Daily Devotions
How My Brother Taught Me to Pray
Reading for September 8th: Ezekiel 44-46
Then he brought me by the way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD. And I fell on my face.
Ezekiel 44:4
I was about 30 years old before I really learned how to pray. It's not that I hadn't prayed before. It's not that I didn't know anything about prayer. I had been preaching for almost 10 years, and had preached several times about prayer. But something was missing, and it was something really important.
It was around 30 that I began praying with a man who knew how to pray. When I prayed with him my prayers were different. When I prayed with him my prayers were more purposeful and meaningful. When I prayed with him I finally felt like I was coming into the presence of God.
It's not that I was not in God's presence when I prayed before. It's just that I didn't realize what I was doing. It wasn't as real to me as it was when I prayed with my brother. He took me there. In every prayer we prayed together, he would begin by setting the scene. We were coming before the throne. We were prostrating ourselves before the Lamb! We were in the presence of the Almighty!
So when you pray today, take a minute or two where you don't do anything but transport your mind into the presence of God.
Father, thank you for my brother who taught me so much about where prayer takes us. Thank you for allowing us to approach your throne and to lay all of our thanksgivings and requests before you.
