Prayer is Converstaion

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:5-8 (ESV)

Jesus is one of the best teachers I have ever had. He not only teaches you the right way to do something but He gives us instruction about what not to do. When I read these verses today I was thinking about the pastor who prayed at the NASCAR race and thanked God for His smoking hot wife. I am glad God had blessed him with a beautiful wife the question becomes was it appropriate for the situation. Prayer is something Jesus wanted us to take seriously or He would not have given us instruction on how we should pray and what not to do. Many times we do not heed these instructions and our prayers are often patty cake prayers and without much thought or conviction in what we are praying for. We allow the business of life to control our time and thoughts. When was the last time you stopped and took 15 minutes shutting the door on the world and really listening to what God has for you? See prayer is not a wish list it is a conversation, it has taken me a long time to really understand that. It requires communication between two individuals you and God. To do that you must be willing to listen and I don’t mean selective listening like a husband or teenager has but attentive listening like someone who truly cares about what you are saying. The quality of our listening directly reflects the quality of the relationship.

Sometimes we carry the last instruction to the wrong end using short quick prayers because of time we say a short quick prayer and go on but like we learned yesterday persistence is part of a healthy prayer life. Sometimes we must stop and pray waiting on the answer. I understand that there is a lot of other ways you want to spend your time but if something is important enough for you to pray about is it not worth the time to spend in conversation with God. I pray that you look for time today to focus on your prayer time with God. Quality and quantity are not the same thing but you need to have both in your prayer life with God. Pray specifically and often as you seek a real relationship with God. Have a Blessed day!