The First Divine Service of My Day

Prayer is the heartbeat of the believer’s life. It is talked about and written about more than any other subject in the Christian faith. Yet it is an area of struggle for most of us if we are being honest.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian, once wrote “Prayer is the first divine service in the day.” Most of us would wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Yet our struggle with prayer continues.

Within my own heart I know that prayer should never be peripheral in my life as a believer. It is essential and must stand at the core of my relationship with God. So I continue to struggle but I also continue to pray.

It is true that much of my prayer life is self-centered and even petty at times. However, I continue to rest on the fact that my God knows me like no other and that also includes my deepest desire to push past my own selfishness and seek him. As I pray I am reminded of the sacrifice of my Lord Jesus Christ. The indwelling of the Spirit moves me and I am able to push past my own struggles and focus on my relationship with the one, true, living God. So I continue to pray, not because I have mastered this spiritual discipline but because my need is so great. And in my great need I meet my great heavenly Father who embraces me as his child.

So I continue to pray, not because I have to, but because I need to. Not because it is a requirement in the Christian Life but because I have found it to be a necessity in my life and the first divine service of my day.

RefRev