A Happier Prayer Life

“I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,
    and I will meditate on your statutes.” —Psalm 119:48

What’s the key to a happier prayer life? Is it doubling down on discipline? A focus on the discipline of prayer is needful. But if we hope to have a happier prayer life, our gaze needs to fall on the One to whom we pray. This is why the key to a happier prayer life isn’t merely a calendar overhaul, but a deeper knowledge of God.

This is why Bible intake, rather than being a separate feature of the Christian life, is integrally tied to prayer. If prayer is a fire, the Bible, which reveals God, His Gospel, and His promises, is the fuel. Our prayer life will never rise higher than our contemplation of God’s Word. These two spiritual disciplines, which are often handled separately, are vitally connected.

In Psalm 119, the Psalmist is enamored with the God of the Word and so he goes on about his delight in the law, his commitment to it, and the blessing that it brings when he obeys it. In verse 48, the Psalmist vows to “lift up my hands towards your commandments, which I love…” Though there is no definitive posture of prayer in either the Old Testament or New, the lifting up of the hands in connection with prayer is profoundly emphasized in Scripture (1 Tim. 2:8). It may well be the case, that the Psalmist is modeling for us that our Word life is to be supplemented by prayer, and that our prayer life is to be supplemented by the Word!

How can we be happier in prayer? The key is to be happier in God! So it follows that the Word and prayer are the closest of friends. Or to touch on the analogy earlier mentioned, the Word lights the bonfire of prayer. And likewise, as we prayerfully pursue the God of the Word, the happy fires of prayer are stoked. No more wet wood. No more smoldering prayer. Dear friends, as we pursue a happier prayer life, remember that the key is knowing God. And we know Him as the Spirit reveals Him in His Word.