A Couple of Reasons that Prayer to Almighty God Should Be a Priority

We all know that when I speak of two purposes in quality prayer I'm not covering it all! We could add many things to this tiny list. In this article I am simply focusing on and sharing what the Lord has reminded me of this past week and again this morning.

At many points in our lives we feel the need to "get serious" about our prayer life. The intensity is raised by an illness in our family, a wayward child, marital strife, trouble at work, etc. There are so many things that literally bring us to our knees in life. Yet, what we have been striving to establish in the past 11 weeks is our constant need to be serious about prayer ALWAYS - getting ingrained into our systems that we need to always be in this mode.

See, when we operate with the mentality that the 'pray without ceasing' means to just always be in an attitude of prayer and I can whisper my prayers as I go about my everyday life we are only focusing on one purpose - getting our prayers answered. Otherwise, why would the "big" things indeed bring us to our knees for 'intense, serious' prayer? We get intense because we need answers. WE REALIZE THAT OUR SITUATION IS BEYOND US! WE UNDERSTAND SUDDENLY THAT WE CANNOT HANDLE SOMETHING AND MUST HAVE G0D'S DIRECTION, POWER AND INTERVENTION.

This reminds me of the saying that even 'atheist' call on God in emergencies.

Yes, one purpose of prayer is to get answers. We know our God is sovereign and all powerful and loving and is able to do above all that we ask or think.

The second purpose of prayer that I'd like for us to really think about is this. I am changed when I spend real committed time in prayer. How? First, prayer is humbling. When I humble myself before Almighty God and confess my sins and frailness to Him, asking for His forgiveness and intervention and control in my life, I am humbling myself. This is why kneeling, lying prostrate, bowing the head, and praying out loud can be beneficial. It takes a proud human being and places me right where I belong; at the feet and mercy of my God.

When I am humbled by prayer I am changed. My perspective of my life, my problems, the way others treat me, etc. is changed. When my perspective is changed and I am allowing God to show me what is truly important, what is eternal and what is temporal - WOW! In essence my life is changed!

(because of our frail 'human-ness' we can get over our humble spirit before God very quickly! Thus the need for the daily commitment.)

The two purposes of prayer for today's focus:

Divine intervention for my requests.

Divine change in my heart and life!