When Do You Pray?

That's my shortened version of a question recently asked online. I just have a few thoughts that were triggered when I read it.

I guess I was a little surprised. When DON'T You Pray? is what I would have expected, maybe. Awareness of God's presence within and around me is a constant, and there is usually some sort of dialogue going on with Him, no matter what else I'm doing, and an ongoing sensitivity to the guiding of His Spirit as He guides me through the day.

Both music and the reading of His Word open my heart for deeper, uninterrupted conversation with God. I wish I had more of that in my life. No, that's wrong. I don't make enough time with Him alone. Maybe that's what the question meant? Even reading the Word, though, or playing or hearing music that exalts Him, it's the same sort of praying, the kind where I question and He answers or He illuminates a truth, or whatever. But those are also the times when I can become overwhelmed with His presence and feel more as one with Him.

Another time is when He brings someone to mind, I know they need prayer for some reason right then, that very moment, and I provide it. Prayer opens up God's power in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we intercede, and these are the times when the person He put in my mind needs Him to move. I consider these times to be about as special as it gets.

Someone mentioned, at the above-mentioned site, that prayer is treated among Christians as a duty ("price to pay" for being a Christian was his phrase) instead of a privilege, an opportunity to go directly to the Creator of the universe on our own behalf or on the behalf of others. Think about it: Can you go talk to the owner of the company where you work whenever you want to, any time of the day or night, and his his full attention to your concerns? Your mayor? Governor? The ruler of your own country? They are all our equals on a spiritual plane, and there is only One Who is greater - yet because Christ bridged the gap we can go directly to Him with anything and everything that concerns us!

Walking with God is an amazing experience. And people have pigeon-holed prayer into various types. But just to be with Him, 24/7, to talk to him, to listen to Him, to let His Spirit guide us from the most mundane to the most important parts of our lives, day in and day out...well, that's when I pray.