Amen.

Jesus, bless.
Heck yes.
Thank You for this grubby mess.
Amen.

A frequent prayer of mine lately.  Whenever I'm in a hurry and want to eat quickly, I pray this prayer.  Whenever I'm lazy and don't want to put a lot of effort in, I pray this prayer.  Whenever I don't take the time to think, I pray this prayer.  Not a very substantial prayer if I do say so myself.

I believe prayer is one of the most powerful and undervalued tools that the Lord gives us. But I know personally that I fail to have consistent and meaningful prayer.  My prayers are often short and silly like the one at the beginning. When they are more than four sentences long they are full of prayers of me, for me, by me: selfish.  While praying for my own spiritual growth and well-being is fine and necessary, I should also pray for more than just me.  Most of my prayers are written down in my journal (which is a great way to document my prayers so I can reflect later on down the road) but I rarely get down on my knees in reverence.  My God, recently, has been one where I send my complaints and requests...and that's it.

Jesus prayed constantly.
Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (NIV)
Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (NIV)
Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. (NIV)

He daily sought His Father; He had relationship with God!  Now Jesus' prayers were not wish-washy.  He did not merely just ask for God to "bless, heck yes", His prayers were full of passion and purpose.  In fact Jesus commands us to pray with purpose.

Matthew 6:5-8 ⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (NIV emphasis added)

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. (NIV)

There are many more scriptures involving prayer, how we should and should not pray, what to pray for, etc. (Romans 8:26, Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18...) and I could go on for quite a while.  But I'd rather you dive into God's Word yourself.  
The point is, prayer is very relevant and necessary step in our walk with Christ...and yet we so readily dismiss it as something insignificant.  Prayer moves mountains and parts seas.  It pushes us to pursue God, just as He pursues us.  It lets us see that God does answer our prayers and that He does hear us.  Prayer is powerful.

I have to push myself to pray more than just at meal times and my short SOAP journal entries.  I hope that my prayers will become more meaningful and passionate; that I do not just ask for little things, but plead and cry out to God for my dreams, family, friends, walk, anything I care about.  Prayer is more than a little two minute poem.  Prayer rocks foundations and draws me closer to God.  God has been challenging me to pray for an hour a week.  Not necessarily all at once, but spend an hour in prayer outside of my devos.  I'm excited to see what God's going to do and how He's going to use my prayer time.  And I'm excited for the ways He's going to change my heart as I draw closer to His. And with that, all that is left to say...Amen.



Hebrews 5:7 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. (NLT)