It's often been said that by looking at a person's checkbook, you can tell what kind of things that person values and holds out as important. I think the same could be said about how we spend our time.
In doing some strategic reading for a series on prayer that I'd like to do at some point in the late spring or early summer, I was reminded how easy it is to forget about the importance of prayer in one's life. Jim Cymbala, in his book Breakthrough Prayer says that one of the major ways that Satan has his way with us is by keeping us out of God's Word on a regular basis and keeping our prayer life mostly non-existent. It's Satan that makes us feel busier than we really are and it's Satan that creates as many barriers throughout our day in order to keep us from spending time with God. However, if we truly valued prayer and it's significance for our lives, we wouldn't let Satan have his way with us.
Prayer is so powerful and reading God's Word is so beneficial to our spiritual well-being that we shouldn't take it lightly. I, like most of you, know how hard it is to get into God's Word on a regular basis. I am challenged by time constraints and a busy life. However, if we knew how powerful prayer could be in our lives, would we be so complacent? And this complacency can be directly attributed to Satan. He knows that prayer works, that it makes a difference. He knows that prayer can move mountains. This is why he makes it so difficult for us to spend quality time with him. In light of this, please take five minutes right now and pray. Pray for a desire to know God more intimately. Pray that God would remove those barriers that keep you from coming to him on a consistent basis. If an apple a day can keep the doctor away, perhaps our daily prayer walk with God can keep Satan away as well.
