Ever since I was a little kid I've seemed to have days where I become incredibly busy. I've always got something on my mind and most of the time have some kind of stress to deal with. - I'm not really sure why. But I remember as a little kid when I would have these days, my mother would always stop me and say, "Have you prayed yet today?" And honesty, I was never able to give an affirmative answer to that question. And as soon as I took a break from what I was doing and went off somewhere and spent a couple minutes talking to God, the stress and the burden seemed to be lifted considerably. And that is true to this day. I myself work in a stressful environment with a very busy schedule and there will be days where things will just not be going right. And I'll think to myself, "What's the deal? Why am I feeling this way today?" But then I'll realize - "I haven't prayed yet!"
Prayer is one of the (If not THE) most valuable tools we have. The power of prayer is INCREDIBLE. Prayer is our way to communicate to the ONE who made us. It's our way to vent to Him, cry out to Him, thank Him, ask Him, and so on and so on. So if prayer is such a wonderful tool, why don't we use it more?
The truth is, we live in a selfish and busy world where many people feel that they don't "have enough time" to pray. Here's the deal, when you're life becomes so busy that you find yourself putting God aside in order to take care of other things, you need a life adjustment. God should never be put on the "back-burner."
1 Thess. 5:17 - Paul writes "Pray without ceasing." Don't stop praying. Ever! A common misconception people have is that they feel they have to have a specific reason to come to God in prayer. That couldn't be further from the truth. If you're driving in your car and you take notice of a beautiful sky or a pretty field, stop and thank God for creating a beautiful world. One of my favorite things to do while driving on a long trip is to turn the radio off and just start talking to God - about whatever is on my mind. It feels so good to be able to do that and to have faith that the Lord is listening to you and hearing your prayers.
When Paul talks about putting on the whole armor of God in Ephesians the 6th chapter, he mentions in verse 18 that we need to be praying always. Pray always! Pray everyday! When you wake up in the morning - Pray! Give God thanks for blessing you with a safe night. When you're driving to work - Pray! Ask God for the strength to be a good example and a shining light at work. While you're at work/school - Pray! Talk to God when things get busy and ask Him to help calm you down and put you at ease. When you eat lunch/dinner - Pray. Stop and thank God that He has blessed you with food. The point is there is never a BAD time to Pray. God is always there. He's always ready to listen. And He's always ready to answer our prayers.
Have you prayed today?
Very well said. Interesting that we discussed this very thing in Colly's Ephesians-Colossians
ReplyDeleteclass this morning. Making supplication, Requests, Petitions, Entreating, Giving Thanks;
The Apostle Paul writes in Col. 1:3 "giving thanks and praying always for you. Then in vs. 9
ask God to give them knowledge of his will and spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Thank you Ryan for reminding us again.
May God bless you with much wisdom & understanding.