READ: James 5:13 NLT
'Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.'
I remember as a teenager hearing a well-known preacher telling the story of a young woman who had told him that she often didn’t feel like praying. His response was that prayer was not a glandular condition! Prayer was something that we need to do whatever our feelings. That’s precisely the point that James is making here. In short, it’s always the right time to pray – whether you are going through a good or a bad time.
God doesn’t want us to be people who simply say their prayers, as if we need to find the right magic words to say and then we can forget about God until the next time have to say them. That’s not what God wants. He wants a relationship with us within which we share fully the ups and downs of life.
I love the fact that the Bible doesn’t present us with a line of holy people, who always got it right and who loved sharing their lives with God. The Bible is almost the opposite of that. It tells us the story of women and men who struggled and often failed. And amidst it all we see how those frail and failed human beings discovered that God loved them and had a purpose for their lives.
God doesn’t want us to be religious people who say beautiful prayers and then shut him out, but people who share their whole lives with him and who live what might best be described as a life of prayer. Nothing is too small or too large to take to God in prayer. He is intimately involved in every moment and eager to share them with us. Whether we are driving the car, sitting at our desk, speaking to colleagues, chatting with neighbours, watching television, answering emails or playing sport he wants to be at the centre of our lives.
QUESTION: What steps could you take to share more of your life with God in prayer?
PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you love me so much that you want to share every aspect of life with me. Teach me more of what it means to live a life of prayer. Amen.

Released on 23 Nov 2020