A Little Bit of Faith: Take Time to Pray

When do you pray?  You might pray when you have done all that you could have done with a situation that is totally out of your hands.  It could be that you have a loved one who is sick.  You may have just lost your job.  Or better yet, you might be dealing with a personal issue that has been haunting you for many years.  Now you don’t know what to do and for some reason, you remember what your mother may have taught you about prayer when you were a child.  Thinking back, the simple prayer may begin like this, “Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  God bless Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Papa, and all the little children of the world. In Jesus name I pray.  Amen.”

Now when you were a child, this simple prayer helped to show you the way toward communicating with the Father.  However, now that you’re an adult and you think you have it all together, you may not have communicated with the Father too often. You also realize that the prayer you learned as a child might not fit your needs today.  You also might think the communication lines are closed as well.  However, they are not.  Of course our heavenly Father wants to hear from you more than once every five or ten years when there is a major crisis.  But if you begin to tell Him what is on your heart, in simple words, He (the Father) is willing to hear what you have to say.

Begin praying at least once a day.  Let him know how thankful you are for the many blessings you do have.  Yes, you are blessed. You still have blood pumping through your veins and the ability to reason, think, and breathe on your own. This is a good thing! Now if you begin to pray a little bit now, when you’re in a difficult situation, you won’t feel so alone.  You will know that you have been spending some time with the Father.  The line of communication is open and the Father is on the other side listening and working on your behalf. However, Jesus suggests this is how we are to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).

The Father will no longer be a stranger to you.  Nor will He be like a distant relative you speak to every now and then.  He’ll be that close friend. He’ll be the one person that you know you can always depend on.  Go ahead. I dare you to start praying today.   You’ll see.  Prayer will become like running water the more you do it.  You just have to try.  God is waiting to hear from you. If you take one step toward the Father, He’ll take ten steps toward you.  You have to be willing to take the time out of your day to speak with Him.  Slow down. Stay focus and find a quiet place that you can go for a minute or more to share your heart with the One who has been waiting to hear your voice again.  I guarantee you that if you do this; you’ll feel connected to Him because you are sharing your heart, mind, and soul with Him.  He will never steer you wrong.  You have to be willing to make that first step.  Will you take time to talk with Him today?