Prayer Life

What do you want the focus to be in your prayer life? Do you want your focus to be, “Oh Lord God please give us a better economy?” “Oh Lord God please put righteous people in office; those who will follow your laws and be obedient to You.” “Oh Lord, give me a better job.” “Oh Lord give me a better car.” “Oh Lord, my God, please heal me of this physical infirmity that will potentially take my life or heal someone else who is experiencing great physical trauma.” My friend, I do not want to discourage you from praying for these things. I do want to encourage you to pray for these things, but not at the expense, not at the exclusion of those things you should truly be focusing on. Your relationship with your God is not an opportunity to give you power in this world to find some way to encourage your God or direct your God to do things on your behalf or even on His behalf. That is not to be the focus of your prayer life. The main focus of your prayer life is to experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. In Philippians 4:6-7, it says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” The peace of God which surpasses all understanding. That is what prayer is. That is the purpose of prayer. That is to be the focus in your life of prayer.  It is to be the pursuit of the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

This is only going to be experienced when you already understand all you have In Him (through faith in Jesus Christ). This is only going to be experienced when you live a life of trust in Him; a life of dependency on Him. A life of rest and peace will be experienced through your life of prayer when you understand what your God is doing in your life. That He is increasing your understanding of who He is; increasing it to the extent where He will surpass your understanding. That the peace you will experience with Him cannot even be described. That is where your life in Christ Jesus is to be found. It is to be found in the spiritual connectivity between you and your God well beyond what could even be described. This is not to exclude what you can describe most certainly. If someone asks you to describe the hope that lies within you or the faith that you hold on to, you most certainly should be able to describe that in clear terms that they can understand. But the focus of prayer, our life of prayer, is to lead us to a dependent relationship on our Creator to the extent where it cannot be described. And the end result is to be peace. And so if what you experience in your life of prayer is not peace, if you are not at peace, if you are anxious, if you are not trusting, if you are not experiencing the peace of God in your experience, chances are there is something wrong with your prayer life. And it is probably because you do not know what you already have in your relationship with Him and that is where you are to begin in your life of prayer. [Excerpt from a teaching on Prayer by Aaron Budjen]