Some thoughts on prayer

Do you ever feel like you're just praying to your ceiling? Like your prayers aren't going anywhere? I've felt that way at times. I think a lot of us have.

And I wonder why - why is it that we think God isn't there? We know that He is. He's promised us that. I know that He hears my prayers, so why do I sometimes feel like I'm just talking to thin air?

I think it's because we don't expect God to show up anymore. We get so caught up in the ritual of prayer that we forget Who we're praying to. Our prayer life should never become a ritual. It should never be habit.

I think another reason we don't feel like God is there is because we don't invite Him to come to us. We say our prayers, but they're just empty words - just comfortable, normal bedtime rituals. We talk at God instead of talking to Him. And we don't listen for His reply.

God wants a relationship with us and relationships require communication. We can't know God if we don't talk to Him, and we can't learn from Him if we don't listen to Him.

So the next time you feel like you're just praying to your ceiling, pray harder. Say what you mean and mean what you say. God just might show up and blow your socks off.

Prayer Request Update

Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for praying for Mrs. Geraldine. She came through her surgery well and is at home. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she heals from this surgery and considers treatment options. Your prayers matter so much! Thank you! :)

Prayer Request

Please be in prayer for Mrs. Geraldine Strickland today. She will be having surgery in Birmingham today to treat her cancer. Please pray for her and her family, as well as the doctors and nurses that will be working with her today.

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

National Day of Prayer

The theme for this year's National Day of Prayer is HOPE.

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance."

Psalm 42:5

"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord."

Psalm 31:24

"But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more."

Psalm 71:14

"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

Lamentations 3:26

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the tevelation of Jesus Christ."

1 Peter 1:13

We must have hope for a great revival in our nation.

Please join in prayer for our country, our national, state and local leaders and our troops during this National Day of Prayer.

Prayer Request

Please be in prayer for Mrs. Geraldine Strickland and her family.

"These things I have spoken unto you, that ye might have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." John 16:33

"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:15-16