Pray about everything

I’ve been teaching out of 1st Timothy on Sunday morning and last Sunday we bumped into the Apostle Paul’s words concerning prayer to this youngish pastor named Timothy who was stuck in Ephesus. Listen to what the Apostle said in chapter 2 verse 1, “First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people,” That’s a fancy way to say, “Timothy, prayer must be a priority. Before you do anything you must pray first.” The same is true for each of us and yet recent data shows only 55 percent of Christians say they rely on prayer and only 2 percent of Christians say they are very satisfied with their prayer lives. I would say this - if you want an effective prayer life you simply need to have a life of prayer. How’s that for a pro tip?

Let me share more on prayer from another passage. Philippians 4 starting at verse 5 says, “The Lord is at h and; do not b e a nxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. A nd the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Some would say anxiety is the red flag that is pointing us to pray.

How often should you pray? Let me ask you this: How often do you worry? How often does fear creep into your heart and your mind? How often does Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy the peace and the confidence you have in Christ? How often do you need help doing whatever it is you are doing? How often is your faith challenged and how often does trouble come to the front door of your life?

For me the answer to these questions is all the time. Trouble, trials and temptations are consistent and constant therefore prayer must be consistent and constant. We need to be praying all the time as 1st Thessalonians 5:17 instructs. Philippians 4 says, “pray about everything.” S o w e a re p raying all the time about everything. I take “everything” literally and I pray about everything. I want to include God in everything, every study session, every run, every text message, email and conversation.

I find if I do this my faith is stronger because I am connected to an omnipotent God. I am more confident, hopeful, joyful, less fearful and less anxious. We don’t wait for something bad to happen and then check in with God. When you have a flat tire on your car, that is not the time to check and see if you have a spare.

Maybe if we prayed about everything we would experience less trouble or the trouble we experience would be less troubling because our faith and our trust in the Lord is strong - does that make sense? Kind of like a phone that is always plugged in, it never needs recharging because it is always charged up prayer keeps us charged up.

Dial up the Lord and then keep the line open. One of the blessings of prayer is found in 1st Timothy 2:3. Paul tells us that when we pray as we are told to pray that it is “good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,” Do you wonder what pleases God and makes Him happy? It’s when His kids speak to Him. We complicate it and call it prayer but prayer at the end of the day is two things: A relationship and a conversation.

He told me to tell you that.