Making Prayer a Priority
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Ephesians 6:18).
What would we do without prayer? Without a way to draw near to God and lay our concerns before him?
Would we feel trapped?
Hopeless?
Deuteronomy 4:7 says, “the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him.” I long for that intimacy with my Father. So prayer is a priority in my life. Is it in yours?
I committed all of yesterday morning to prayer with two different friends. I had other projects to accomplish, but made room for this sweet time of prayer, not only because it is more powerful when two agree, but because there’s nothing more special than praying with a Christian sister.
We each share the same belief that we don’t want to take a step God does not direct. So my friends and I prayed specific prayers for our current situations, and our futures.
When you pray regularly with someone, it’s encouraging when you witness amazing answers to prayers. One of my dear friends and long-time prayer partner just moved to another state, and at first it was extremely difficult (for both of us). She had no friends, no church community, and her kids were trying to adjust as well. She was lost in a foreign land. So we prayed for all of these scenarios, and less than a year later, this friend found a fabulous church the entire family likes, her daughter made new buddies there, and her son loves his college. I believe all of these things did not accidentally happen. I am convinced it is because we drew near to a loving God, whose pleasure it was to answer our prayers.
God has a storehouse of gifts he wants to provide, but we have to ask, believing he has the ability to give them. Matthew 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Do you pray confidently? I am currently drowning in a sea of activities, and praying for the Lord to tell me exactly where I need to be serving this year. I am confident he will show me specifically where those places are, because through prayer, the word says he will direct our steps.
Not every prayer will be responded to in the way we imagine. God is creative, and wants us to know his hand is in the answers. Sometimes the answer is, “no” but if you don’t pray, how will you ever experience the “yesses?”
Our Father in Heaven loves deeply, and prayer is a way to be close to him. He desires the time with you, and when you pray, know he is listening (1 Peter 4:12). That’s why prayer should supersede all activities, and be a priority in our lives. I can’t imagine life without it. (LBW)