Level Up in Prayer
Level Up: Prayer Changes Things!
The most important key to establishing and maintaining a healthy relationship in any area of life is communication. It is mandatory on the job, in our personal relationships, and within our homes. Without the use of communication, we are paralyzed and unable to move forward.
Prayer in its simplest form is communication with God. It involves sharing our deepest concerns with God, as the Lord shares and communicates with us.
As we Level Up and make prayer a priority in our lives, we will develop a listening ear and become more sensitive to the voice of the Lord.
In the book of Matthew Chapter 6, Jesus emphasizes and spends a great deal of time teaching his disciples how to pray.
Jesus explains that we should find a secret place that is set apart to commune with our Heavenly Father and gives us a simple model to follow when we talk to God.
Because of our busy schedules, prayer, one of our greatest spiritual tools, is often overlooked. Aside from our Sunday morning worship experience, we often place prayer at the end of our day just before going to bed, or say a quick prayer before a meal.
But does that equate to the necessary time that we need to spend with our God?
Our prayers must be offered to God on a regular basis, not from a legalistic duty, but from a humble heart realizing our dependence on God in every aspect of our lives.
In the Bible, there are many references in which people prayed, and they witnessed a miraculous change over the course of their lives. Elijah prayed and withheld the rain for 3 and ½ years. Nehemiah sought God in order to rebuild the wall. David filled the book of Psalms with prayers of repentance, praise and adoration. Lastly, our greatest example, Jesus prayed without ceasing and was often found secluded on a mountaintop communing with His heavenly Father and he fostered change to the entire world.
As we commit to Level Up in every aspect of our lives, let us fall to our knees and seek the face of God with our whole hearts. Let’s make a conscious decision to sacrifice our time for prayer, not just when we are faced with an unexpected dilemma, but on a consistent basis.
My prayer and hope is that your desire to communicate with God regularly increases. I challenge you today to begin to make prayer a priority. Let it be the first thing that you do before you begin your day. Remember that communication with God is important, and you begin seeing how:
Prayer changes things in your family
Prayer changes things on your job
Prayer changes things in your finances
Prayer changes things in your personal life
Yes, I am a firm believer that prayer changes things.
As always, keep the faith.
Kevin R. Johnson, Ed.D.