The Role of Prayer
Mikella Van Dyke
5 min read ⭑
Every year at the county fair my sons want to win a goldfish. For me, knowing that we have to then go purchase fish food and a bowl means that I try and steer them toward other prizes. But lo and behold, to my dismay, this year we once again came home with two goldfish. If you have ever seen a goldfish in a bowl, you know they cannot hide. You can hold the bowl with two hands and peer inside, and you can see the goldfish no matter where they go. Sometimes when I pray, I picture that goldfish bowl. No matter where I am or what’s going on in my life, the Lord sees me and pays attention to me. As the children’s song says, “He’s got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.” God holds the goldfish bowl, and there is nowhere to hide. This is comforting because he loves us and desires a relationship with us, continually drawing us near and always aware of our everyday struggles. Yet many of us pray as if we are not already known by God. We pray as if our jealous thoughts, anxious feelings and anger have somehow passed under the radar of the God of the universe — while we swim around in a crystal-clear bowl. I hate to break it to you, but God can see your frustration with that other goldfish. The Word of God “exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12, nlt), and our prayer life is the vocalization of those innermost desires to a God who already knows them. When we pray, God draws us close in relationship with him.
Ahmed Zayan; Unsplash
When we read the Bible, God holds out his hand, and when we pray, we grasp his hand back. If the Bible is speaking to us, prayer is how we speak back. There is a mutual, intimate partnership between Bible reading and prayer: we are allying with God! Prayer has taken on different forms for me in different seasons. I used to spend long, uninterrupted periods in prayer, but now I have learned to attach certain prayers to everyday habits. For example, I thank God for my children when I zip up their winter coats. Or I might pray for them when I do the dishes. Sometimes, when I’m unable to find the exact words to express what I am feeling through prayer, the Bible gives me the words to say — and that’s what it’s done for people throughout time.
As I seek to chase sacred in my everyday life, prayer serves several purposes for me. It communicates my heart to God, comforts me, aligns my concerns with God’s, and brings me clarity. Prayer is how we communicate with God. It is a way for us to acknowledge that his attention is on everything. It is easy to call our mom and feel seen. In a similar way, prayer is how we surrender our daily frustrations and commitments to a God who sees us. We also get to praise God through prayer and thank him — expressing our heartfelt gratitude for all he does for us. Prayer also comforts us. Have you ever taken the time to pray for someone who confessed a particular frustration or hardship to you? Prayer reminds them and us that our all-powerful God sympathizes with us and desires to help us. It aligns our concerns with God’s by reminding us that we are participants in his Kingdom. We get the privilege of praying about our godly desires, praying when we are concerned about someone or about the state of this world, and more. We get to actively participate in God’s plan by praying for his will to be done on earth and in the lives of others. It is a daily reminder of our true citizenship. When we partner with God in prayer and Bible reading, we are chasing his agenda and his Kingdom. We are reminded that we have far more of a purpose than what we can see. Finally, prayer brings clarity. When we pray, we often see and hear more clearly because we are more in tune with our Father in heaven. Clarity comes when we receive a response to the prayers we long to see answered. When our motives are pure and we pray for wisdom, we gain clarity because God gives us that wisdom (see Proverbs 16:2). Prayer helps us remember the One who is sovereign over every situation, and it reminds us that our concerns are his concerns.
“When we acknowledge how much we need God, our prayer life is greatly improved, but when we are prideful and think we can do everything ourselves, our prayer life is weakened.”
We need humility to value prayer. Just as a lack of Bible reading can be due to overconfidence in our ability to do life on our own, or a lack of in-depth Bible study can be due to believing we already know how to study the Bible, a lack of prayer can also be due to feeling like we already know or have what we need. Paul E. Miller explains it like this in his book “A Praying Life”: “If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money and talent are all you need in life. You’ll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can’t do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time to pray.”
So what is stopping us from praying? Why do most of us remain stuck, not participating in prayer? There are so many reasons people do not pray — and maybe, like me, you have struggled with feeling like you aren’t even good at praying. You know how when someone prays out loud, you think, Wow, they are good at praying!? But God never asked us to be good at praying. No, he actually says, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5). God actually desires that we have a humble heart in prayer.
In the gospels, we see that Jesus’ motivation for praying wasn’t about looking good. He prayed out of his great need for his Father. Our awareness of our need is directly related to our prayer life. When we acknowledge how much we need God, our prayer life is greatly improved, but when we are prideful and think we can do everything ourselves, our prayer life is weakened.
Mikella Van Dyke is a wife, mother and the founder of Chasing Sacred, a ministry that provides resources to help women study the Bible and grow closer to God. Mikella recently released her first two books, Chasing Sacred: Learn How to Study Scripture to Pursue God and Find Hope in Him and Chasing Sacred Bible Study: A Five-Week Journey through Colossians and Philemon. She also serves at her local church, where she coleads as the director of women’s ministries.
Taken from “Chasing Sacred” by Mikella Van Dyke. Copyright © 2024. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
