The Principles of Prayer XLVII

Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will search for Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

God wants your heart more than He wants your money. Truth be told, your money doesn’t interest God in the least. Men have taken the principle of giving and twisted it to fuel their greed when in reality, there are plenty of people whose heart belongs to mammon, yet give of their money to various causes and concerns as though they were the epitome of righteousness if a set dollar amount translated into righteousness.

For the sake of argument, however, let’s extrapolate the doctrine of the tithe beyond the monetary and apply it to time. Of all the things man has, time is his most precious resource. It’s not something you can purchase more of, barter for, or trade for. My days are numbered as are yours, and there is nothing anyone can do, no amount of money they can spend, and no prominence they can attain that can extend their time by one second beyond what God has established.

It would be foolhardy to think that although God demands a tithe of one’s paycheck, He does not demand a tithe of their time as well. When we give God our time, we give Him the most valuable commodity we possess, and He receives it as a sweet-smelling sacrifice. There is nothing in this life we can substitute for time spent with God, nor anything that will build our faith so robustly as being in His presence consistently.

You cannot consecrate anything unless you yourself are first consecrated. Whether a house, an altar, a length of time, or a place of worship, whatever we desire to consecrate to God must be done so by one who is themselves consecrated to Him.

For many, it is difficult to set aside and consecrate thirty minutes every morning to spend time with God, because they themselves have yet to be consecrated to Him. As such, there is always something more pressing, seemingly more important to do on a given day, than come before Him in prayer and supplication.

When our hearts are right before God, and they belong to Him, the choices we make will reflect it. Because my singular desire is to be in His presence and spend time with Him, every choice I make will flow from that purity of purpose and lead to that desired result.

Consistent prayer is a matter of discipline. Discipline takes root and grows when we are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of one thing, and that singular thing we desire above all else becomes preeminent.

There are things some people do that I can’t understand, but nevertheless respect. Whether it’s training to run a marathon or enter a bodybuilding competition, the discipline required for such endeavors is monumental and worthy of one’s consideration. You don’t wake up on a given morning and decide to run 26 miles and change. Nor do you wake up one morning and decide to stand before a crowd in posing trunks at less than seven percent body fat. It takes focus, discipline, diligence, and a willingness to embrace pain and privation for extended periods, leading up to that one day when your endurance is at its peak, or your physical form is at its most impressive.

I can’t say I’ve wanted to complete a marathon badly enough to wake up every morning and run a little more each day for months on end to have a shot at finishing twenty-six miles, but I respect those who do. When it comes to prayer, we must possess the same attitude and mindset.

First, you define your goal; second, you identify your purpose, or why you want to achieve said goal. Third, you determine what is required for you to reach it; and fourth, you devote yourself fully to it until you do. If the goal is spiritual growth and maturing, a deeper and more profound understanding of God, and a well-rooted, reciprocal relationship with Him, the only way to achieve these things is through prayer and time spent in His presence. We have the what, we have the how, now the only thing that remains is to implement the how in order to achieve the what.

With discipline, dedication, and determination, we work toward the goal day by day, understanding that progress is incremental but also exponential. It may be difficult to see the change from one day to the next, but as one brick is placed upon another until a wall is formed, six months, or a year from now you will look back on where you started, and where you are, and be in awe at how far you’ve come.

In an age where men promise you’ll lose fifty pounds in three days if you order their plan, losing two pounds per week, week in and week out, doesn’t seem like a lot. Do it consistently, however, and in one year’s time, you will have lost over a hundred pounds, rather than gained another ten, because the three-day master course on losing fifty pounds in three days didn’t work, and you spiraled into worse eating habits than before.

Prayer is the defining element of a healthy, vibrant, and animated spiritual life; without it, we are cut off from communing with and fellowshipping with God. Without a means and a clear line of communication, we can receive neither instruction, direction, correction, encouragement, or warning.

God engages with His children. He communicates with them. He fellowships with them. He comforts them, instructs them, and yes, corrects them, and prayer is the singularly proven means by which we enter into discourse and fellowship with Him. To forfeit prayer is to forfeit communing with the Creator of all that is, and the God who so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son to reconcile mankind unto Himself.

That we would dismiss, diminish, cheapen, or devalue such a grace as this, while still insisting we are His chosen, His elect, His sons and daughters, and ambassadors of the Kingdom to come, goes beyond tragic, and into the realm of disquieting and off-putting.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.