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Are you ready for a new perspective of prayer?

I hate getting cold calls to my house. Whenever a company calls—usually at the most inopportune time—trying to convince me why their product is something I need, it just seems selfish. Am I the only one? 

But those calls often make me wonder if I use prayer in the same way—as a cold call to God?

Too often we only pray when we need or want something from God—which is understandable considering the English word “pray” means to “ask or beg”. So we use prayer as a phone call to God to ask Him for things we want. But prayer is so much more than that. As pastor Brian Houston says, “Prayer is a window to opportunity, a doorway to miracles, a channel for blessings, and a path to dreams coming true.” It’s so much more than a cold call!

And did you know that the Hebrew word for prayer used in the Bible is “tefillah”, which means to “judge oneself”. So to the Jews of the Bible, prayer was not a time when they simply asked God for things … it was a time when they examined themselves and their relationship with God. They used prayer as a way to evaluate their actions, their behavior, their attitude, and their relationship with God.

Prayer is not just about communicating with God … it’s about communing with God.

I wonder how this idea will change your prayers today?

For reflection:

"Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence." — Ephesians 3:12