Weekly Devotional: An Invitation to Prayer – Who?

 “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)

As a kid, my mom would let me pick out my own party invitations before my birthday each year. On those brightly colored cards, I would get to invite all of my friends to come and celebrate with me on the one day it seemed like anything could go – cake and candy were no longer rationed. On those party invites, I got to work out the plan with my mom. The questions of who, what, where, when and why were followed by an RSVP line. With the answers to those five tiny question, my friends were invited to celebrate with me.

But what if I told you that you are being invited today, at any time, to meet with God? How can this be? Why would God want to talk to me? The questions go on and whether you have been a Christian for years or have no idea what it looks like to talk to God, the invitation is sitting there waiting for you to RSVP.

This is an invitation you won’t want to pass on so let’s break it down.

Who do we pray to? This is the most beautiful, critical and important part of prayer! Without Him, there would be no reason to pray. When we pray, we are talking with God – Yahweh, Jehovah, Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai… His names go on and on.

In Hebrew, God had many names, each representing something different about His nature and character. For instance, Elohim, which is how God is first introduced in Genesis 1:1 divides into meaning all-powerful, mighty ones. It has a plural ending, but Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” There is one all-encompassing God and the mind boggling beauty of that is He is not alone, but in a perfect relationship within Himself.

The plural part of Elohim is referring to the relationship of the trinity where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all equally God, equally one and yet fulfill different roles. There is truly no relationship like the trinity on earth. While it is slightly confusing, the emerging reality of the trinity is that when God created man, He did not do so because He was lonely or in need of anything, but rather because He genuinely wanted us.

Trying to accurately describe God would take ages, pages and more words than can even be invented because He is infinite. He has no beginning and no end. He is an omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful, awesome, mighty, righteous, perfect, all-knowing God. So how can such an infinite, indescribable being be known? Because He wants us to know Him and has made Himself known to the world!

He has made Himself known since the beginning of creation. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood form what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Beyond His creation and fingerprint in our DNA, God has been actively a part of history since He created the world, time and space. He has been in every generation and even had it chronicled in the writing of the Bible – a book written by 40 different authors, in 3 different languages, from 3 different continents, over a span of roughly 2,000 years – that tells one cohesive, undeniable story of God’s loving plan to save mankind. He even came in physical form as Jesus Christ to save us and reveal more about Himself.

All this to say, when we pray, we get to talk with God. The one and only indescribable God who has gone through every length to make Himself known so that we can share a personal relationship with Him. He did this because He is love and love can only be shared in relationship. The best part is that we can get to know Him more, just like any other relationship in our lives, the more we talk to Him and listen to Him.

So RSVP to His invitation of relationship by simply talking with God.

“Seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

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