Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. (Psalm 5:2)

Before I became a Christian, I thought I already was one. Whenever I was in trouble, I cried out to Jesus. I thought I must surely be a Christian because I was praying. But I didn’t really understand what being a Christian was all about.

When the chips are down, most people do pray. It has been said, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” If your life is on the line, you will pray. I think back on my own life and recognize that whenever trouble hit, I would call on God. I would pray, “God, if You get me out of this crisis, I promise I will serve You. I will do whatever You ask me to do.” He would get me out of that one and I would say, “Thanks, God. See You the next time I’m in a jam.” So in a sense, you could say that I “prayed.” But my prayer life consisted of moments of crisis when I called out to God out of fear.

In the Book of Jonah, we find the story of a great storm that arose on the sea. We read that all the sailors on the ship with Jonah began to call on their gods. That’s what people do in dreadful storms. They will call upon their gods or higher powers. But that doesn’t mean necessarily mean they have a relationship with the true and living God. It’s possible to pray and not even know the God you are praying to.

Christians pray, but praying doesn’t necessarily mean you are a Christian. You need to have a personal relationship with God. You need to believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him.