New Perspective on prayer

I have always struggled with prayer. Struggled with knowing how to speak to someone who exists in the Spirit. Struggled with the elegance of my words and the stillness of my heart. Essentially, communicating with the Creator of the Universe is not what you would call my strong suit. But the past few weeks have really helped to refresh my mind and subsequently I feel more confident in my understanding of prayer.

This week, I have been working to wrap my mind around the concept that the Scriptures were written for ALL people for ALL time.  That means they were just as much written for a 1st Century Jew in the Ancient Near East, just as for Martin Luther in Germany in the 16th Century, as much as they were written for me, a twenty-something living in Portland Oregon in 2012.

Here are some key thoughts I have had this past week regarding prayer:

-God wants to bless the world (see Genesis 12,18) and thus wants to bless the world through ME (that same twenty-something that Iives in the most sinful city in America).

-God viewed Abraham as a partner and if the Scriptures are truly for ALL people, he also views me as a partner

-Prayer is coming close to God and talking... nothing more than having a conversation

-God is far more merciful than we can imagine (Gen 18 story of Sodom/Gomorrah)

-God is far more responsive than we expect. God listens and when the time is right, he responds

God is really working on my heart to better understand how it is to communicate with Him. Seems kinda funny when you say it that way... Learning how to communicate with the Creator of the Universe is NOT as difficult as I've made it out to be. What is more, we as followers of the gospel are doing ourselves a disservice if we think otherwise.