“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
How is your prayer life? Do you pray every day or do you pray only when you are around other believers? Is prayer a daily discipline for you or do you only pray when you get in trouble? These and many other questions probing how consistent you are in your worship, prayer, devotions, and other spiritual practices will either confirm the consistency you are in or it will bring guilt due to a busy lifestyle that has pushed these much-needed habits to sporadic at best.
Schedules and tiredness unfortunately push people to the status of “on-again, off-again” way too often. Have you found that you are faithful for a while, and then something happens to get you out of the routine of setting aside much-needed time for God to direct your ways? Bill Hybels wrote a book entitled, “Too Busy Not to Pray.” The title alone gets the message across loud and clear.
How often are we supposed to pray? Ephesians 6:18 gives us the answer. It says to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. It conveys to pray anytime there’s an opportunity – no matter where you are or what you’re doing. We are to pray at every occasion, every season, and every possible moment. I would recommend not closing your eyes some of those times – especially when you are driving.
Along with praying on all occasions, it is good to give God the first part of your day. Set aside specific times where it is just you and the Lord. He longs to spend time with you alone. Prayer is not an optional exercise for the Christian who is serious about their spiritual walk. According to Scripture, believers are to make prayer a top priority.
If prayer isn’t a priority in your life right now, why not make it a priority starting today? We all make time to do whatever we want to do. If it’s truly in your heart to pray, you will find the time. Make prayer your first order of business.
When you expand your prayer life to include others, it will be good to pick a few friends who are willing to meet on a regular basis. It is always good to pray and share with other brothers or sisters in Christ. This will spur other times of spiritual growth in your daily walk.
Be encouraged to know that God loves the time you set aside to pray to Him. He longs to have an intimate relationship beyond the Sunday worship experience. He also loves to see you pray with others when they present a need. He even loves it when you pray at different occasions. Let’s grow in our prayer life to be more like Jesus.
This Sunday I will be looking at a familiar verse found in John 10:10. If your spiritual life has grown stale or you feel you are constantly under attack, then you will want to make sure you make a priority to attend this Sunday during the morning worship. Bring a friend with you to experience all God has for you this weekend. It’s always good to come together and worship the Lord.
Joy in Jesus!
Pastor Mike
www.findlayfirstnaz.org
No comments:
Post a Comment