Living a Life of Prayer

There's an account in the Bible where Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus, and Jesus is going to raise him up, and He prays. There is a crowd of people gathered around the tomb and Jesus prays a fascinating prayer. The text reads in John 11:41, "Jesus looked up." He was about to pray, and He looked up. In our day when people pray we bow our head and close our eyes. Jesus does something very different when He prays. Most often, when His posture is described in the Bible, He is looking up. That was common posture for Jewish people to pray in that day. Among other things, it was a good thing because it reminded them that God is right here, right now, in my real world. So Jesus looks up and He speaks. "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here so that they may believe that you sent me." John 11:42

"I knew," Jesus said, "You always hear Me." Not just when Jesus prays, but all the time, whenever He talks, God is listening. Whether the words are addressed to Him or somebody else. Jesus was always with the Father, and that meant that although He was often alone, He was never lonely.

The goal of prayer is not to get good at praying. The goal of prayer is not to try to set new records for how much time you spend praying. The goal of prayer is to live all of your life and speak all of your words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God. That's what it's for. It is about all of life, and the reality and the goodness of God's presence with us all the time. This is what Jesus did; He lived his whole life in the conscious awareness of His Father.