In my home, as a teenager, prayer was important. When I met my wife and we started our own family, in our own home, fervent and believing prayer was why we celebrated our relationship with God. It is a call from God for me – a duty and a privilege of incredible value – to put myself and those dear to me under His care and guidance.

It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family. – 2 Samuel 6:11 GNT

In the consecration of my home to God, prayer, family prayer, marked our continually observance of His presence. I know we are taught to have our prayer closet experience, and I do. However, if I do not collect my family together, morning and evening, to bring our praises and our prayers to God, I would have missed the mark. Actually, reading the Word was part of our practice together as well.

They brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent that David had set up for it. Then he offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the Lord. – 2 Samuel 6:17 GNT

I know the temptation is to think that following these practices can make it seem like a ritual instead of a joy. In fact, as a child, I know there were times when my relationship with God was not right, those times were incredibly boring. What a yardstick to measure where I was at spiritually. No different today – my joy is sanctified in both praise and prayer.

When we gather, as a family, it is an opportunity for me to end our time together with a gracious prayer of blessing. It is a way to recognize that we have honoured and respected one another to come together and to love God. It is a way to recognize that there are no losers who chose this journey but that the blessings of God would be recognizable in our lives. It is a crazy way for me to show how much I love my family. So while I am sure they may not have enjoyed each and every devotional moment, they enjoyed the generosity of my love.

When he had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat,^[f] and some raisins. Then everyone went home. – 2 Samuel 6:18-19 GNT

I am pretty sure God does not have favourites but I do believe He enjoys being with those who are intimate with Him. When they pray, He listens. I would like to see myself as one.

Even if those three men, Noah, Danel,^[a] and Job, were living there, their goodness would save only their own lives.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken. – Ezekiel 14:14 GNT

Here are three such men that God calls out as having a special relationship with Him.

How easy is it for us to set up idols in our heart.

“Mortal man,” he said, “these men have given their hearts to idols and are letting idols lead them into sin. Do they think I will give them an answer? – Ezekiel 14:3 GNT

I believe that God does spare families when there is godly leadership in place.

Job teaches me to pray for my children every night. My responsibility for them does not end when it comes to their relationship with God. Daniel prayed three times a day – a role model for me to pray always. And Noah teaches me to have a healthy relationship with God for there is no other way I can stand in ministry without Him.

Amazing to see how far the people of Israel had fallen that even if these men were in their presence they could not have been saved.

Now then, tell the Israelites what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Turn back and leave your disgusting idols. – Ezekiel 14:6 GNT

There is a time and place where I, as an individual, become the one deciding factor that even though my prayers cannot help others, I am delivered because I have kept myself faithful.

Intercession is still important, praying in unity with others is still powerful, and God is always ready to listen to prayer – in fact, is anxious to save all who need salvation. And where I fail and others like me, Jesus still intercedes in prayer for us too.

The Psalms remind me of this. Psalm 55 is a prayer from one who is being unjustly harassed and who has been betrayed by a friend. It is a prayer with an ask. As what is common when reading a Psalm, it alternates between prayer for his enemy’s ruin and praises for God’s blessing. It is a prayer of distress, a prayer for justice and a prayer of assurance.

Hear my prayer, O God;

    don’t turn away from my plea! – Psalm 55:1 GNT

The earnestness of the prayer indicates just how much grief there is. Is that not my prayer – that God would hear me and would look at me and see me?

Morning, noon, and night
    my complaints and groans go up to him,
    and he will hear my voice. – Psalm 55:17 GNT

My seriousness of my prayer is in my continual prayer. I will always be found praying.

Long out of print but uniquely helpful. Clowney provides a trenchant critique of Transcendental Meditation, which was at its high noon of popularity in the 1970s. The basic ideas of Eastern mysticism, however, are more pervasive than ever and so this is still relevant. Clowney lays out a biblical theology not only for Christian prayer but for Christian meditation.” – Timothy Keller – Clowney, Edmund P. CM: Christian Meditation