Faith along the way

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my prayer life and how much time and effort I put into it. Do I take it seriously enough? Am I praying enough or “well enough”? To be honest, that is probably my weakest area. I am not someone who makes New Year’s resolutions, but this year I am making it a goal, a priority, to set aside more time for prayer and personal devotions.

Prayer is a vital and important part of our Christian life. When we pray, we communicate with our Father God, worship Him, seek guidance, petition Him for our needs, intercede on behalf of others, find comfort and strength during difficult times, express gratitude, and we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. Prayer also helps us deepen and strengthen our personal relationship with the Lord.

Sometimes it seems that prayer has been relegated to an afterthought rather than a first resort. When we ask someone what we can do to help them, their response if often “just pray” and we seem disappointed because we want to “do something”. Prayer is doing something. It is an active thing. It changes things! Prayer is a powerful tool that can lead to change in our lives, the lives of others, and in our world.

Though prayer can bring about change, we must keep in mind that our prayers should be aligned with God’s will as His Word tells us in Matthew 6:10. We can ask our Heavenly Father anything in our prayers. He will hear and answer, but we should be willing to accept His will in the situation even if His answer is not how we think He should have answered it.

Throughout Scripture we see so many examples of people who prayed. Moses leading the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery is so amazing and wondrous. All throughout their wilderness journey, time and time again God answered so many prayers and guided and strengthened Moses and the Israelites on their journey. If it’s been awhile since you’ve read the book of Exodus, I encourage you to do so. It’s so amazing.

Elijah prayed for rain during a drought in Israel and God answered, showing His mighty power (1 Kings 18:41-46). The book of Psalms is filled with prayers from David. Of course the ultimate example of prayer comes from our Lord Jesus. He often went alone to a solitary place to pray and be with the Father as told to us in Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, and Luke 6:12. Jesus taught His disciples to pray with persistence (Luke 18:1), to pray believing (Mark 11:24), to pray with humility (Luke 18:9-14), and to seek the will of the Father as He did in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36-42. Let us not forget the model prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6:9-15 and also in Luke 11:2-4. We can learn so much regarding prayer from His examples.

While prayer can seem so vast, and maybe even seem as if we don’t understand how to pray, or even think we are doing it right or doing it well, and we may even feel intimated by those we deem “prayer warriors”, please don’t be overwhelmed or intimidated. Please don’t allow this to keep you from praying. Just sit before our loving Heavenly Father and pour your heart out to Him…anytime, anywhere. He hears. He listens. He answers.

I don’t have all the answers regarding praying, and I’m striving to do better in my own prayer life, but I do know I serve a loving and faithful God who loves me and desires to hear my prayers and wants to commune with me. Oh, praise to His holy name!

All glory to our great and mighty God! His blessings to you,

Jackie