“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18 The Habit of Prayer Habits: Good ones are hard to form and easy to break. Bad ones are easy to form and hard to break. It takes months to get into the habit of regular exercise and only a couple weeks of vacation or a holiday to throw it all away and have to start all over. Prayer is a similar situation. Prayer does not come naturally to us human beings. Incorporating God into your day-to-day life and decisions requires discipline but once you achieve habitual prayer, you will find that there is far less stress in life. Too often we think of prayer like one might think of calling his parents. He knows that he ought to call them, and he will, just as soon as he has a break. The dog gets out of the yard, there’s no milk for his cereal, he gets caught by a train on the way to work, a meeting goes long, dinner is woofed down before a meeting at church and suddenly another day has gone by without having called his parents. Oh well, he’ll try to call tomorrow. Speaking to God is not an obligation that you must fulfill to be a good Christian. Speaking to God is a gift from God. Calling you parents is an obligation. Whether you get anything out of it or not, it is your duty under the 4th Commandment to honor your parents and that includes talking to them on a regular basis, helping them with anything you are able, remembering that as you needed them once, so now they need you. Speaking with God is not an obligation but a privilege. The King of the Universe has invited you to speak to Him about whatever you wish. Not only that, but He will respond to you if you listen! So, prayer should include both speaking and listening. First, we are invited to address God for whatever we perceive that we need from Him. Then we open His Word, which contains everything we really need to know and He will speak to us through that word. If you doubt that, and I’m sure there are some who do, try it. Get into the habit of speaking to God every day and then reading the Bible for His answer. If you do this every day for a month and see no appreciable difference in your life, come and tell me. But I don’t think anyone who tries it will ever go back to their former way. It is miraculous how God speaks through His word the very answers to all your troubles. As you learn this and come to rely upon it, greater peace will settle over your life. You will become convinced that God really is in control and you don’t have to steer the world. He is doing it Himself and He is doing it quite well regardless of what anyone might think. Habitual prayer is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. We are welcomed to dialogue with Him every day – dialogue - you speak and He listens and then you read and He speaks. It takes some discipline but I promise that it will pay dividends beyond your expectations. | 
