Prayer

      It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that we ought to be about the business of praying.  My Father once said in regard to my Mom, "The church is praying for her hands, but they are not any better."  Then, he thought for a minute and said, "But they aren't any worse either."  You don't have to go very far in God's Word to find out that one of the instructions for us to be in prayer.  Prayer is our communication with God.  The Lord Jesus Christ gave us instruction on how to pray by giving us what we have named, "The Lord's Prayer."  I can't say that I am what one would call a "prayer warrior" but I do pray.  This devotion has an attached prayer list to those who want it.  It is a listing of some prayer requests that have come in over the years.  There are a few items that have been on the list for a long time and they will stay there until they are no longer needed.  First Thessalonians 5:17, says, " Pray without ceasing."  
      The Apostle Paul closed out the first epistle to the Thessalonians with a list of things that believers should be doing.  Prayer is one of those things.  It is a short verse. Some have said that in the Greek language, it is the shortest verse in the Bible.  Whatever it is, there is that admonition for us to be about the business of prayer.  It is not just between the hours of 7 to 8 pm on Wednesdays, but a lot more often than that.  It is not just grace before meals nor is it just your final thoughts before you go to sleep.  Paul said simply to pray without ceasing.  Our lives should be characterized by prayer.  I just don't ask anyone to pray for me but when the need arises, I look for that person who is a prayer warrior.  We should want someone to pray for us who has a clear and open line with God.  The life of the prayer warrior has to be free of blocks that would otherwise block the prayers.  We can see some very good examples of people involved in prayer when we look at the lives of both the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul and other early disciples.    Paul wasn't just throwing words around when he told a church that he was praying for them.  His life always seemed to be filled with the act of prayer for a needy people in one location or another.  The same should be true about us.  Unfortunately, we often find that we are holding a grudge against someone to the point that our prayers are not going past the ceiling of our own homes.  Take the admonition of Paul seriously in this short list of "things to do" that we see at the end of First Thessalonians.  May we all be a people of prayer.  Praise God today that He desires to communicate with us.