"Never stop praying." 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NLT)
GUILT. Many Christians I talk to equate this word with their prayer life, and I can relate.
I used to feel guilty. People would ask me
to pray, or I would volunteer to when I heard they were going through
something difficult. With a heart of compassion, I'd reply, "Oh, I'll
pray for you!" And I fully intended to. But then I'd forget ... get busy
... say that to five other people ... and often never get around to
doing it despite my good intentions.
I'd put off praying in the moment, in favor
of waiting until I had a big chunk of time. Then life would happen and
that chunk of time wouldn't materialize. By the time I carved some out, I
couldn't remember all I'd intended to pray about.
One perception I had was that I needed to
spend a lot of time in prayer in order to do it "right." I thought short
prayers wouldn't have much power or impact. Then I noticed something
that shifted my thinking. In Matthew 6, Jesus is teaching about prayer.
He says, "When you pray, don't talk on and on as people do who don't
know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don't be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask" (Matthew 6:7-8, CEV).
