Too Busy to Pray?

Our lives are busy. We have a lot of things going on as we live one day at a time with our families and church and friends and jobs.

Ever look at your calendar and you feel as if you can't find a blank spot in the month? Sometimes I feel as if I'm pulled in two different directions at the same time. 

Tonight I was reminded of a couple of different things about busyness and my prayer life.

Jesus led a busy life. He was always teaching and preaching as well as healing and sharing with all of those He came in contact. And yet the busier He was the more time He took in prayer.

Luke 6:12

 "And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."

Martin Luther said that the busier he got the more he needed to spend time in prayer.  We normally would think that the busier we are the less time we would have for God but it should be the opposite-we should spend more time with God. We are told in I Thessalonians 5 to pray without ceasing. It can be short prayers just asking God for wisdom or the right words to say before going into a situation.

We can rest assured that if we come to God and talk to Him, He will hear us and has promised to answer.

Jeremiah 33:2-3

"Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his name;

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

Christ was God and yet He took the time to pray. As I go from appointment to appointment or am involved in an event I want to be sure to take the time in the middle of the busyness (and at the beginning and the end of it) to spend some time with my Lord.  God is always there and willing to listen. He knows our burdens and want to carry them for us- I Peter 5:7-"Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you." Christ made us so that we would worship Him and want to fellowship with Him. Make a commitment to spend some time talking with God. Keep a prayer journal so that you can write down requests and be able to pray about them. It is also exciting to be able to go back and mark down the date that God answers them.

There are a lot of great hymns of the faith that have been written about prayer.

"Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray;

This is my heart-cry day unto day;

I long to know Thy will and Thy way;

Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray.

Living in Thee, Lord, and Thou in me,

Constant abiding, this is my plea;

Grant me Thy power, boundless and free,

  Power with men and power with Thee."

Sweet Hour of Prayer

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father's throne

Make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief,

My soul has often found relief,

And oft escaped the tempter's snare

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Oh that this may be a priority in our lives. We will only come away better for the sweet fellowship that we have had with Christ.