‘Pray for all areas of your life’

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If you haven’t seen the movie, War Room, it’s a must see. The theme of the movie is the power of prayer and how to develop prayer strategies to fight against the darkness of this world. It certainly resonated with me as I see the day-to-day struggles we encounter and how prayer can help us overcome evil, negativity, and the breakdown of our families, our friendships and all that surrounds us.

One of my favorite responses about prayer is from Priscilla Shirer. She says: 

“Prayer is what opens up the flood gates for God to come down and be involved in our every day circumstances.” 

The movie brought to mind a blog post I wrote months ago on making prayer a priority. Here is a revised version of that post. I hope it blesses you and inspires you as you pray to your Heavenly Father.

Ephesians 6:18

        “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 saints.”

How many times have you said to yourself, ‘I need to pray about that?’ And yet you still haven’t taken the time to bring your prayers and petitions to God. How many times have you  said to someone who was struggling with an issue, facing a health concern, or suffering a loss, “I’ll pray for you?” You said the words with sincerity and meant every word. And yet the busyness of the day took over and your good intentions were pushed aside.

Prayer is a necessity we need in our lives. We are to seek God first in all that we do and that means to seek Him prior to the battle, the challenge, or the crisis. We are to seek Him always and ask for His protection, His forgiveness, and His care. We can praise Him in the morning and in the evening. He loves to hear us tell Him our troubles when things don’t go as planned and He loves for us to tell Him when ‘life is good.’

So, how do we make prayer life a priority and strengthen our relationship with Christ? How do we keep our word to pray and praise Him as we should? How do we make prayer an intentional part of our day?

You see God calls us to pray continually in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. He tells us if we are to be obedient to His will, then prayer must be part of our life in Him. His word tells us to present our requests to Him. 

Prayer is the key that unlocks faith in our lives and the time we spend in prayer demonstrates our reliance on Him. He longs to hear from us. The challenge is making prayer a priority and a daily habit.

There is no perfect or right way—just do it. Pray any time, morning, noon or night. It’s more about getting started. 

• Give God the first 5 minutes of the day. Pour your heart out to Him—He is listening.
• Remember it’s not about where you pray, only that you pray.
• Get on your knees. It’s difficult to be distracted or lose focus if you’re on your knees before Him.
• Keep a journal handy. Make a list of praises, concerns, blessings and requests. Add to it as needed and call on His name.
• Prayer is our lifeline to God. Talk to Him. In order to build a relationship we must communicate with Him.

                   How reassuring to know that our prayer life sustains us in a world that needs His powerful influence.

And just as I end each blog post with, “I’ll be praying for you,” you can rest assured that’s exactly what takes place. I pray for God’s protection and blessing over you and I treasure our time together, giving Him the glory and honor for our journey.

Mitzi