"We got to pray, just to make it today..."

Hamma-time. The message in MC Hammer's song is simple, Pray.

This topic could be blogged about in a million different ways, but here are my thoughts today on prayer. Whenever this subject comes up in conversation or we're challenged to make this more of a priority, lot's of questions are asked:

Is God really listening? Should I pray only about serious issues? What should I talk to Him about? etc...

I listened to a Q&A session with Beth Moore, and one of the questions was,

"Why should we pray if God already makes up His mind?"

I loved her insight and answer to this. Here it is:

Philippians 4:6-"Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your requests to God."

"Pray about everything. The word of God says everything can be affected by prayer. The enemy wants you to think prayer is ineffective. He would rather you study the word and disconnect in your relational area of prayer. He would rather me get a headful of knowledge and not a powerful prayer life. He wants me to disconnect with prayer because as a result, so much power will come through my life. He wants me to think praying will not make a difference.

James 5:17- "The prayers of the righteous are effectual"

John 11:41-42 Jesus always prayed as one who knew His father was listening.

How differently would we pray if we knew He was right there?"

She challenged us to start our morning prayer by saying, "God I know you hear me..."

Well I accepted the challenge and found out it does make a difference. Knowing that God is there with me and listening, I become less guarded and more vulnerable. I get to know Him more. I'm learning to talk to Him not only about the important things, but the trivial ones too. It's much easier to have a good prayer life during hard and desperate times. However, God desires a constant, daily relationship with Him. No matter the situation or season of life, good, bad or mundane. His love is unconditional and He delights in us.

So in the immortal words of MC Hammer, "We got to pray just to make it today." Why? Because it's spending time with Jesus. Time talking to Him and drawing closer to His heart. We will become more like Him, and that makes for a better day all around.