Prayer

I think that the bulk of this weeks devotional can be summed up with one of the simplest verses in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray continually."  Prayer is a major part of the Christian faith and I find it to be no coincidence that such a big topic can be summed up in two little words, pray continually. So short, so simple, so crucial to a strong relationship with the Lord.

I know for a long time I struggled with insecurity in my faith and feeling inferior to those I surrounded myself with. A large contributor to these feelings was how eloquent and perfect other people's prayers seemed to sound. I have come to realize, however, that God does not care how large the words are that we use when we pray, or how well our speech flows, he cares that we pray and that we love Him. God does not need to be impressed with our diction, he knows what's in our hearts before we even begin to form the words we speak.

We do not pray for ourselves, or for the validation from others that our our prayer was satisfactory. We pray for God's pleasure so that he knows that we love Him and so that we can be in relationship with each other.  Brother Lawrence's quote from end note #2  "The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer." caused me to rethink my manner of praying entirely. There does not necessarily need to be a set time of prayer set apart from the rest of my day, I should be praying in everything that I do: praying while I am driving, praying while at school, praying CONTINUALLY.

I have learned that prayer should be as frequent as breathing. Without breath there is no life. Without prayer there can be no relationship with Christ.