Friday, 14th August 2026
THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER
Text: Genesis 2:15–23 & Jeremiah 33:2–3
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Jeremiah 33:2-3
2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Continuing in the series on prayer, we previously looked at the meaning of prayer, with the keyword being communication.
Further in that series, what exactly is the essence of prayer, or why do we pray?
Prayer has been reduced to a mere religious transactional activity where many have turned it into an avenue to make money, gather crowds, and make a name for themselves.
It's important to understand the purpose of prayer so that we can maximise this communication with God.
What Is the Essence of Prayer?
In the anchor text tonight, from the beginning, God was the initiator of communication between Himself and man. God was the first person who communicated with man.
The first conversation that occurred was a command; when He needed a response from man, He waited for the man to respond.
Genesis 2:22–23
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
So, we can establish that prayer starts with God.
Even in Jeremiah 33:3, it was still God calling that we speak to Him, and in various verses of the Scriptures, we will see God inviting men to speak with Him.
Prayer Begins With God
What does this tell us?
Prayer begins with God; it was His idea, it was His plan, and He's always initiating it with men.
So, when God wants to do a thing, or wants to activate His plan, He puts a burden in the heart of a man; the man then responds by taking himself apart to have a conversation (prayer) with God.
Just like our texts, in Jeremiah, there's a new thing God wanted to reveal, and He needs a man to call on Him so that He can reveal it.
Also, Adam responded to the burden of God to make a help meet for him.
Prayer, Communion and God's Will
The essence of prayer is about communion and God's will.
So it begins with God and stops with God.
And it's for this reason that every child of God must be sensitive to the burdens in his heart; we must promptly be available to respond each time God's Spirit pricks our hearts, because He wants that communion and He's about to activate His will.
If every time you pray, it's about you, and about just what you can get, and it has nothing to do with God's will and the burden in His heart communicated to you, you might just be alone.
Your relationship with God should be great, so that your heart is close to His heart and there is a prompt each time a burden arises.
Reflection
I hope this creates a burden to make it right with God so that your prayer life can be about communion with God and God's will.
Related Readings
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