Prayer is an important aspect of the life of a Christian. It is a wonderful gift that allows us to communicate with the living God. We are able to talk with our Heavenly Father in any situation and at any time.
In order for a Christian young person to pray properly, he must learn how to pray in accordance with God’s will. I am sure that many of you are struggling with this. You know you should pray and you do pray, but it may be the case that you aren’t happy with your prayers because they seem meaningless.
If you are facing this problem, you should not become discouraged and give up. I Thessalonians 5:17 instructs us never to stop praying. Even in difficult times we must not avoid prayer, but we must be diligent in coming to God and talking to Him about our difficulties.
Some of you may be questioning the importance of prayer in your lives. The Heidelberg Catechism in Lord’s Day 45 states that prayer “is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us.” If you are thankful for all that God has done for you, then you will remember to tell Him how grateful you are for what He has been pleased to give to you. Thank Him for giving you a new life in Jesus Christ, thank Him for the work He has called you to do, thank Him for your family and friends. From my own experience, I feel that we need to work on expressing our thankfulness in our personal prayers.
Another area of our prayers that I feel is of great importance is our duty to praise our Lord. Do you express praise to your Lord when you bow before your Maker? Or, are you so caught up in your needs that you forget about this very important duty?
As children of our Heavenly Father, we should have a strong desire to praise Him and to make this praise a part of our prayers. Psalm 150 is a passage which beautifully addresses praising our Lord. Verse 2 calls us to praise God “for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent greatness.” We do praise God by singing the songs He has given us to sing, and we must also remember to praise Him in our prayers.
A child of God who has learned how to praise his Lord in prayer will then be able properly to present his needs before the throne of grace. He will be able to bring his needs into God’s presence in the consciousness that, as Matthew 6:8 states his Father already knows his needs.
From my own experience, I have found that even bringing our needs before the Lord requires faith. Unless you have faith, you cannot bring your needs before the Lord in such a way that you believe He will hear and answer your prayer. A child of God must make his faith also a matter of prayer. Follow the example of the apostles, who in Luke 17:5 asked Christ to increase their faith. Each child of God, no matter who he is, must be aware of how important it is to live in the consciousness that his faith in Christ needs to be strengthened constantly. Be diligent in considering your faith as one of your needs when you come before God in prayer.
As I stated at the beginning of this article, prayer is a wonderful gift of God. Grow in your prayer life. Make prayer a very important tool now as you struggle with the difficulties that each young person struggles with. God will hear you and assist you, leading you through life to eternal glory in Heaven where you will communicate perfectly with Him forever.
Kris is a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan.