The Principles of Prayer II

 We often hear talk of restoring the altar of prayer both in the church and in the home and fail to grasp the full implications of what that means regarding the spiritual condition of those who, at least to their credit, acknowledge that it needs restoration. In order for something to be restored, it must have been allowed to linger untended and unattended for a prolonged period of time.

If an altar requires restoration, the underlying implication is that it remained unvisited and unused for long enough, wherein it fell into decrepitude and was left to ruin. Although the reasons why this occurred may differ from person to person, the effect it has on spiritual well-being is uniform.

The less time we spend in the presence of God, the less time we spend in prayer, the more vulnerable we become to the enemy’s attacks, his plans and schemes, the deceptive whispers of his henchmen, and his ability to do us harm.

Prayer was never an option for the children of God. It is a command and a mandate. There are two things Jesus assumed His followers would do consistently: prayer being one and fasting the other. Whenever these two topics were discussed, they were framed as when you fast and when you pray, rather than if you fast and pray. Jesus took it as a given that those who followed after Him would pray, not occasionally or when the mood took them, but consistently and continually.

These two aspects of the Christian walk are so essential for a healthy spiritual man that nowhere in the Word are we given the option to opt-out or replace them with something else. Prayer is fundamental and essential. So much so that Jesus Himself often went away to pray, He who was perfect and without sin, having a direct line of communication with the Father.

If Jesus needed to pray, why do we assume we don’t? Why is the general assumption that we can replace prayer with some other thing and expect the same results we would have had had we committed to spending time in God’s presence and pouring our hearts out to Him?

No man is born a prayer warrior. Prayer warriors are forged. Prayer is a learned skill and something that must be nurtured consistently in order to grow and expand. In one sense, the beauty of it is that how much time we spend in prayer is dependent on the individual and their determination, willingness, and effort they put forth rather than some external factor we must rely upon.

When it comes to spiritual gifts, God chooses what, who, when, and where. When it comes to prayer, we decide how much time to devote to it. We all start out in the same position. No one wakes up one morning and prays for five hours straight. We all start out small. We all start out with those hesitant five minutes of intreating God, praising Him, thanking Him, and beseeching Him.

Those five minutes soon turn into ten, we become less hesitant, we become comfortable with the idea of communing with God, and once we begin to see the benefits of spending time in His presence, the desire of our hearts becomes to do it more often, for longer stretches of time, finding things to eliminate in our day to day lives for the sake of being alone with Him.

Those who insist they can’t make time for God have not prioritized Him to the point that they are willing to forfeit other things in lieu of spending time with Him. We all have the same twenty-four hours afforded to us, yet somehow, people with more children, more responsibilities, two jobs, and a cat that won’t stop throwing up in every corner of the house find the time to be in His presence all the same.

We can make excuses, or we can make adjustments. It all depends on how much we want something and what we are willing to sacrifice in order to get it. If that sounds harsh, it wasn’t intentional. If you took it as a personal affront, it says more about you than it does about anything else.

We’re quick to find excuses whenever we feel as though we’re being called out for something we failed to do, not because of time constraints or because we were physically incapable, but because we either didn’t feel like it or chose to spend our time doing something other than what we were supposed to do.

The ongoing battle in the Boldea household is between my wife and my daughters and their unwillingness to keep their room clean. Every few days, there’s bound to be a question and answer session between the three of them as to why their room looks like the remains of a homeless encampment once the residents have been moved out than it does the room of a ten, and seven-year-old.

Although the excuses range from banal to fanciful, in the end, that’s all they are, and while they miraculously find the time to draw, read, play in the yard, and most recently collect earthworms for reasons I have yet to deduce, the cleaning of their room never makes the list.

While the importance of keeping a spotless room is debatable, since in my youth, I too was known to give my clothes the sniff test to see if they were viable for another day of wear, the importance and necessity of prayer cannot be overstated or overemphasized. The more you pray, the more you grow, and failure to have a consistent prayer life is not only detrimental to one’s spiritual well-being, it is outright disobedience to the will and Word of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Perhaps it comes through in more modern translations, but having read this passage numerous times, I have yet to see the will of God in Christ for us as being having fruitless debates or endless arguments on the interwebs. Rather, we are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and, in everything, give thanks. If we substitute those things for anything else, no matter how worthwhile we might deem them to be, we’re still walking in disobedience. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 12 April 2025 | 11:33 am