DAY 11: MAKE PRAYER A PRIORITY

Prayer is hard work; it is a mental and spiritual discipline. In order to improve our prayer life, we must practice the exercise of prayer. Thankfully, knowing our weaknesses, God provided the perfect prayer partner. God’s Holy Spirit enables us and encourages us when we pray. In Scripture, prayer and the Holy Spirit are inseparably linked together.

Prayer enables us to bring our burdens and our battles to the Lord and receive the strength and help we need. All the resources of God are available to us in prayer. If we could just realize how our Lord longs to answer our petitions, how much more would we pray?

God is the One with the answers; it is He alone who can meet our deepest needs. Whatever your requests may be—strength, guidance, a job, renewed health, a helpmate in life—as a child of God, you can bring it to your Father.

With this assurance, we approach God asking for our answers to our prayers. But can we be sure that we are praying correctly and effectively? Let’s see what God’s Word says about our responsibilities in prayer.

I’ve heard it said that the first 10 or 15 minutes of each day really determine how the rest of your day will go. And if you begin your day in prayer, acknowledging God as first in your life, you are making a wise choice.

Before I get out of bed every morning, I lift my heart to the Lord and say, “God, I praise You. I want You to have my ambitions, my attention, my life, and my all this day!”

Too often, rather than putting Jesus Christ first in our lives, we allow many other thoughts and “things” to consume us. But Scripture reminds us that anything we love more, serve more, or worship more than Jesus Himself is idolatry, plain and simple! Jesus will not share His place of Lordship in our lives. So before you pray, before you start asking, make sure that you’re practicing the principle of putting God first.

I know life can be busy. I know obligations must be met. I’m just suggesting that before we tend to our responsibilities, we should devote ourselves to God in prayer. I need that, and so do you.

Imagine a friend telling you of a great struggle he is facing in life and saying, “Well, I guess the only thing left to do is pray,” to which you think to yourself, Oh, my goodness has it come down to that? Rather than treating prayer as a last resort, begin to consider prayer as the holy privilege that it is.

Each of us needs a set-aside, set-apart encounter with the living God at key moments throughout our day in order to navigate this thing called life. There can be no answered prayers until we’re willing to spend time kneeling before God to receive what He delights and desires to give. Keeping our focus on God through prayer reaps great rewards.

So what about you? Are you making prayer a priority in your life? Do you give Jesus the first thoughts of your day? Before your feet hit the floor, do you lift your heart up to God in adoration and praise, thanking Him for the light of a new day?