"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3
We like to be doing things because we can see the actions and results. There is something within us (the flesh) that resists the stillness of prayer. We can justify being busy with our jobs, cleaning the house, studying for sermons, mowing the lawn, but prayer sets all of that aside, steps aside from the temporal world, and wages the battle in the spiritual realm. It's hard to do because it's hard to see. Many times, the moment we find a quiet place for prayer, everything we have to do that day floods into our minds and distracts us from focusing on our Lord. All of our "obligations" crowd out the priority that prayer should have in our lives.
Paul said, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). The Christian life is a life of faith. When we pray, because we can't always see the results, we are walking in faith. We are being obedient to our Lord. We don't see the results many times, because they are spiritual, and the unseen-spiritual results are eternal. We are actually doing that which will have the most lasting impact!
The truth is that prayer and God's Word are the highest obligation. One's relationship with God is at the core of everything else that he does. Without a proper walk with God, all of life's activities take on an emptiness that only accentuates our problems. We constantly work at getting ahead in our work, yet we only get further behind, because life's work is never done! We were made to live our lives while walking with God.
May we make it a priority to spend time in God's Word and in prayer. Don't neglect prayer. Don't justify skipping it with the "I'm to busy" excuse. Make it a priority today!
