Don’t Be A Rootless Tree
“A person without prayer is like a tree without roots” (Pope Pius XII). We are to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17). This includes listening to God (Heb 3:7 – Moffatt, LB, NLT, JB, NJB, NET, NCV etc.). The essence of salvation is to know God in an intimate way (Jn 17:3). This involves the kind of intimate communicating that is expressed in places like Mt 6:9, Rom 8:15, and Gal 4:6. On a practical level, then, a person who never, or rarely, prays is living as if they are an atheist.
Why do we pray? Is it to bend God to our will? No. As Catherine Marshall put it, “The purpose of all prayer is to find God’s will and to make that will our prayer.” Similarly, Andrew Murray said, “Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part.” Thus, “the value of persistent prayer is not that he will hear us but that we will finally hear him” (William McGill).
Yet, prayer is more than dialogue with God. Consider a few other things that can be viewed as prayer: (1) Silence. “The beginning of prayer is silence” (Mother Teresa). (2) Groaning. “God heard their groaning” (Ex 2:24 cf. Rom 8:26, ESV). “The best prayers have often more groans than words” (John Bunyan). (3) Acts of love. “He prays best, who loves best” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge). (4) Gratitude. “A grateful thought toward heaven is of itself a prayer” (Lessing). (5) Focusing on the Lord. “There is always time to look up to Him for His smile (F.B. Meyer). (6) Holy yearnings (Rom 8:26, AB) expressed through things like sighs (Rom 8:26, NBV) and weeping (Ps 6:8-9). (7) Reading. This can be a form of listening to God.
Let us pray.
Loving trust is more important than mere head knowledge.