Making Prayer a Priority-Part 1
A TIME TO BEGIN
There’s never a bad time to take our cares to God. No matter where we are in our spiritual walk—whether in a season of distressing hardship or joyful celebration— “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving [we are to let our] requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6, emphasis added). Our heavenly Father is always ready, willing, and waiting for us to reach out to Him, because not only does He listen, but He also wants to speak to us as well. When we have a regular practice of prayer, we train our minds to dismiss the distractions of the world and focus instead on the sufficiency and power of God and His promises. It may feel awkward at first, as we approach His throne of grace (Heb. 4:16), and we may not know what to say, but God is kind, and in His presence we will find peace for our souls and guidance for our daily lives.
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
In order to receive answers to prayer, we must first place our faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Because God is holy, our sins have separated us from Him. But when we repent and believe that Christ died on the cross to pay our sin debt in full, we enter into a relationship with God and can then converse with Him and be certain that He hears us. The bottom line of all prayer is that access to the Father is only available through Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). Jesus came to open the door for us so we could have a relationship with the heavenly Father and access to Him through prayer. And once we have entered into a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ, we can confidently expect answers to our prayers according to His will and in His time.