Prayer is the only way to develop a deeper relationship with God. This is the introduction to my newest book, which will soon be ready for distribution.

Introduction To Prayer

When I began writing this book, I had high expectations. I assumed I would learn the great secrets of prayer. There had to be some, right? Then, I would finish this book with a great sigh of satisfaction, knowing I had found all the answers as to why my prayer life can feel stale at times and why it seems there are days I’m talking to the air. I just knew I would have some epiphanies along the way. And I hoped I would experience one of those transformational moments I read about where God shows up in a vision while someone is praying, and they receive great insight. As I say, I hoped. 

None of that happened. But something else did. There was a significant crisis right while I was finishing this book. You will read about that in “Whose Prayers Are Answered.” 

no great revelations

I learned volumes from reading the works of the greatest authors who wrote about prayer because I did. And, yes, I did feel a great sigh of satisfaction when I finished the book. But did I uncover any secrets of prayer that weren’t already in front of me? Did I quit feeling my prayer life is stale at times? Did I have any epiphanies or experience any significant revelations? The answer is no. So why would you read this book if all my research and study didn’t accomplish all I’d hoped? Why would you believe a word I write if I’m still at square one in my prayer life?

Aha! That’s why.

What? You ask, bewildered.

Always starting at Square One

Because being square one is where everything happens. Square one is the starting point and the endpoint. Square one is when we realize we will never fully understand what communicating with the God of the universe means. How could we? The Bible teaches that God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways. Yet we are encouraged to seek His thoughts and ways anyway because Scripture tells us we should. It’s a quandary, for sure. 

After hours and hours, days and days, weeks and weeks, months and months, and over a  year of writing and researching, I’ve found that I like being at square one. I like knowing there is still more for me to learn. It keeps me searching for more, wanting more, praying more. 

Simple prayer, simple communication

Did I learn a lot? I did. I hope you will, too. But everything I learned brought me back to the basic understanding of prayer, which can summed up as simple communication between God and us. 

Have you ever been in a conversation where you knew you weren’t being heard? How did that make you feel? It probably made you think that nothing you said was important to the listener. You felt somewhat devalued as a person. You felt ignored, that what you said wasn’t worth listening to. So, what happens when you feel that way? You quit trying to communicate with that person, don’t you? No one likes a one-way conversation. It’s never that way with God.

God listens to every prayer

But prayer isn’t like that because God isn’t like that. No matter how we sound, what we say, how trivial or significant our requests are, and how they sometimes come from a heart with wrong motives, God still listens! He considers everything we say important, doesn’t ignore us and thinks we’re worth listening to. And most importantly, he is always available and there to listen.

Seeing as I had no epiphanies, I wondered what I would write in this introduction. I knew I had read and researched all I could. “Square one” was a concept I hadn’t entertained even once. Yet when I sat down at this computer to write the introduction, I was at a loss because I didn’t have that “big” moment to share and impress the reader. Then suddenly, the concept of “square one” loomed before me. 

That was a prayer answered that I hadn’t even realized I’d prayed. That was prayer in action. And that’s what I pray this book does for you. Keeps you at “square one.” We should enter every prayer time as if it were the first time. As if we knew nothing about it. As if we’re prayer novices. When you think about it, every time we pray, we are different because we are not the same person we were the day before. We’ve experienced more; we’ve learned more, and hopefully, we’ve grown more. 

That’s the central message: every day is “square one.”  Does that mean we don’t go deeper? Does it mean we don’t keep trying to improve our prayer life?

No.

What it does mean is that every prayer we pray is fresh and new. Every prayer is an opportunity to pray more, to pray better. Every prayer is an opportunity for God to open doors of understanding.  

Does that mean our prayers will never feel stale? Does it mean our faith walk never stumbles on the gravel of life or that sometimes we still won’t feel like our prayers are going up in smoke? Of course not, and all of God’s great men and women ministers, teachers, and authors don’t promise that either. 

Running the race

Every race begins with a starting point. And every runner, no matter how many races they have run, starts each new race at the starting point, square one. However, the more we’ve learned and put into practice, the better equipped we are and the better race we run. 

This book will take you deeper into concepts of prayer you might not be familiar with. The more you learn and grow, the more effective your prayers will be, even when you feel like you are talking to no one but yourself.

But each day, you will start over and be better equipped to run your race than you were the day before. That’s what “Deeper “is all about.

Blessings to each of you today.