Prayer is Not a Text

Happy Mother's Day!

Last Thursday was National Day of Prayer!

A lot of people find praying hard, everyone assumes that since we are talking to God, we must have a beautiful prayer full of flowery words and that we must be formal, but we don't.

We were told to come as we are, and well, we don't all live in 17th century England so we don't talk that way. Yes, we should pray with respect, but we don't need to pray like we are receiving a grade in a public speaking class.

We can pray with the words we use everyday and we can pray like we are in conversation, because prayer really is just a conversation with Christ.

I see people getting choked up about praying in public or in a group, and I do it myself, but why should we?

We shouldn't. Prayer is a conversation, so don't be afraid of it.

The fear we have about praying comes from the world, but we don't bow to the world, we bow to the Lord. We need to fear Him, so that we aren't afraid of prayer.

Once we shut out what the world thinks, all that's left is Him. That's what praying should be, shutting out the world to be with Him. We pray to Him, so be with Him and not with the world when you pray.

We can pray about things going on in the world, but we shouldn't be off thinking about what dinner is when we are praying. We should be thinking about who He is, what we need Him to do, and listening to Him.

A lot of the time I forget that prayer has another side to it, listening. If I don't listen then what is the point in praying? Just selfish reasons that aren't what prayer is meant for.

Prayer is my way to reach Him and feel His presence, but it's also His way to reach me, so I need to slow down and listen. Prayer can't be like a text. I can't just say a quick prayer and then move on with life, it should be like a phone call with a friend that you need to catch up. It doesn't have to be lengthy, but it can't be those prayers that I used to say just so my parents would let me go to bed.

You wouldn't want God to rush through His time with you, so why would you do that to Him?

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Prayer:

Lord, thank You for someone creating an entire day to spend in conversation with You. It is such a blessing that I get to spend any length of time with You. Lord I thank You for all the mothers that we will be celebrating tomorrow and thank You for all they have done for us because it is by You that we have them here in our hearts and/or on this earth to love. Lord, You are such an amazing Father. Please bless us with a wonderful week.

Lord, please help us to grow in our prayer lives and spiritual lives this week. Lord, I know for many that this is their last week of school, so I pray that You would help them make it through this week. I also ask that You would help those who are testing in these next couple of weeks. Help them to give the weight of the test to You and calm them as they prepare and take the tests.

Lord, thank You for yet another wonderful week. Thank You for every breath we breathe. In Your Name, Amen.