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Making Prayer a Priority By Joy Porter Being too busy is one of many barriers that can trip up our prayer life. What can we do to better take advantage of the priceless privilege of communicating with our Creator?
s I begin to pray, I let out a sigh. It feels good, I think. I try to remember the last time I prayed. Yesterday? No, I was busy getting the house ready for company. The day before? No, we were rushing around trying to get house projects done. Finally, I come to the conclusion that it has been four days since I've gotten to my quiet time with God. Four days! How did this happen? Well, you've been really busy, I think to myself. But wait a minute -- too busy to pray? What is going on? Too busy
When I married, I thought things would improve because I would have my husband there guiding me. But the truth is, your spiritual life remains your responsibility even after marriage. After the birth of our child, I began to realize that soon my actions would be my child's textbook on how to love God, and I didn't think I was doing a very good job. I have always loved God and wanted to please Him, but my devotion has always been in "spurts," with periods where I would stay connected to God and periods where I would not do very well at all. All or nothing
Would that I had realized that God was never waiting to "punish" me for not praying. He just wanted a relationship with me. If I missed a day of talking to Him, it didn't mean He would never want me again. A conscious realization of what I was doing has helped me immensely to overcome this barrier in my prayer life. The only way to bear fruit Jesus says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:5 (New International Version, emphasis added throughout). Jesus tells us to remain in Him. What does this mean? It reminds me of how it felt when I first met my husband. He was always on my mind, and we were in constant communication. Even though we lived several states away from one another, it was as if he was with me throughout the day because my mind seemed to dwell on him! We remained in each other's hearts even though we were physically separated. To remain in Christ and have Him remain in us, we must also stay in constant communication with Him. This is accomplished through regular prayer and Bible study along with meditation and fasting.
The Bible says that we are to put God first in our lives, and when we do so He will give us everything we need (Matthew 6:33). Putting God first includes making our commitment to spend time with God a top priority even during busy and difficult times in our lives. It is a step of faith to take an hour to pray and study your Bible when you have 24 hours of work to accomplish in 12 hours! But the amazing thing is that when you do it, things in your life start to work together. Your relationship with God will outlast your daily to-do list. My prayer plan After I began to understand these concepts, I realized that a daily prayer time was a necessity for me. I had to develop a specific prayer plan that was tailored for my personality. The most vital key is asking God for help in our prayer lives. If you admit that you have a problem and show God through determined effort that you are willing to strive to improve, the results can be amazing. Making physical changes to your prayer atmosphere can also make a difference. It's important to evaluate your prayer life to see what areas need improvement and then make necessary changes. I knew that praying silently in my bedroom led to nothing but daydreaming and sleepiness for me. While it is the quintessential picture of prayer to see one kneeling by the bed, it just didn't work for me. So I took my prayer time to the kitchen table (with its hard wooden chairs!) during part of the day when I could be alone.
I also put together a "prayer basket." Just seeing it is a physical reminder of my commitment to prayer. In it I keep my Bible, my prayer notebook, church materials I have been studying, as well as cards and stamps if I need to send someone a card. I also keep a second notebook in which I list the people I am praying for. Sometimes we have to be hard on ourselves in order to make the necessary changes. Trust me, this is an area that's worth it! An appointment with God Once you have developed a specific prayer plan, the hard part begins -- sticking to it! We need to pray and study the Bible every single day. We need to make a commitment to put God first in our lives each and every day. They say that a new habit takes six weeks to solidify, but sometimes I think it can take longer! Think of ways you can stay on track with your prayer time. For me, it helps to think of my prayer time as an actual appointment with God. This includes having a specific time and place to meet Him. How hard this can be sometimes, when there are a million things to do! After several weeks, I actually began to look forward to my prayer time, and it was not so hard to stop thinking about my to-do list. I have found that disruptions to my normal daily schedule throw me off track. This can include having houseguests, going on a trip or having a family illness. Writing out a plan of when and where I am going to pray in advance of situations like these helps me. Embarrassed to talk about prayer? One final thought about prayer is that we don't need to be embarrassed about prayer. God tells us to do our prayer in a solitary manner and to not try to "show off" by praying. For a long time, I was too embarrassed to tell my husband that I wanted to go and pray. Sometimes I wouldn't pray at all, because of this embarrassed feeling.
As I have worked on this area of my life, the results have been tremendous. I thank God for helping me to get this far, and I realize that without the gift of His Holy Spirit I would probably never even want to try and certainly would have never been able to progress to this point. No excuse Now is the time to stop making excuses. I personally am quite acquainted with all of those excuses. Sometimes we may even think that God understands when we cut corners in our prayer and Bible study because of all of the pressures and stresses that make our lives busier than they should be. The truth is, God doesn't understand when we don't put Him first. While He knows how hard our circumstances are, He also has unlimited power to help us through them. If you commit to a daily prayer time with God, He will help you to get everything else done. Believe it and make a commitment to daily prayer today! Recommended reading Check out our free booklet . Copyright 2008 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Keywords: prayer priorities busy
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