Ephesians 6:18: ‘And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.’ (NIV)
Luke 18:1: Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, (NKJV)
How often do you pray?
Is prayer a central and significant part of your life, or do you only pray if your schedule is clear?
Is prayer a daily discipline for you, or do you only pray when you get in trouble?
Do you pray when you’re home alone, or do you only pray at church or in the presence of worshiping and praying people?
Praying daily requires discipline. Unfortunately, some of us are “on-again, off-again” when it comes to prayer. We are faithful for a while, but then we fall out of prayer because we’re too tired to get up early or too distracted by other things. Some of us don’t consider it important or necessary. How often are we supposed to pray anyway?
Ephesians 6:18 gives us the answer! “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (NIV)
In other words, Ephesians 6:18 says: “Pray anytime there’s an opportunity — no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Use every occasion, every season, every possible moment to pray…There are so many things to pray for including Christians everywhere.”
Clearly prayer is not optional for the Christian who is serious about their spiritual life. God asks us to make prayer a top priority.
In fact, He associates prayer with being alert. That means we don’t pray on all occasions with an ambition to be “super spiritual”. We pray on all occasions because prayer changes things. It will change our circumstances and also change us from the inside out.
If prayer isn’t a priority in your life right now, why not make it a priority starting today?
Maybe you’re thinking, “But I don’t have time to pray.” You have time to do whatever you really want to do. If it’s truly in your heart to pray, you can find the time. And if your schedule is as busy as you think it is, take Ephesians 6:18 to heart. Grab any available time you can find and make it your prayer time.
Start this day out right! Make prayer your first order of business!
PRAYER: Lord, give me the grace to become consistent in prayer. I admit that other things have distracted me from being in Your Presence, but please forgive me. Give me the strength to say no to the things that pull me away from my prayer time. Thank You for helping me to make this a top priority in my life. I know that with Your help, I can learn to discipline myself to pray. Thank You for helping me get started on the right path today! I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen!