Friday: Prayer Changes Everything

As Christians we need to be devoting time to prayer each day. Not simply because it's the "Christian thing to do" but because without prayer we are unable to communicate with God and our relationship with Him will be strained. Prayer is not an issue of trying to change God's mind because simply we as humans are unable to convince God of anything greater then that which He already has planned. Now you may ask then what is the point of praying if God already knows what going to happen? This is a very good question and something that needs to be asked. If we don't know why we pray then are we simply saying words for God to hear? See prayer is a method of communication in which we talk to God. God communicates to us through the Holy Spirit and through His Word. Without communication a relationship struggles for air and eventually stops breathing and living, not that you are no longer a Christian, but that your faith is no longer alive and active.

Prayer consists to not just of calling upon God for various requests, it is so much more then that. Prayer can be broken down into four parts which is commonly remembered by acronym ACTS

1: Adoration- praising, worshiping and uplifting God (worship is not only done in song! In fact corporate worship should reflect your personal worship otherwise you need to check your motives)

2: Confession: We need to be continuously confessing our sins to God not that we need to be "re-saved" but that we need to remove anything that may be hindering our relationship with God and His work within us

3: Thanksgiving: We also need to be daily thanking God for all that He has given to us. Just think you came into this world literally with nothing! Everything that you own God has given to you. He has given you a new day each time you wake up and He has blessed you with food and shelter. We have so much to be thankful for!

4: Supplication: Finally, we need to come to God when we are in need of something. However, when we come to God in asking for something it is important that we are seeking Gods will over our own so that He may be glorified. The Bible says "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these thing shall be added unto you" (   ). This does not mean God will give you anything you want. This does mean that if you seek God FIRST, then anything you ask for He will give you. Now in seeking God you are seeking to glorify Him and not yourself, therefore in all you ask for will be in line of His will and for His glory. Yes, there are times where we want things and it is not wrong to want things or ask God for them, but we need to be seeking Gods will in it all and be okay if He has other plans because we do not know the big picture as He does, many times He has something better in store for us.

Finally, we are to be in prayer daily in order to submit ourselves to God's will and ask Him to work through us, this is all a process of submitting to Him. God wants His relationship with you to be intimate meaning closely acquainted. To have an intimate relationship with God is to not hide anything from Him and fully rely on Him. Through prayer we become intimate with God. So in a way I guess praying is "the Christian thing to do" because that is what a Christian needs to do in order to have an intimate relationship with God.

"A non-praying Christian carries his or her Christianity, a praying Christian is carried by his or her Christianity" -Ravi Zacharias