If prayer is a way to communicate with God, then I should do it as I do my tasks each day, as often as every minute... "Whether our earthly life is beset by trouble or abundant with joy, we must express our thoughts and emotions to God. Our lives become a communion, each moment communicated to our Savior."
The challenge is not so much the what/how/when but the why - why pray? Why must I communicate with the ALMIGHTY who already knows my thoughts and emotions? Isn't it unnecessary?
After reading James 5:13-30, it becomes obvious that prayer serves many purposes, If done by a righteous person, it is effective and powerful in giving praise to God, in healing the sick, in forgiving confessed sins, in making the impossible possible if we call out to the CREATOR of all things, HE who can move mountains and make the blind see/the lame walk/the mute speak. I love this story about Elijah - 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.
Isn't that amazing?
The next challenge is how do I become a righteous person so that my prayer can be effective and powerful? I suppose my prayer should be to ask God to help me become a person of prayer, to help me focus my heart and mind on things above and to radically change my life and take it captive FOR HIS GREATER GLORY.
