma. I guess I didn’t dwell on the thought of it as I was wrapped up in raising children and relying on my own mom and grandma to help me survive the “parenting” stages of toddlers and teens. But, here I am, with three adorable grandchildren and one more due any day and I cannot begin to tell you what profound joy it brings me when I get to spend time with them, look at pictures, or when they run into the house and hurl their little bodies into my arms. The joy I feel for them can be overwhelming at times and it brings me tears of joy, but one of the things that brings me the most joy is when I hear our little three-year-old, Nyko, say in a soft voice, “Hey, Grandma…” and then he proceeds to ask me for what he wants or tell me the story of the day. Hearing his voice is so sweet to my ears and I never want to not hear his voice.
This makes me think about how God may feel about us when we run to him in prayer. Does he hear our voice and think, my sweet child, I love hearing your voice. It brings me such honor and joy to hear you call upon me. Prayer is such an intimate time with God. He wants us to come to him, relying solely on him just like Daniel did right before he was thrown in the lions’ den.
In Daniel 6, King Darius put a decree in writing that if anyone was caught praying to any god or human being for thirty days, except to the king, they would be thrown into the lions’ den. This was a trap because the king favored Daniel which made the other officials jealous. This decree did not stop Daniel from praying to God. He did not try to hide it and was purposeful and persistence in his prayer life to God. Daniel 6:10 says, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to this upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”
Of course, we know what happens in the story. Daniel gets caught praying and gets thrown into the lions’ den and lives to tell about it. In this story, I learn three things from Daniel. First, Daniel made prayer a priority. Prayer was a spiritual discipline for Daniel. He did not cower down and give up his prayer life. Next, he was persistent in prayer. He prayed three times a day. He understood that was a way to have communication with God. Last, he made prayer purposeful. He got down on his knees giving thanks to God just as he always did.
I hate to say it, but as much as I try to have a healthy prayer life, I can allow the ticktock of the clock to get in my way. I want to be like Daniel. I want to make prayer a priority. I want to be persistent in pursuing God in prayer and I want to have a purposeful prayer life. How about you? Do you already have this kind of prayer life? If so, I admire you. If not, I want to challenge you to join me in making prayer a priority, be persistent and make your prayer life purposeful. Let’s be strong in prayer together!
