This week my husband and I started a new daily devotional about prayer thanks to She Reads Truth (an online group of women who read and share the Bible together. I definitely encourage you to check them out).
Every day at lunch, the hubs and I sit down and read our daily scripture about prayer and then spend the rest of the time discussing and debating what we’ve read.
During one of our chats, my husband said probably the most profound thing about prayer that I’ve ever heard.
I told him that sometimes I struggle with understanding why prayer is important (maybe that’s because I have a hard time hearing God talking back).
His response was that prayer is so important because it’s our only direct line of communication to God.
Before Christ washed away our sin, people had to go to the High Priests to have their sins absolved. It was the High Priest who could offer prayers of forgiveness to God on behalf of sinners, not the sinners themselves. Imagine the kind of wall that would place between you and God.
Now, with Christ as our High Priest, and the Holy Spirit as our intercessor, we can speak directly to God.
We can share our deepest fears, emotions, and worries with God and God alone. We can come to Him humbly asking for forgiveness, instead of hoping that the High Priest will convey our regret.
Now, we have a direct relationship with God. A personal, intimate connection.
When he finished, I sat there for a minute or two completely silent.
I thought of all the prayers of forgiveness and the deepest, darkest depths of my soul that I shared with God during prayer. I couldn’t imagine having to relay those things through another person in order to get them to God. It’s safe to say that I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to speak so openly and honestly in my prayers if I had to share them with someone besides God.
Understanding how much Christ changed this aspect of my relationship with God has made me understand how incredibly important prayer is in all of our lives.
Prayer simply is the only way that I get to pull up a seat next to God and spill my heart out. A privilege that Christ died to give us.
That has to be one of the most important things in our Spiritual lives.