"PRAY AT ALL TIMES"

Good Evening to All!

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)

Now according to my new Message Bible Numbered Edition, it states it like this: Pray hard and long. Prayer for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. (The Message Bible Numbered Edition)

When Paul instructs us to pray in this manner, or like in another verse where it is told to "pray without ceasing", they don't literally mean walk around constantly praying.

We can continually pray by keeping a thankful attitude and total dependency on God as we go about our everyday lives. As we go through the motions of our day, let our thoughts flow toward Him. Let us think about involving Him in everything we do and say, adding Him into every aspect of our lives just as though He were are member of our family.

We need to listen for His voice in every situation. After all, He knows the outcome. We should not think of prayer time as an event, or a schedule. We should treat it as a lifestyle. Let us not think of well, I need to go to Prayer Meeting at 7:00pm on Monday night, and then save all our prayers up til then. We should be praying already, and make the Prayer Meeting part of our lifestyle just like eating or bedtime. Better yet, we shouldn't look at the Prayer Meeting as special. We should already have a prayerful heart and just be changing venues from our house, or car to the church or person's house where the meeting is being held. The key is ALWAYS having a prayerful heart.

We should pray about everything we do, even the little things. How many of you pray before you get in your car to pick up your kids from school, or go to the corner market? Do you realize that most accidents occur just a few blocks from home? That one prayer could be the difference between a safe trip or a "fender bender" or worse.

If you have a job with very important responsibilities, a prayer could mean the difference between success and failure . I pray every morning before I go clean a house that God will help me to do the job to the best of my ability with the least amount of pain. I have "forgotten a few times and I can sure tell the difference. I have cleaned this one specific large house many times, some with very little pain and others to the point of barely being able to walk to my car. When I don't pray seems to be the times of the most pain.

The point I am trying to make is don't get caught up in the idea that you're only suppose to pray about "important stuff". Everything we do is important to God. He wants a relationship with us and that is part of it. He wants us to talk to Him and He wants us to listen to Him talk.

We also need to not procrastinate when it comes to praying. God brings things to our thoughts for a reason. If we feel the need to pray for something or someone, we need to do it when it comes to mind. We need to do this for several reasons. First and foremost, God brought it to us at that particular time for a reason. It could be that person is having trouble with something, has gotten ill, or a million other reasons. The other reason to pray when God puts it on our mind is because if we don't, that is disobeying God. he is telling us to do something in our spirit, and we don't do it for any one of a million man-made reasons.

If people knew the some of the things which I prayed for, they would think I was ONE BIG KOOK, but you know what? That's ok because God answered those prayers just like He answers the BIG IMPORTANT prayers. I was able to get to a restroom on time, I found a parking space that wasn't in the back 40 of the Walmart. I was able to find my car keys, I was able to find my purse, I made it to work on time, I thought I was lost, but God navigated me to the road I needed to be on. The list goes on. There is no end to what we can or need to pray for. So as the "old saying goes" JUST DO IT.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!