Two Essentials to Build a Prayer Life

David prays in Psalm 27:

David is famous for being a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22). In one of his more famous psalms, he declares that he both asks of God and seeks out “one thing.” If we read the psalm closely, we see that it’s one thing — a life with God — with three key components: 1) living in God’s house, 2) seeing God’s beauty, and 3) inquiring in the temple. These three components (which I’ll write more about next week) coalesce together to describe David’s one pursuit: life with God, a life lived in the presence of God, a life of prayer. David is asking for the same thing Paul commands of the Thessalonians — prayer without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17).

David frames his request for a life of prayer around two particular essentials: 1) asking, and 2) seeking. He says he asks of God one thing, and one thing he seeks. I would like to propose today that a life of prayer requires two things: asking and seeking.

Or, we might say: hunger and intentionality.

Desire and commitment.

Passion and a plan.

1. Hunger

“One thing I asked of the Lord…”

First, David asks for a life of prayer from God. How many of us are content to either have a life of prayer with God or not, but how many of us actually ask God for a life of prayer? For many of us, we view prayer as something we either do or don’t do, a box that we check, and maybe we even carry some residual shame that says that we should be praying more than we do.

Yet David, in asking God for a life of prayer, reveals a key essential to building a life of prayer: hunger. He is not content to either pray or not pray; instead, he desires his life to be so saturated with prayer that he actively engages God to ask for the grace to live a life of living in God’s house, seeing God’s beauty, and inquiring in the temple.

Meister Eckhart, a 14th-century German mystic, once said: “The reason we are not able to see God is the faintness of our desire.”

4th-century St Augustine said, “If you do not want to pause in your prayer then never pause in your longing. Your continuous desire is your continuous prayer.”

Similarly, Jesus invites his disciples to follow him with a simple question: “What do you want?” (John 1:38)

Hunger is the doorway to the kingdom of God.

2. Intentionality

“…this I seek…”

But, David does not leave it at asking and desiring. A life of prayer must be sought.

Hunger alone is not enough. There must be intentionality, a pursuit, and a way to order our lives around our desire.

Our passion for God must be coupled with a plan to pursue him.

What does your prayer life look like? Is there intentionality — a commitment to wake up earlier, go to bed later, or set aside a sacred part of your day for prayer?

Similarly, how often do you pray with others? One of the great values of a corporate prayer meeting (there are many) is simply that I am not strong enough to live a life seeking God on my own. I need the help of others’ hunger, of a community reaching for God together.

Writes Ruth Haley Barton:

She then says that we get to choose “a way of life that opens us to the presence of God.”

Put simply:

Longing + Way of Life = a life with God

Passion + Pursuit = a life with God

Hunger + Intentionality = a life with God

But for many of us, we are probably stronger in one or the other. For some of us, we are aware of our hunger for God. We want him, we desire more of him, we know the fruits that a rich life of prayer can bring, and yet we are resistant to ordering our lives around practices that will most help us to seek God. Or, our life has become too crowded with secondary commitments and busyness that we have neglected to prioritize the practice of prayer in our lives.

For others of us, we might have a life of incredible intentionality, a discipline of regularly going to church to pray with others, or perhaps even a “quiet time” routine that’s been anchored our routines over the years, but our desire for God has waned. We’re content with what we already have, and David’s prayer of asking for a life that’s more oriented around the presence of God feels unnecessary, unrelatable, perhaps even foolish. Like the elder brother in the story of the Prodigal Son, when others show passion in prayer or even a newfound desire for God in the early days of their salvation, it at best feels like a distant memory to us, and at worst, we might even feel skeptical and cynical of any displays of authentic hunger for God because it has grown so unfamiliar to our own hearts.

Yet, the invitation of Psalm 27:4 is clear: we are invited to ask and to seek, to hunger and to plan, to desire more of a life oriented around God’s presence, and to arrange our lives in such a way that this is possible.

I’d love to invite us to pray today:

• Begin to take a few deep breaths. Perhaps as you breathe in, pray “Come,” and as you breathe out, pray “Holy Spirit.”

• How is your hunger for God today?

• How is your intentionality around your pursuit of God?

• Is there any way the Holy Spirit might be inviting you to respond to these questions?

Best,
Ryan

P.S. We made a prayer journal! If you haven’t yet, we’d love to invite you to come alive and live in love with Jesus through a 30-day journey of growing in confidence in hearing God’s voice. Check it out at restlessheartsrestingplaces.com/store.