Pray Continually

I've been thinking about what tool allows me to walk each day of this life with some sort of peace and strength.  I knew it right away and you may know it already in your life.  It is so important and powerful that it is worth talking about here.  Prayer is that tool.

Prayer is not just any tool, it is an unimaginable gift from God.  Prayer is not repeating a chant that somehow brings us into a peaceful state but conversations with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. You and I have the privilege as sons and daughters of God, brought into relationship with Him by the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ to approach the throne of grace and talk, plead, ask, thank, interact with our Father who art in heaven.

A couple of the scriptures that I use daily are these:

Matthew 6: 5-15  The Lord's prayer and Jesus teaching on prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:16  "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7  "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by petition and prayer with thanksgiving present your requests to God.  And the peace that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

James 1:5  "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

James 5:13  "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise."

Matthew 7: 11  "If you, then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Now here is the important part.  These are not magic genie requests that get you whatever you want whenever you want it.  The heart behind your prayer has to be complete reliance on the wisdom of God to do what is best in your situation.  You must understand His sovereignty in your life and His constant work to conform you to be more like His son, Jesus Christ.  Sometimes the answer will be not now or no.  God always has a plan for your life and may be bringing you through something hard or refusing you something because it is not His best for you.

I can say this from experience that God's answers to some of my prayers have not made sense to me but I also know that He has taught me reliance on Him not me.  He did not choose to save my dad from death at an early age in spite of my complete faith that he would save him in answer to my prayer.  I shunned God for over ten years but am now telling you with full assurance that I know what God has planned for my life is better than what I have planned and that He will bring me through all things by these conversations with Him in all circumstances.

All circumstances does not mean just the hard stuff.  My goal is to ask Him every morning what is the best use of my day and to guide me in it.  I am human so that does not always happen.   I ask for wisdom often even in small stuff like what to purchase for a gift or how to answer a question someone has asked.  I am always in need of wisdom.  I pray for perspective on my daily situations and on world happenings.  Anything and everything means just that.  God asks us to pray about anything and everything.  By reading Psalms you will come to understand that you can even fuss and complain and God will turn your heart back to what really matters, Him and His work in the world.

This is such a big part of a successful walk in this world it would be more than advantageous for you to do a study on all of the scripture regarding prayer.  You will have to wrestle with theology and scripture in context.  For instance: "Ask for whatever you want in Jesus name and it will be given to you."  Really?  Whatever I want?  I don't think so.  So what does that mean?

These are important things for you to know and burn deep into your soul.  I encourage you to study and commit to memory at least one of the prayer scriptures.