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I am writing this particular article to stir us up (me included) in remembrance of all that prayer does. I have noticed (to my own hurt I might add) the amount of prayer time that has DECREASED in my life over the past year or so. I found myself looking back and reflecting on how I used to pray and how I pray now. It was scary when I realized how UN-sensitive I had become to the Holy Spirit's leading in my prayer life and how that it has affected the rest of my life. It has affected others in my life, relationships, work, I could go on and on.

#1If someone does not pray, God cannot answer. God is the one that set up the prayer system and we are required to follow it 'if' we want accurate results. I do know that God cannot change a person's will, but through prayer He can do a lot of things to bring about changes in us. Without prayer, He does not have an opportunity to change anything.

#2Prayer is my life-line to God. It is my mode of communication. It is my telephone line to God. If I am not communicating with the Lord on a daily basis, even an hourly basis then I am becoming de-sensitized to His presence. His presence is IN ME, but I have to "hook-up" to that presence to be able to communicate. If my life style is so busy that I don't take the time to pray then I am gradually turning back to the world's way of thinking and acting. I wil1be running my life according to how I think. If I am not in communication with the Lord, I am not hooked up to HIS thought system and I will not think or act accurately or clearly. My heart will get dull of hearing, even though He is speaking constantly to my conscience. He is telling me what to say and not to say, how to act and not to act and even the timing of things in my life. If I cannot hear clearly then I am not listening right. God cannot lead someone who is too stubborn or busy to sit down, shut-up and get quiet before Him on a regular basis. You will end up hearing more of your own thoughts or the worlds thoughts and you will think it is God speaking to you when it's not. The Word says those who hear the Word (and the Word says to pray continually) and doesn't do the Word deceive their own selves. What happens when we are deceived? We believe a lie! We get comfortable with thoughts and actions that we would not normally have and we start excusing our own behavior with half truths and lies. NEVER FORGET- God is love but He is also a Holy God and does not condone sin in any form, even the sin of omission. Do not talk yourself into explaining away your own behavior or others behavior and hiding it with God's love. Yes, God is love and He does forgive, BUT He also sees the hidden motives and intents of our hearts, whether anyone else does or not.

#3We need to be in continual prayer for ourselves and others, keeping the line of communication open and clear with our Heavenly Father. If we don't we will not have the strength, peace, joy, discernment, ability and all the other things He gives us so freely. We have these things IN US; we won't be tapping into them, even though they are readily available at any time. The more you pray, speaking the Word, praying in the Holy Spirit, praising and worshipping [yes this is a form of prayer], the more alert and sensitive you are to His every move and His voice. For instance, have you ever been in a church service and you had been spending a lot of time with the Lord in fellowship, study and prayer, and the Holy Spirit comes in and you can just "sense" the direction the service is going to move? You knew that the Holy Spirit was getting ready to move in an awesome way? On the other hand, have you been in a service where you were rushing all week, not taking time for yourself and God and the same kind of service happened and you were so desensitized that you really didn't sense God's presence or the moving of the Holy Spirit?

We miss a lot of important moments and ministering opportunities by being so "self-centered" and busy that we don't make time for our precious relationship with our Daddy. We miss wonderful, intimate times with the Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus Christ.

#4 I like the statement I read one time in Mark Brazee's book, "Processing the plan of God through Prayer". He stated that "my walk with God will never go further than my prayer life and my prayer life will never go further than my word level." Why is that? My prayer life is my relationship with God. My relationship with God is based on the Word. That is how I met Him and that is how I get to know who He is. His Word tells all about Him!

Mark Brazee also stated this, " I want to get to the place where I have so much prayer out ahead of me, I am walkingthings out instead of working them out! The best way to walk things out is to get the way plowed and paved before you get there!" Prayer and the Word do this.

Please, Please, Please, re-evaluate your prayer and Word lifestyle. Could it use an over-haul? Believe me when I say, I am preaching to Lisa more than any one else! Be Blessed Lisa

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

Yahweh Shammah,