Daily Devotional July 29 - Have you supplicated lately?

"And said (Solomon) O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants, that walk before Thee with all their hearts. Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee:" 2 Chronicles 6:14 and 19

It is my observation as a senior pastor for 5 years and an assistant pastor for 16 years that the art of praying (as seen in these verses in Chronicles) has been reduced (at least in the majority of modern church goers) to brief moments of solicitation for things. Over the years I've talked with hundreds of well informed Christians that don't know what supplication is or what it means. Their prayer time is a few brief moments of time (not prime time, but leftover time or pre-scheduled church service time). The depth of many prayers wouldn't give a seedling enough water to survive. And the thought of praying through and spending hours or an entire evening into the wee hours supplicating (specifying with deep conviction that what you desire is ordained by God and for the betterment of mankind) doesn't get much press.

More than that, today's Christian and a non-believer can hardly be discerned/differentiated one from another. Worldly non-believers might not be going to church, but Christians are going everywhere the world goes and doing what the world does, saying what the world says, selling what the world sells and teaching and training those of the next generation more of the same. No wonder there is no depth in prayer. First of all you have to believe that what you are praying for, God can do. There's so much prayer void of any power and hardly recognizable as communication with God that it's no wonder people are complaining that God is not answering their prayers. And further, so many prayers are uttered (without any sense of urgency or conviction) that the person praying goes on about their life and forgets what they prayed for altogether.

How can you expect to hear from God and to recognize that God has answered your prayers if you can't remember what you prayed for? How can you expect God to take your prayer seriously if one eye is on the TV while you are supposedly pouring out your heart to God. How can you know what to pray for if you aren't listening to the Holy Spirit within? How can you listen to the Holy Spirit within if you've allowed the din of this world to be your guide? It's not that God doesn't hear silly prayers or hear foolish and unwarranted requests, but the idea of prayer is to pray in God's will and what is in God's will will be fulfilled through prayer.

The depths of blessing from God are equal to the depths of communication with (not to) God.