the language of prayer...

Today... a couple of conversations centered on prayer... reminded me of the language of prayer...

Scripture... through the power of the Holy Spirit... reveals God to us... and through this knowledge... we begin to build relationship with our Creator...

The conversation on which the relationship is based is called prayer... and the primary language of prayer is Scripture...

The knowledge of God for instinctive prayer comes intuitively and generally through nature (Romans 1:20). What Christians know about God comes with verbal specificity through the words of the Scripture and its main message --- the gospel. In the Bible, God's living Word, we can hear God speaking to us and we respond in prayer, though we should not call this simply a "response." Through the Word and Spirit, prayer becomes answering God --- a full conversation.

---Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

My own experience has taught me the importance of Scripture in prayer...
He answers me with Scripture... or accounts from the Bible...
He directs me to pray His Word for others...
He challenges me... as I prayerfully read His Word...
and Scripture prompts me to question Him...

I shared Keller's take on the link between prayer and Scripture with one... then later... a friend recounted her conversation with God that affirmed this truth...

She was questioning an action she felt God leading her to take... and He responded by bringing to mind one of Jesus's encounters in the Word... revealing the heart of what He was doing... reaching out to the lost... and convicting her in the process...

He speaks to us through His Word...
Scripture...
the primary language of prayer...

I truly believe... and have experienced... an intimate relationship with God... animated conversations... active prayer life... is only possible... by steeping in His Word...

Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through his Word and his grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with him.

---Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

If your prayer life seems flat... lifeless...
or you can't find the words to pray...
let God begin the conversation...
open up His Word...