We face a human dilemma. God says He answers our prayers on many occasions in Scripture, yet some of our prayers appear to go unanswered. We also appreciate that they need to be in agreement with God’s unseen purpose. God’s character is revealed throughout Scripture, and we, like the Israelites throughout the OT, learn more of that character daily through experience.

James’ message is simple because God’s way is simple but as humans we lean towards complexity. We constantly make mountains out of molehills. God’s way (Matt. 5:48) is plain but we insist on complicating it with both reason and sinfulness. There’s a lot that competes for our allegiance, and God invites us to make our choices for He’s no enforcer. When we simplify our approach and live God’s way our reward is the ‘crown of life’ (James 1:12).

One challenge with prayer is that we too easily lose interest and gently drift from our commitment to God. The cause may be found in our disappointment in God’s response to our prayer or, more often, the busyness of life. Prayer can appear drab in comparison with the many other opportunities life presents to us. Time is limited and space with God is all too easily abandoned. Yet, God inhabits the wilderness of our lives, those spaces where we independently cultivate our own crops in an attempt to feed ourselves. God is always present with us even when we lose sight of Him.

We’re no longer who we were once we’ve encountered and accepted Christ. Change is evident, and many testify to differences others noticed about them after they converted to Christianity. Grace begins a work of sanctification within us, by which we grow to become more like Jesus (Matt. 5:48). However, this change is gradual. Like a stag loses its antlers each year, and the resultant new growth reveals its maturity, so we daily pursue God in prayer that we might also grow in understanding and Christian maturity.

Whilst Christians are citizens of heaven, their sphere of influence is in the world. Indeed, the discipleship is to provide evidence to an unbelieving world of the truth of the gospel of salvation through Jesus. Too often, fear of the world has created an inwardlooking church, more engaged with its own wellbeing and preservation than following in Jesus’ footsteps and willing to leave the familiar in response to God’s call to explore what we don’t yet know. 

We are comfortable using our natural senses to make judgments. We observe, draw conclusions and make decisions based on our preconceptions. Paul prays that we might learn through the Spirit to have the eyes of our heart opened. Once again we are drawn into the reality of that which lies beyond our natural reach. God finds us, reveals the gospel and we choose if we shall respond (1 Cor. 15:1–5).

I love Andrew Murray’s book With Christ in the School of Prayer because prayer is the product of learning. It’s why I serve Waverley Abbey Trust’s mission of both helping everyone learn how to live every day with Jesus, and equipping people through practical courses with the skills to serve others. It’s taken time to discover how to pray within God’s will. In simple terms God’s will is self-evident for God desires that people turn to Christ and enjoy fullness of life (John 10:10).

Whilst we have little knowledge of how prayer works in practice, here God’s angel encourages Israel through Zechariah. We feel pressure when we pray. Life’s problems close in, and we experience little by way of relief. Prayer requires courage and perseverance, for it is born of faith – unseen yet substantial (Heb. 11:1).

Ezra had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon under strict instructions from its king, Artaxerxes. He was to establish the Temple and teach God’s ways once more to the Israelites (Ezra 7). Discovering disobedience, Ezra humbled himself and prayed on behalf of those who faced God’s judgment (Ezra 9). This illustrates how we can take responsibility to stand and pray before God on behalf of those whose actions deny God’s truth (intercession).

Prayer is always about putting God first. We live in an age obsessed with itself. Fascinated with self-realisation and psychometrics, delving ever deeper into our assumed personality, it’s easy to think that the world’s future benefit has something to do with me. Whilst it may, it’s not perhaps as much as we’d like to think. John the Baptist had the right understanding: our ‘I’ must decrease to make room for a growing awareness of God’s presence and reality (John 3:30). The steps that lead us into prayer are simple; to know the life and lordship of Jesus and to submit to His rule. This is the heart attitude we must adopt if we are to approach God.