3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:3-4)
There have been times in your life, as well as the life of most believers, when prayer has not been a priory in your relationship with God. You have been too busy, everyone demanding some of your time, at home, work, and even the church. Life has taken you to a point where you are just “going through the motions.” You may even think, “What good is it to talk to God; He is not listening anyways.” There was a time when you stood on the mountaintop full of joy. Nothing could keep you away from God and church so you could worship. You sang in the choir, taught children in Sunday school, and even led a home bible study. However, now you just do not feel it. You want to have the joy with God you once had. You think the more you work for God the better it will get, but it does not. It has gotten so bad that you don’t even take the little things to God in prayer because in truth you haven’t really felt all that close to God in a while. What has happened? You have been doing things your way and not the way of God, operating in your own strength rather than depending on God, running ahead rather than walking with God.
2 O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. (Psalm 54:2 ESV)
Just as David asked God to hear his prayer, you can do the same. Moreover, like David who looked to God to deliver him from the hand of Saul, you can go to God when in trouble. The Father eagerly awaits your return for He has never left you. You had strayed. Bring your relationship to God, as it should be. Come to Him as a child, trusting that all is for His glory. Believe that God is taking you on a journey and you want to go with Him. God desires you be with your family; He desires you perform at your best in your chosen profession; He even desires you be of service in the church. But none of these things is to be at the sacrifice of your relationship with Him. Seek God daily, in the still of the morning. Find a place where it is just you and he to request the peace and assurance that can only come from the Creator of all there is in this vast Universe. Fight for time with God who loves you enough that He sent His Son as the propitiation for you sin. Put prayer first on your to-do list.
For Thought:
1. When you are not speaking and listening to God, it gives Satan an opportunity to bring havoc in your life.
2. When you slow down enough to put God first in your life, the trials that come before you are easier to face, for you know you are not alone.
As you pray today, ask God to search your heart for any un-confessed sin so you may seek forgiveness and a right relationship with Him. In this time be still and wait for the Holy Spirit to comfort you. Then know the power you have in Christ to do what is required of you. The power that comes from God, that not of yourself, so you may work in His strength and His will for your life.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 NIV)
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