Prayer

***I originally posted this on May 28th***
It's been a little while since I wrote one of these. To some of you, this may appear repititious but that's alright. I'm writing these just as much for my own benefit as for anyone else's.

I touched on fellowship and time spent reading the Word. Another invaluable asset of the Christian walk is prayer. Unfortunately, it has taken a bad experience in my life to understand the importance of urgent prayer. And I don't know if I've ever come to understand how much God WANTS to answer our prayers. On www.bible.com I looked up the word pray and found 365 references so I can't even begin to put some appropriate scripture verses into this. I'll attempt too but the truth of the matter is, there are so many parts of the Bible that talk about taking our requests to God, thanking God, and just simply talking to him.

In relationships with people around you, you build those relationships on interaction. You can't maintain a friendship with someone that you don't talk too. In this modern age, we use the phone, emails, texts, and even devices like Facebook if face-to-face encounters aren't so easy. I believe that God is more about the relationship than the religion. He wants to be our confidant, our best friend, our mentor, our Father, our companion. The way to build this relationship is too pray.

God wants us to acknowledge him and thank him for what he has done for us. He wants us to talk to him, to bring our requests to him, to ask him for our wants and needs. The problem some people have with this is that God will do what is best for us, our character, and our walk regardless of our desires (I'll touch on this in another devotional).

The point being that prayer is important. Even Jesus prayed to be saved from the burden of being crucified. It does things. It works. God uses our prayers in our own lives to grant our requests. God loves us so much and wants so desperately to answer our prayers. Unfortunately, at times, our prayers do not line up with his plan. The point being that not every prayer will receive the answer that you seek. But if you want a job, will you get it if you don't apply?

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

Luke 22:44 "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."

Psalm 143:1 "O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief."

Psalm 86:6 "Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy."

Psalm 17:6 "I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer."

1 Timothy 2:1 "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—"

Phillipians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."