WEEK ONE

WHAT’S THE GOOD OF PRAYER?

WEEK ONE

Day One

Friendship with God

You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

PSALM 16:11

Human beings are created to live in fellowship with God. We are meant to have and to enjoy life in relationship with God. Without this relationship we are like branches cut off from a tree, like toasters not plugged in.

Prayer is the way we get in touch with God and the way we keep in touch with him. I used to think of prayer as a spiritual exercise, a discipline that had to be worked at. Through the years, however, God has taught me to see it more and more as the talking part of a friendship. One of the early church fathers called it “keeping company with God.” I like that!

Several years ago as I tried to define prayer, God led me through a series of steps. At first I thought of prayer simply astalking with God. Then, the idea of relationship emerged, and I began to see that prayer is the talking part of arelationship with God. Months later my definition changed again, and I began to understand that prayer is the talking part of a love relationship with God. But there was still more I had to learn. I came to see that prayer was the talking part of themost important love relationship in our lives. With that addition I thought that I finally had it, but some years later God added one more element. Then the definition, a definition that I still live with today, came out as: “prayer is the conversational part of the most important love relationship in our lives,our love relatio