Partnering Prayer - A Lenten Devotion - Day 18- Where Does Prayer Come From?

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Day 18 – Saturday

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Where Does Prayer Come From?

By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

(Psalm 42:8)

This was part of the scripture I meditated on this morning. It came to me that the first line could have two possible meanings:

1. My Christian spirituality professor in seminary, Dr. Glenn Hinson, used to say, “God is continually pouring out His love energies upon us.” So, daily God directs His love, or sends His love, toward us.
2. “His love” is a term of endearment for the psalmist, as a husband would call his wife, “My love.” So, day by day God directs me, the one whom He loves.

The second and third lines say something interesting about prayer.

• The song that is within me is God’s song.
• God’s song is a prayer to God.
• Therefore, my prayer to God actually originates from the God who dwells within me. We must never forget that prayer itself is a gift from God. We would never be able to pray without God in us, praying for us.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-28)

So if you find yourself struggling in prayer, don’t worry. God prays in you. If you find yourself doing well in prayer, don’t be proud. It’s not you—it’s God praying in you. Your ability to pray at all is only because God sees fit to grant you that ability. But what a wonderful blessing prayer is! A song—a prayer to the God of our lives!