All of us have multiple identities, for me I am a father, a brother, a covenant friend, a worship leader, a teacher, a builder, an uncle, a son, an American, a middle aged male, an Arizonian, part Choctaw, a musician, etc...
When we encounter different people we respond based upon our identity to that person, I am completely different in my approach as a grandfather to my grand-kids than I am as a son, or as a builder.
We also have multiple identities as believers, we are the Beloved, we are the Bride, we are Joint-heirs, we are sheep, we are the light of the world now and salt, we are also soldiers in the good fight as well as the body of Christ and members in particular, we might be prophets, we might be teachers, some of us are evangelists and all of us should be worshipers and the assembly of the first-born, we are redeemed, holy, sanctified and chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world so we are also timeless and eternal and surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
So when we come to pray, it becomes important to recognize what our identity is when we approach the Father, and even more than that it should be our intention to find out which identity the Father is highlighting in our lives as we make our approach.
Your prayer as a Bride should be different than your prayer as a warrior in the midst of the battle, but to often we find ourselves defaulting to the same kind of prayer in all our identities, and typically that is the prayer of petition.
Lately I pray much less petition than I do prophetic proclamation, I seem to be exploring the power of a lament as it is joined with the prayer of submission, and more and more I find myself in simple conversation and then responding with spoken prayers that I have been crafting out of my "life-words", and these crafted prayers are being refined and pushed as I explore everything that God is calling me to be in my prophetic identity.
My point is simply this: If you have encountered a staleness in your prayer life, then change your prayer approach by moving into a different identity, this is how God approaches you so why should your approach to Him be any different? How do I know this is how God approaches you?
Easy, He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He is the Light of the world, He is the truth that sets you free, He is wisdom, He is peace, He is your provider, He is your righteousness, He is I am, He is your healer, He is...well you get it...
He approaches you in any of His different identities to you and He as Creator wants you to do the same for Him, He wants you to come to Him based upon an identity that He is currently highlighting in your life...and if you have encountered staleness, then perhaps it is because you are not being everything to God that He wants you to be for Him.
So explore a little, try on a new identity in prayer, its ok, its not like He's gonna smack you for being who He called you to be...
Try it and see...see if perhaps the default mode of petition is really kind of bland for a Bride and Lover, see if perhaps supplication is a little weak for a soldier and warrior, and see if perhaps a lament is a pure from of worship that touches His heart in ways you have not known.
Faith cometh by hearing...and hearing by the Word of God...but you get to choose which one of your identities is doing the hearing and maybe, just maybe a lover has a better ear than a soldier...I don't know try it!
