Prayer Changes Everything

Prayer has always been important in my relationship with God.  Most anyone who has a personal relationship with the Father will tell you that prayer is important.


Recently, I have just been convicted that I don't pray enough!  It's true.  I know God is there.  I know He listens to me, and I do pray everyday.  But how is it, in the busyness of life, do we forget about Him most of the time?


Frances Chan says in his book Crazy Love, "On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves.  On the average day, we don't consider God very much.  On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor."


It's true.  It's our nature to be caught up in our lives and what's to come, rather than focusing on the moment.

James 4:13-14 says,

"Look here, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year.  We will do business there and make a profit.'  How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?  Your life is like a morning fog--it's here a while, then it's gone."

My mom would tell you that I've counted down my whole life.  First it was to when I could get my ears pierced.  I had to be 13 years old before my parents would let me get it done.  So I counted down to that.  Then it was my driver's permit.  Then my driver's license.  High School graduation.  College.  End of semesters.  College graduation.  My wedding day.


Yes.  I like to count down.  But I don't have anything to count down for right now.  Wanna know something?  That's okay.  I feel so perfectly content in my life right now.  I'm trying to find the joy in each day, and just live in the moment all while praising my God who gave me that day.


Every morning on the way to work I pray.  I stuck a post-it note on my dash and wrote down the people and things that I need to pray for that week.  Every morning, as soon as I get on 270, I pray.  I thank God for my blessings and pray over my family.  This is the only good thing about my 25 minute commute.  I'm focused on praying for others and not the traffic getting upset about the traffic.  


It's helped me become a more thankful person.  I'm grateful for time with my Savior each morning.


Frances Chan goes on to say, "When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love.  You'll drive for hours to be together, even if it's only for a short while.  You don't mind staying up late to talk.  Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying.  You'll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you're crazy about.  When you are far apart from each other, it's painful, even miserable.  He or she is all you can think about; you jump at any chance to be together."


This is true.  When Tyler and I were dating, we'd make plans to be together when we were far apart.  We would go out of the way to see each other for only a few minutes.  When we weren't together, we'd be talking on the phone to each other.  


Why don't we do this with God?  The same is true...when you're far from God, it's painful and miserable.  We should be so in love with Him that all we can think about is Him!  We should be thinking about what ministry we could invest in, rather than investing in our 401 (k) or in worldly possessions with that extra money in our account.  We can't take those things to Heaven, but we can take people.  We should be making time to talk and listen to the One who created us.  I pray that I will always be yearning for that precious time.


I also have found that my attitude has changed when I'm praying for someone or something.


Frances again states, "The fact is, I need God to help me love God.  And if I need His help to love Him, a perfect being, I definitely need His help to love other, fault-filled humans.....Our prayers for more love result in love, which naturally causes us to pray more, which results in more love..."


It doesn't happen right away, and I'm still praying for a complete healing of my heart, but it will change.  The only way I can change is if God changes me.  We should always be striving to be better.  We should always want God to change us.


I pray that you will take time in your day to talk to Him.  He's the only One who can really help you and really change you.  Find the joy in each day.  Live in the moment.  Thank Him for the blessings He's given you.  Remember Him throughout the day.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says,

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."