Higher Ground

I have recently been reading a book on prayer, and towards the very beginning the writer stated something which stuck with me. “Many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God. . . . In prayer, focusing on the conversation is like trying to drive while looking at the windshield instead of through it” (Paul Miller).

That idea resonated, for many times when we hear people speaking on prayer we get the impression it is about the time we spend, the words we use, the requests we bring, doing the work of the intercessor, and that sort of thing. The question I have is simple: Is that what is at the heart of prayer? I think we are looking more at the windshield than we are through it if we approach prayer this way.

The psalmist stated he was going to seek the face of the Lord. Perhaps the reason prayer is something so many Christians struggle to be consistent at and to be anything more than superficial at is because we focus more on the activity than the God whose face we are called in Scripture to seek. Let’s be challenged today, and in this time of prayer, not to focus on praying itself as much as through prayer looking to and relating with our God.