In the fast-paced world we are living in do you and I take time out of our schedules to pray? Is being in communication with our Lord something you and I have a desire, even more than that, a passion to be wanting to do on a regular basis? I guess each of us need to look at our own lives and evaluate where we are, at the present time, before we give an answer to these two critical questions!
Jesus, throughout His earthly ministry, spent a great deal of time in prayer/conversation with His Father. His faithful example of being in communication with His Father at regular intervals is certainly something you and I, as His followers, should work at to emulate. If Jesus saw this interaction as a necessary and beneficial priority in His life, it only makes sense you and I would also, right?
In Luke 11:1, we are given the opportunity to see Jesus connecting with His disciples on the topic of prayer. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” From this close conversation we get the blessing of receiving from the Master “The Lord’s Prayer”. Jesus not only taught His followers how to pray, He literally also made praying a part of the very fabric of His earthly life. This is most evidently shown as Jesus journeyed to the cross and while He hung on that tree dying. Jesus was the perfect image of a prayer warrior!
Intentionality is a most important facet of a prayer life as a Christian. Being a person of prayer does not come naturally but is something we need to work at diligently and call on the Lord to help us with. This is an ideal which is so necessary in today’s day and age because there are so many distractions that seem to drift into our hearts and minds when you and I try to spend time with God. Not that we want to be constantly losing our focus when in prayer with the Lord, but it is a reality we must acknowledge and then vehemently fight to overcome.
Dear brothers and sisters will you or I ever be the type of saint who can pray without ceasing as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Maybe not, but I will bet you we can all greatly improve in our commitment to be in communication with our Almighty God! And that is a good and wonderful place to be!!!!!!!!!!! Pastor McCarty