Let’s Get Intentional About Our Prayer Lives

by | Jun 30, 2016

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Psalm 4:3
But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him.

I have been asking myself questions about my own prayer life lately, things like: what is lacking in my prayer life, what ever holds me back from praying about something and how could I have a more effective prayer life?

Prayer is free obviously.
Prayer begins with that first prayer of salvation, accepting Christ as your personal Savior. We are called to go boldly to the throne of God; Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” , so there’s no excuse to not pray. We are also told in James 4:2-3, ‘You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.’

We are also told to “pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 I thought I was! I have always believed in being in the ‘mindset’ of praying at the drop of a hat and I do that, but God convicted me of the fact that, that is often my main mode of prayer. If I tell someone I will pray about something I do, in fact I pray right then and there so I don’t forget. There is so much more to prayer though than just doing little “speed prayers” all day! Ding, ding, Hey Lord, take care of Sue today and her dog, Ding, ding, Hey Lord, take care of those kids and teachers at the school today, keep them safe. Ding, Ding, Hey Lord, Take care of so and so who has cancer, by the way if you haven’t noticed cancer down here seems to be out of control, just saying Lord!” And on and on it goes throughout the day with Oh here’s this, and don’t forget about that! What is He my secretary? NO! That isn’t what He is looking for! He is looking for relationship in your prayers with Him! Little prayers are great, don’t get me wrong and it is important to pray about all of the little things that come to mind throughout the day, the problem comes when that is your main time to pray and you have not scheduled time to spend alone with Him in prayer.

So, do you have a time scheduled out in your day to pray? You schedule everything else out, why not prayer? Sometimes it seems as though scheduling prayer into our days is like scheduling a telephone conversation out with someone we tolerate talking to and it gets shoved aside. What if you prayed for 20 minutes every day? What do you think it would do for you and all those around you? What if you took the time to be intentional in your prayer life just like you are about everything else that is important in your life? God would like just a little more time alone with you!

One of my greatest obstacles is listed in this verse above: “But I know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself”……. that has always been someone else in my mind! If I have something big that needs to be prayed about I have always taken it to a few prayer warriors I know (my sisters and my mentor Carol S.) because I always figured that big things were out of my reach with God. Ladies when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are clothed in His righteousness! We are children of the King! We are loved and forgiven and He wants us to come to Him with everything that matters to us! Don’t allow Satan to steal that from you by making you feel as though you aren’t worthy! You are worthy by God’s grace and mercy because of Jesus shed blood on the cross and He is begging you to bring all of your cares and concerns to Him! He wants to spend time with you!

Do you trust Him? What if He says “no” or “not right now”? Do you trust Him even then? Trust and faith walk hand in hand when it comes to prayer, you must believe that whatever His answer is, it is for your good! You may not know why, here, but you can trust Him! Now, what if He says “Yes!”? Too often we don’t pray because we are too afraid He will say “no”, well that is silly. Matthew 7:11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” God loves to do great things for you!

Take some time to evaluate your prayer life today. Are there things you need to change? Ask God to help you make the changes you need to make to have the prayer life you need to have. The best is yet to come!

Quote:
“I don’t pray because it makes sense to pray. I pray because my life doesn’t make sense without prayer.” Noah benShea, “Jacob The Baker

2 Comments

  1. Ashley Idowu

    I’ve been following this blog daily for a couple of weeks now. Thank you! Your words and the timing of your messages are simply divine intervention. You have a huge fan!

    I love the challenges all throughout this message. Your words are full of God’s grace, but seasoned with salt, conviction, and passion!

    • Janet

      Thank you for your kind words Ashley! God is good! Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

      God Bless,
      Janet