February 1
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer,” Psalm 19:14.
With this devotion I will begin a new series on the subject of prayer. We begin by asking the question, “What is prayer?” Prayer is an act of worship in which we have a heart-to-heart talk with God. In prayer, either we are asking God for something, or we are thanking and praising Him for something, or we are committing something into His care.
Normally, when we pray, we fold our hands and bow our heads, and we might even close our eyes to help us concentrate on the things for which we are praying. However, we are not told in Holy Scripture that we must follow certain physical formalities when we pray.
As the psalmist states, our prayers can be whispered or spoken aloud with the mouth, or they can be silent prayer flowing from the heart. In the latter case, no one will know that you are praying.
Prayer is an important activity in Christian living. If we really believe in the one true God, we certainly will want to speak to Him frequently. This raises the question, “To whom should we pray?” As Christians, we should pray only to the one true, triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Prayer is an act of worship, and we should worship only the true God. This is stated clearly in both the Old and the New Testament. When God gave the Ten Commandments through Moses, He said, “I am the Lord Your God . . . You shall have no other gods before Me,” Exodus 20:2-3. Jesus said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve,” Matthew 4:10. Only the true, triune God can hear and answer our prayers. The psalmist wrote, “O You who hear prayer, to You all flesh will come,” Psalm 65:2.
We should not pray to man-made gods who never existed. Neither should we pray to any of the saints who have died. Praying to man-made gods and to the saints who died is idolatry. The saints cannot hear or answer our prayers. They do not even know that we exist. They are ignorant of us. Isaiah wrote, “Doubtless You are our Father, though Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name,” Isaiah 63:16.
We pray to the one true God who created, redeemed, and sanctified us. We pray to the God who loved us and sent His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to save us from sin, death, and the devil. Because God has forgiven us for Jesus’ sake, He bows down His ear to hear and answer our prayers.
Approach, my soul, the mercy seat, Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before His feet, For none can perish there.
Thy promise is my only plea, With this I venture nigh;
Thou callest burdened souls to Thee, And such, O Lord, am I. Amen.