Being Thankful in 2014 - Prayer

"Being Thankful in 2014"
Today's topic, we will go with Prayer!

For a long time, prayer for me was like a shooting a shotgun. I take a quick shot and randomly spray prayer requests to God and then move on through my day. Maybe some of you can relate with this.

Over this past year, I became convicted when I read a statement saying that the average pastor prays on average 2 minutes a day! Subtract prayer for meals, and how many seconds are left? I was above average at least. I mean, I prayed over my meals and then all throughout the day I was shooting up prayers to God. Nope, it wasn't good enough. I started working to build by prayer life and spending a fixed time with God. I started with trying to shoot for fifteen minutes in the morning; it seemed long at first! Now it depends on the day; some days, I have spent an hour pouring over prayer request in my prayer journal and other days it shorter. Do I miss days where I don't have a specific time? Yes, for a variety of reasons! Love for sleep...sin...business of the day...distractions...easier for me to just say selfish reasons; I am the one that chooses not to take that time.

By no means have I scratched the surface of a great prayer life! Though, I have gone deeper into my relationship with Jesus! I've have been able to pray over students throughout the week; with only able to spending an hour or two with them personally. God has brought to mind people or needs and I start praying for them.

My prayer list has names, needs, ministries, church plants, family, friends, Obama (yes, sir! we need to pray for "all" of our leaders in the country), and recently Ferguson, Missouri! (This one should have been on my list back on August 9th when it took place, Amber and I were leaving St. Louis on that day to return to Wisconsin...) The people need us interceding in prayer to bring back hope, forgiveness, love for others, and unity in the city! This is why I chose my topic today to be on prayer, because I am thankful that God has given us the availability to come to Him through prayer and we need to!