A friend of mine recently asked me if it was important to pray on a daily basis because he said he can’t seem to find the time. I told him about my life before I started praying on a regular basis and my life now. It is like night and day. I wonder how I made it before without praying all the time. I was missing out. The problem was that because of my religious background, I saw prayer as a chore. It wasn’t pleasant and it was more of a burden than anything else. My prayers were also memorized lines that I said without understanding the real meaning. It sounded pious and important but I wasn’t sure of what it did for me. Prayer actually didn’t do much for me. It only seemed to help me confess my sins and I considered it a task that I had to complete in order to stay in good standing with God. My prayers were sporadic but they were always more frequent when I was in need or when I was struggling. Little did I know that prayer ought to be a way of life . I can’t last a day without praying. Stifle me under a pillow and it will feel the same way as a day without talking to God. Yes, friend, prayer is to me a way of communicating with God. I am in a relationship with the Lord and I need to talk to Him as much as I can to maintain this intimate relationship. One of the biggest differences with prayer nowadays is that it is a two-way exchange. The Lord through the Holy Spirit, loves talking to me in various ways. I cherish my prayer time so much and I look forward to it as much as a kid ready to play his first baseball game. It is delightful. It’s exciting. It’s never dull nor boring and I never know what to expect. I do not repeat memorized lines, I just speak from my heart. Having that Holy Spirit connection is extremely helpful when I pray. I can’t take all the credit for what I say because a lot of it comes from what the Spirit gives me. Prayers now flow. They used to be repetitive and they sounded like chopping noise. They were flat but now they have volume. They were sad but now they are full of joy and life. When do I pray? I pray first thing in the morning and before bed. Those are the two set times every day. However, I also pray throughout the day. The Bible calls us to pray all the time.
Here is something I want to encourage you to do that I never did before; pray when worry is trying to get you. I was so good at letting worry get the best of me. Worry and anxiety were my buddies back in the day. I would let them get cozy and keep me company until late at night. They knew how to tell me stories before bed but the stories were not lullabies and not the bedtime stories that put you to sleep. They kept me up at night and they made me toss and turn for the worst reasons possible. Now I attack worry and fear with prayer. When I feel them creeping in, I get on the defensive and I hold my prayer stand for a few minutes. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” This is one of the best piece of advice I can give you when it comes to prayer. Use it against the enemy any time of the day. Do not wait until nighttime or morning to pray. Pray worry out of your life by constantly resorting to it when things get a little shaky. Worry can’t stand in the way anymore. You have the best weapon imaginable. Keep praying!
Suggested reading: Matthew 6:25-33; 1 Peter 5-7; Ephesians 6:18
Words of hope for today 