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At our 2 or More prayer group, HD usually begins by sharing some words of wisdom about prayer or something that is on his heart. He recently shared a devotional with us about 5 components of prayer: honesty, 1 Peter 3:10, talking with God, Jeremiah 29:12-13, wandering minds, 1 Peter 5:6-7, learning to listen to God, John 10:27, and be still, Psalm 46:10. We discussed all of these but something he said about talking with God stood out to me. 

On social media, when someone asks for prayer, how many times have you said it or seen someone say, “prayers going up?” Why do we say that? Is our Father’s name not Immanuel, which means God with us? Does it not say in the bible (Joshua 1:9) that the Lord your God is with you wherever you go? God is with us, wherever we go, He dwells inside of us, yet we say silly things like “prayers going up,” as if He’s some far away deity that we don’t have direct contact with. He’s not a 1-800 number that we have to call and wait on hold before we can make our requests known.  

James 2:23 says “And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.” You and I are friends of God. When you think of having a conversation with your friend, you’re probably in close proximity, looking at each other, discussing the things that make you happy or maybe the things that concern you. That’s how we should approach prayer with our Father. He’s with us, in close proximity and He has mastered the listening component of prayer. He hears our joys, sorrows, and concerns and if we could master the ‘be still’ component of prayer, we might just hear Him too…His peace, His love and, most of all, His wisdom and guidance for all our needs. 

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”