Prayer As A Way Of Life

“I can not tell why there should come to me
A thought of someone miles and years away.
In swift insistence on the memory,
Unless there is a need that I should pray.
Perhaps just then my friend has fiercer fight,
A more appalling weakness, a decay.
Of courage, darkness, some lost sense of right;
And so, in case he needs my prayers I pray.

By: Rosalind Goforth

While on earth Jesus prayed continually. Before feeding the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus, before choosing His disciples, with His disciples, for His disciples, all night, early in the morning, in the garden, on the cross – Jesus prayed. Prayer is a way of life to Him. He continues to intercede for us. As we become more like the Lord, prayer becomes a constant, treasured part of our lives.
When we pray continually we are obeying God’s command, “1 Thessalonians 5:17 (New International Version) 17pray continually”. Wow! How can be obtain this when so many things in our life demands our attention?

Apart from our times set apart for prayer, much of our praying is a simple awareness of the Lord, with the attitude of dependence or gratitude, with a quit spirit, almost world-less sense of communion. (We can do this by remembering that God chose us to be “in the world, but not of the world.”) Having a God-centered attitude allows us to abide in Christ, Jesus. It allows us to bring our requests to Him along the day as they come to mind. We should include our best which is our Heavenly Father, in our daily experiences instead of ignoring Him throughout the day. This can be casual remarks as simple as, “Yes Lord, Thank You Lord, or a quiet Hallelujah.” Other times throughout the day we may share with Him an ongoing conversation regarding our thoughts, feelings, desires, and concerns. When we include Christ in our lives our minds are like “the hand of a scale that points upward, unless something is being weighed down.” In a similar way our concentration can be on the Lord, as we focus upward, unless our full attention needs to be on a task or social interaction. Other times we can direct a quick “arrow” of prayers to the Lord about what we are doing; and sometimes glance our minds in His direction just to say, “Lord I need or others need Your help in this situation today.” We can lift to Him our love, as well as our (and others) needs throughout the day reminding Him that we are depending on Him.

My Prayer: I pray Dearest Lord; Father Almighty, that as we go through life’s hectic days that You will remind us to turn to You more often with short arrow prayers. Prayers that rise to You throughout our waking hours. Please give us prayers for people we see, people that we relate to, and people who come to mind. Heavenly Father, I ask that you touch, bless and be with each person who reads this prayer and that if they have not already done so, that they will look to You in a relationship of prayer so that they will witness the glory that You have for them when they obey and walk with You. This I pray in Jesus’ name today, Amen