frontwards prayer

If I took a step back and completely reevaluated my life - one of the first things that I would need to fix is prayer. Right now and for the past couple months, I have viewed prayer completely backwards. Prayer was almost like the last resort for me, and I am sure that some of you may have felt this way before. To me, I feel like I get results when I am constantly doing something, like reading or writing. Prayer was what I did last. If I wasn't getting fulfillment, I would start to pray and ask God for it. 

As it turns out, we need to have a frontwards view when it comes to prayer. It should be the the first thing we do, because it's direct communication with God. 

When I finished my run this morning, I usually use that time to thank God for all of the things that I am thankful for. Today that felt a little different. I still thanked God for all the wonderful blessings in my life but I felt like God was telling me that I need to do this more. That I need God and that I need to directly communicate with him more than once a day.

How I felt this morning wasn't just a casual feeling that I should do something more...it was like God grabbed my shoulders, looked me in my eyes and told me that I need him. More than anything else. 

I will tell you what, that got my attention. 

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." (James 5:16-18)

Like I mentioned above, the Christian's most powerful resource is communication with God through prayer. The results are often greater than we thought were possible. 

Some people see prayer as a last resort to be tried when all else fails, just like how I was doing. This approach is backwards. Prayer should come first. Because God's power is infinitely greater than ours, it only makes sense to rely on it - especially because God encourages us to do so.