I found Martin Luther's devotional, Praying in Faith, easily applicable and very practical. His reflections on prayer were helpful. His description of petition and thanksgiving left me thinking of intentional prayer. Petitioning is telling God what is on our hearts. How many times have I entered prayer, and not prayed specifically? Yes, God knows exactly what is going on in our lives. But if we pray to him halfheartedly about our desires and struggles he knows that too.
Luther says concerning unceasing prayer, "There is no Christian who does not have time to pray without ceasing." I paused as I read this the first time, not doubting its validity, but reflecting on myself in this area. God gave us the ability to multitask, and I definitely believe this is one way we should always be multitasking.
Luther also talks about Jesus' teaching on prayer. Praying without faith and confidence gets us nowhere. We're praying with empty words when we do that. It's like when we ask someone to do us a favor, and then we go ahead and do it ourselves because we believe that they won't do it even when they said they would. Praying without confidence and faith that God will answer according to his will is in a way like that. We can't doubt that our prayer will be answered. If we do, then why are we praying and who do we think God really is?
Our great need for God should lead us into a life-long prayer with our Creator. The ability to communicate with God is an amazing gift and we all would do well to take advantage of it more often.
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