For me as a newly converted Preaching School student, prayer was a class topic; not a way of life. I didn't mind that we opened class or closed church services with a prayer. They seemed both quaint and appropriate.
Overall, however, prayer was nothing more than a time-waster; a dead-end alley of sorts. It meant little and took us nowhere.
When new as the preacher at Memorial Drive we even brought in my friend, Albert Lemmons, to conduct a Prayer Seminar. Oh the agony of me putting on a happy face while inwardly begging for these torturous evenings to end. To top it off friend Albert had us fast for three days.
Oh brother!! Now a waste of time plus a sacrifice of food!! The first is tough enough with me surely having ADDDDDDDDD. But now....food missing!!!!
Well...I did it. I prayed and fasted. I prayed the fasting would soon end. I'll never forget going out as a group to break the fast at a restaurant. That prayer over the food meant soooo much to me!!!
I set this stage to tell you that, for me, I learned I didn't need to first learn to pray. No. My first lesson needed to be to learn to believe. I didn't believe God was active. Through the many classes and writings on so many things that had ceased, I had mistakenly picked up that God's work had ceased.
The work was now up to us!
So why pray?
When I began to read from scripture that God was active in His Spirit for us...now...today..., I entered a new world of wonder that perpetually increases. It appears I needed to have a relationship with God. My understanding had stalled at believe everything right. I knew Bible but I didn't know God.
Learning to relate to God changes everything; how one reads the Word, how one relates to others, and whether one prays.
When we learn to believe bigger we will want to pray more...and like it.
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