When I was growing up I was obsessed with Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman. There were many songs that I loved (and still do) listening to. One such song was entitled, "Let Us Pray". I loved the upbeat tempo and the simple words he sang, "Let us pray, let us pray. Without ending and when we finish start again. Like breathing out and breathing in. Oh let us pray."
As a kid, the song was a fun song that I would play when I wanted to dance. Now as an adult, that song takes on a whole new meaning. With bills, bad choices, and bothersome grades, I am overwhelmed with various problems that control my body, my mind, and my energy. Some days I run around like a chicken with its head cut off from 6:00 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. During that entire day, I'm rushing from one thing to the next and hopefully catching a nap in between, but how often do I pray in that one day? If I'm honest, practically none.
I consider myself a Christian, a believer, and most importantly Jesus' friend. I attempt my best to follow in His footsteps and lead a good life, so why should I have to pray? This is a question that has recently come to my mind in my busy, crazy life. What is so important about praying? I have so many other activities that take a higher priority, so why should I take the time to pray when I have a boatload of junk still left to do?
An answer is found in the book of Daniel Chapter Nine and Ten. Daniel prays to God about him and his people being banished to the Babylonians for disobedience against God. The prayer is an almost venting kind of conversation between Daniel and God. The most important aspect of the prayer is that at first God didn't respond. Notice the key words are at first.
Three weeks after Daniel prayed that famous prayer, God sends an angel to him. That angel tells Daniel of great things that will come to past, but most importantly he says, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words," (Daniel 10:12 ESV).
So what does this story of Daniel prove about prayer? Many things in fact. One is that God wants to hear from us. God had told the Jews through the prophet Jeremiah that they were banished as captives for 70 years. However, when Daniel prayed, God sent an angel to him. God wants to hear from us, so that He can take part in our lives.
Jesus spoke the famous words, "Seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be open to you." He didn't say the door shall be open to you, and then you knock. No, Jesus specifically said those words in that order because even though God is all powerful, He wants us to ask Him for His help. That is one of the reasons why we pray. We pray not because we have to but because it enables God to step into our lives and change it for the better.
The second lesson we get out of Daniel's story is that even in our darkest moments when we feel so far away from Him, God hears us. God told Daniel through an angel that ever since he dedicated his life, God heard him. God didn't always respond to Daniel's prayers in the way that he wanted or even at all, but God still heard him.
So why do we need to make praying as one of our first priorities in our daily lives? Well, it's our time together with God. It enables us to thank Him for all the wonderful blessings in our lives, and a time for us to ask God to step further into our lives. Praying also changes things. If we pray for our nation like Daniel did for his, we can change it. Since we ask God to step in, He will change our nation just like He does in our individual lives.
In this day and age, it becomes harder and harder to focus and set aside time to pray. However, that is just what we need to do. With national, social, and spiritual unrest, we need to pray like never before for peace and for God's interference. "Let us pray, let us pray. Without ending and when we finish, start again. Like breathing out and breathing in. Oh let us pray."
