Young Adults' Group

The Habit of Prayer

by Pastor Mark
June 19, 2014

Making prayer a part of our life
As we learn to walk with God, how much is prayer part of our life? Often, we can go through a day without saying a prayer to God. We are not giving priority to prayer as we should. One thing that struck me about the life of David is how he sought to make prayer an integral part of his life. Whenever he was faced with different challenges, he would turn to God in prayer.

Prayer as our response to making choices
I was encouraged by the example of David’s need for prayer when he was in the wilderness with his men. He was told that the Philistines were attacking one of the cities of Israel called Keilah. He had to make a choice…to go and help Keilah or not. His response was one of prayer…to make inquiry with the Lord. (1 Sam 23:2) The Lord’s answer to David was to attack the Philistines and to save Keilah. When his men raised objections due to their fears of fighting the Philistines, David inquired again with the Lord. The Lord assured David, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” (1 Sam 23:4) I like the way in which David would make inquiry to God again and again. He would then decide to do as the Lord instructed. There was no presumption on his part. David and his men attacked the Philistines and were able to save Keilah. Can we learn to respond with prayer when we are faced with various challenges and decisions to be made? Let’s be challenged to involve prayer as we make choices in life.

The daily prayer life of David
How was David able to respond with prayer as he did? This is because David had made prayer as a daily habit in his life. David wrote of his daily prayer life,“As for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17) In the midst of the threats on his life, David sought to pray. He was able to do so because prayer had become his habit. It was his daily habit to pray three times a day… morning, noon and evening. Prayer was so much a part of his life and I was deeply challenged to do the same. Let’s be challenged to make prayer a real habit in our life as David did.

Taking time to be with the Lord
In our busy work schedule, I recognise that it is not easy to find the time to pray. We can be so swamped with work that there is hardly any time for anything else. Nevertheless, we want to find time to pray. Each day, we are faced with important decisions. So much more we need to take time to pray and to look to the Lord to seek His leading concerning our decisions. Should we not seriously consider the need to cultivate the habit of prayer? It should not be something that is done ritualistically but to be entered into with a great sense of need for the Lord’s guidance in life, as David prayed, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me.” (Psalm 25:4,5) Let’s be challenged to make prayer a daily habit that we may seek the Lord’s ways and paths in our life.

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