Pray Sooner Rather than Later

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1(NIV)

Devotion One in this series:

This psalm was written by David whilst he was hiding from his enemies in the Judean wilderness before he was eventually crowned King of Judah and Israel. It speaks of both his trust and delight in God. It is a psalm of a mature and passionate believer.

This gives us incredible confidence to start to engage with God with words and thoughts and conversations

David’s opening lines are also instructive to people who are just beginning to pray. We learn two things here: firstly, God is our God. He is our God because He chose us before we were able to choose Him (Ephesians 1:11).

This gives us incredible confidence to start to engage with God with words and thoughts and conversations. Secondly, David says that he seeks God early. This may be a reference to his habit of praying first thing in the day or may be his desire to be communicating with and connecting with God long before he has a specific need or list of needs that he wants God to help him with.

Start to seek God earnestly and warmly in all circumstances of life so that when you need a season of intense prayer you find yourself ready

Kenneth Hagin, a well-known American preacher, was asked once “How do you pray through?”; in other words, “How do you break through in prayer to where your prayers are answered?” He replied, “I don’t pray through, I stay through”. That is, he had taught himself to remain in a state of rest and prayer, to be sensitive to pray and hear the voice of God immediately at any time.

Can I encourage you to get an “early start” on your prayer life? Start to seek God earnestly and warmly in all circumstances of life so that when you need a season of intense prayer you find yourself ready and effective to both talk to and hear from God.

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Devotion written by John Scott

Originally published as Prayer – Get an Early Start

There are five devotions that will be published each day in this series.

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