Friends with the Almighty…

by John Bornschein, Executive Director

Our goal through prayer must be to know God better, to experience the fullness of relationship with Him. Through prayer we honor Him. We give something back to the Almighty, something He desires greatly. God reveals Himself to us in the “prayer closet”—a term ministry leaders use frequently that refers to a quiet place where we cannot be distracted in our time with God. In order to really know Him, we must reject mediocrity in our Christian walk and instead chase our desire to go deeper in our relationship with God. We must be ready to break out of our ritualistic or traditional prayer practices, in which God is treated like nothing more than a glorified Genie in a bottle.

For years I struggled with one-way dialogue in my prayer life. This was due to a narrow perspective of faith derived from works. In my mind I lived by my religious to-do list:

• Go to church on Sunday.
• Go to church on Wednesday.
• Read the Scriptures in a year.
• Go to men’s groups.
• Tithe every Sunday.

Oh, and don’t forget, be sure to pray before every meal and at the close of the day. These disciplines, though healthy, were practices that demonstrated my commitment to the Christian walk. But they were not expressions of love for my God and King – they were my works.

During the 20 years that I have been blessed to serve in ministry, I noticed a common practice among the men in our church: they were often motivated to express their faith by doing something. As long as they were engaged in some activity, they were passionate about their faith. But their fire would begin to fade when conversations about God focused solely on emotional expressions of love for Him. Then the fire would quickly rekindle when a task needed to be done, especially if the project involved a group of men working with their hands to accomplish something in the community. Why did the fire return when they were engaged in a project? It was tangible; the objective was clear, and the goal was attainable. Rather than simply talking about some abstract inner change, they were able to demonstrate the change in a practical and concrete way, doing something they considered to be “kingdom work.”

There is nothing wrong with men or women expressing their faith and love for the Lord through works. After all, we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). But prayer is often lumped into the category of intangibles and, as such, receives little emphasis. Don’t forget, simply focusing on works is the foundation of all religion. Yet throughout Scripture we find that God desires more than religion; He wants relationship. Jesus calls out to each of us, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

My prayer journey took another step when I began to understand that there was a living God on the other end of the “conversation.” My words were, in fact, rising above the ceiling and reaching heaven. But I still did not fully grasp what prayer was intended to do. I am ashamed to say that it wasn’t until recently that I finally began to comprehend the idea that praying is not about what God can do for me but about offering myself to Him, surrendering my own agenda and seeking His glory instead. If we fail to cry out to Him, to praise Him, the rocks will (Luke 19:40). I don’t know about you, but I don’t want rocks taking my place worshiping the Creator of the universe or fulfilling the purpose He intended for me.

The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 3:10, [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death. (amp)

And in Ephesians 1:17, he wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”

Paul got it! And he wasn’t alone. Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, had such a deep relationship with God that one day God just took him to Heaven (Genesis 5:22-23). Later, Elijah, who lived everyday in wholehearted devotion to the Father, was escorted to heaven in a chariot of fire. That must have been an incredible sight!

Throughout time, God has opened Himself up to men and women to initiate friendship. Through prayer, we humbly accept this invitation to connect directly with our Creator. Friends with the Almighty… what a concept!