Creative Spiritz

Prayer is a constant (not ceasing) communication with God. This communication is not a one-sided communication. Our prayer time is a time to hear what instruction God is giving us through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is not a time of repititious "religious" prayers, or a time for us to get "puffed up" before God, thinking that we are doing Him a favor by talking to Him. Nor is it a time for us to ask for "favors" by promising to "be good" or "do right" before God. Prayer is simply talking to God and hearing what He has to say to us.

We pray to keep a constant, consistent communication with God. We pray to hear what God's will is for us in a particular season in our lives. We pray to express to God our adoration for Him ... to tell Him how much He is loved and appreciated by us. We pray to confess our daily sins (our hourly sins for some of us) and to ask for His forgiveness, for He is faithful and just to forgive us. We pray to thank God for the many blessings that He has bestowed upon us and upon our friends and family. And last but certainly not least, we pray to ask God to continue to bless us and to bring any special needs of others to Him.

We should always do this before we ask for any of our own needs. This gets us into the habit of not petitioning God for any selfish desires. After all, if we delight ourselves in the Lord in this manner, He will give us the desires of our hearts anyway. So, isn't it better to humble ourselves before the Lord and submit to His will and not our own?