“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.” James 5:13
“…pray continually.” ! Thess.5:17
Over and over again in God’s Word we are directed to pray.
More than 600 times we are encouraged and directed by the Prophets, Apostles, disciples, and by Jesus Himself, over and over again,
about the need to pray, and the myriad reasons to pray.
It is a direct line, a lifeline, to God Himself:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7
But here is the crazy thing about so many who love the Lord with all their hearts but yet have difficulty praying:
“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.” – Oswald Chambers
This debacle is one of my own personal challenges-my natural desire is to be a “Martha”, busying myself with work. It is only through being intentional about prayer life that brings me to His feet like Mary, petitioning and listening for His voice, that I am able to overcome “Martha-itis”
Whatever the need-protection, provision, healing, salvation-every and any situation-prayer is the key. It does us no good as just a concept though-we must use it.
So let us not make prayer the last resort, beloved, but rather the first order of business.
The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. James 5:16b