My thoughts on prayer ... "How do I pray?" ... "What is prayer?" ... "How do I become a prayer warrior?"

These have been my supplications before the Lord for years and He has taught me much.

Prayer, to me, has become a 24-7 open line of communication between the Lord and me.  It is not something I set time aside for.  It is me seeking God's Face and Him revealing His mysteries to my heart, all the day long.  He has my permission to use any circumstance or any thought to teach me something new I haven't known before.  My prayer-life has grown more intimate as each level of 'self' has been shed.  I desired to be humble before my God and He has faithfully answered with lessons that have dropped me to my knees and found me prostrate before my awesome, AWESOME Lord!  He has given me so much and my response has become an ongoing willingness to serve Him in any capacity He sees fit.  When He says, "GO" and "DO" it is my deepest desire to be found faithful regardless of the "Where" and "What".

Prayer is not asking what God can do for me, but rather what I can do for God and then being faithful to LISTEN, HEAR and OBEY.  The Lord takes great pleasure in our obedience and in turn blesses us for it.

When I was pondering this prayer issue before God, the following scripture (Philipians 2:5-11, NAS) was brought to mind ...

5. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

6. who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7. but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

8. And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

10. that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,

11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Christ is surely our pure example and as a man He led an absolutely self-less life with His prime directive being bringing glory to the Father.  He was a humble servant who intimately knew His Father and therefore knew what would bring pleasure to His Father's heart and when it came right down to it He set aside all selfish desires and sacrificed His very self because that is what the Father desired.  He brought Glory to God and God in turn blessed Christ for His obedience by raising Him and placing Him at His Right Hand for eternity.  Christ drew His strength from His intimate relationship with His Father.  His Life was prayer and I believe it would do us all good to desire a life that reflects His.

Prayer is a way-of-life and not just something I do.  It has been born in my heart as I daily seek the Lord.  It is my relationship with Him; which for any of us can be as deep or as shallow as our hearts will allow.

'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.'  Jeremiah 29:13 NAS