God is constantly calling to our hearts. He is the initiator of relationship with us. He moved toward us first, and continually moves toward us.
For context: God created humans. Humans fell and we keep falling. God showed mercy, grace, patience, and kept calling to us, all the while working His ultimate salvation plan to win us back: JESUS!
Jesus put on human flesh and entered the world that He had created, demonstrating His love for us by putting Himself on the Cross in our place… in our place… paying the extreme price of His life for ours. And if that wasn’t enough, He sent the mighty Holy Spirit into our hearts to dwell in/with us permanently.
God longs for deep, intimate relationship with us. Why “do you think the Scripture says… the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with jealousy?” (James 4:15, BSB). The Holy Spirit dwells deep within us, and is constantly calling to us to get our attention and direct our hearts into ever-deepening devotion to God, and away from the world and its enticements.
Prayer, then, is the natural response when we understand, “He first loved us” (1John 4:19). Prayer is the natural communication that flows back to Him expressing our thanks and worship. Our prayer becomes less about asking Him for things and much more an expression of gratitude, thanks, praise, and worship.
But even if prayer begins as discipline, it quickly becomes sheer delight as we grow in revelation. Revelation means something is revealed, something is being made known, or clearly understood. God is doing this with us, He is making Himself known. He especailly loves to come and make Himself known to those who love Him, Jesus promised this to us (John 14:21). So even if initially we find it hard to discipline our minds and pray free of distraction, as as we create the good habit of spending time with Jesus, prayer will not remain a discipline, it will become delight.
And as He makes Himself known, our faith shifts into high gear as we realize more and more (this is how revelation works), WHO this person is that wants to become our Best Friend.
Pray Ephesians 1:17-19 and insert your name and the names of your family and friends:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give [me…] the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that [I… ] may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of [my… ] heart may be enlightened in order that [I… ] may know the hope to which He has called [me…], the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”
