“For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever…”
Psalm 100:5 (NLT)
For me, prayer does not come easy. I hope it comes easy for you, but it does not for me.
This is not a new realization, rather, this has been a reality for me as long as I can remember. There certainly have been times when I felt ‘locked in’ to prayer. In other words, I spent an hour, but it only felt like a few minutes had gone by. I absolutely LOVE experiencing those times, but truth be told, that’s not my norm.
Here’s what the norm looks like… I start off in a posture of prayer and things are going well, but then before I even realize it, I stopped praying and started thinking about all that I was praying about. In other words, I started having conversations with myself about what I needed to do in light of what I was now thinking about.
And when that happens… and that happens a lot, I do what I can to reorient myself (my head & heart) back to the LORD and start conversing with God once again. I’m not seeking to be overly dramatic in saying this, but for me, prayer is a battle. It’s a good battle, but prayer is a battle, nonetheless.
If you cannot relate with this at all… super thankful for that. But if this at all resonates with you, I just wanted to encourage you with this…
GOD IS A GOOD HEAVENLY FATHER.
For a long time, I used to beat myself up for not doing a ‘good job’ in prayer. And just so you know, there’s no such thing as doing a ‘good job’ in prayer.
At its core, prayer is two things:
- Being with our Heavenly Father.
- Conversing with our Heavenly Father.
When you struggle to stay ‘locked in’ or as ‘focused’ as you’d like to be, please know that God is not shaking His head in disappointment towards you. Rather, God is smiling upon you, wanting you to rest easy in His immense, unconditional love for you.
For today, Day #2 in our 21 Days of Prayer, take a moment to simply enjoy the gift of being with God in prayer. Take a moment to thank God that you get to be with, and converse with Him. And if your mind begins to wander (and it might), please remember…
GOD IS A GOOD HEAVENLY FATHER… HE’S SMILING UPON YOU.
“Your power in prayer will flow from the certainty that the One who made you likes you, He is not scowling at you, He is on your side. Unless our mission and our acts of mercy, our intercession, petition, confession, and spiritual warfare begin and end in the knowledge of the Father’s love, we will act and pray out of desperation, determination, and duty instead of revelation, expectation, and joy.”
Pete Greig | Founder of 24-7 PRAYER MOVEMENT
