Your Life is a Prayer

I spent last evening recording a new teaching broadcast for Israel Radio. I titled it "All Manner of Prayer." When you start studying the scriptures about prayer, there seem to be many different manner of prayers: thanksgivings, petitions, intercessions, praying in tongues, warfare prayer, and praise! Yet, as I was recording the teaching, I kept hearing the Lord say, "Conversation. It is simply conversation; and conversation takes two - one to speak and one to listen." As I pondered that further, I realized the Lord and I converse all day. I speak out loud to Him as I would to a spouse or friend; and then I have to be quiet and listen so that He can have His turn to speak too! (Don't we often forget that last part, and think we get to do all the talking?!)

I believe most of us underestimate the time we spend in prayer. If you truly have learned to converse with God throughout your day, you don't even realize how often you have prayed, and how much you have included Him in your daily thoughts, decisions and activities.

Thumbing through one of my old journals tonight I read a paragraph from November 2002 when I was with my daughter and her high school choir in New York City. They were there to sing a concert in Carnegie Hall - a big highlight of her life and mine - and I was one of the chaperones. As you can imagine, it was a flurry of activity, hustling and bustling around the city doing all the tourist sight-seeing, as well as rehearsing and preparing for the concert. When I had time later to reflect on that hectic, busy trip I wrote an apology to the Lord in my journal. I felt I had neglected to pray. But this was His response, which I also wrote down:

"I have tried to teach you that your LIFE is a prayer - and in this time in New York City you fulfilled that word. You stopped and prayed to Me over a homeless man in the street; you witnessed to those teenagers about Me, remember? I saw you raise your hands in Central Park, praising Me for the glory of My creation and praying for the peace of your nation. I heard you cover the subways and busses with my warring angels of protection, and then you stopped to pray against Satan's witchcraft at the home of the fortune teller. You DID spend time in prayer, daughter! Your heart now moves in the rhythm of prayer - for prayer is nothing but the communication of your heart to Mine - moment by moment, day by day."

I share this to encourage you - because I bet you don't realize how much your life is a prayer too!