Prayer?
In Ephesians 6:17-18, the apostle Paul tells us,
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Today I want you to take special note of that phrase, “Praying always with all prayer.” In Goodspeed’s translation, he puts it this way, Use every kind of prayer and entreaty; and at every opportunity, pray in the Spirit.
I believe Paul is pointing you and me to the fact that there are different kinds of prayer. Over the next few devotionals, I want to talk to you about those different types of prayer.
Now, I know you may be thinking, “Well, prayer is prayer. Let’s not get so technical.” There is a truth there because prayer in its simplest form is just talking to God, and that is something anyone can do.
But to say, “All prayer is prayer,” is equivalent to saying, “All sports are sports.” It is true in one sense, but you cannot play one kind of sport with the rules that govern a different kind of sport.
I remember when I was coaching Little League. A ground ball was hit into the outfield. When the outfielder got it, he threw it at the kid running to second base and hit him. Then the outfielder started screaming, “You’re out! I got you!”
Well, that works in dodge ball, but it doesn’t work in baseball. There are different kinds of prayer for different kinds of circumstances, which I look forward to helping you understand in the coming devotionals.
Be diligent to talk to God every day, but along with that commitment, make it your aim to learn the “rules” that govern different kinds of prayer.
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