_{I’ve been listening to a book on prayer, written by Tim Keller. What are your thoughts about prayer? Is it difficult to pray? Do you find your mind racing here and there, as you struggle to stay focused? Do you feel inadequate when you pray? I remember years ago, attending a church board meeting, and for some reason, they asked me to open the meeting in prayer.  I was so intimidated! Sitting around the table with the church deacons, I felt as though I was praying in front of the apostles. Looking back, I see the humor and ridiculousness of that moment—and I am sure my friends would agree. As Tim Keller so eloquently put it, “A triune God would call us to converse with him…because he wants to share the joy he has. Prayer is a conversation” and who else in the universe would you rather converse with? “Prayer is our way of entering into the happiness of God himself.” (Timothy Keller Prayer page 68)}

_{When you pray, do you simply scroll through a list of wants, like you are Aladdin, and God is the genie in the lamp? Or do you repeat the same words, like a chant, over and over again, without feeling or understanding? Do you imagine yourself bowing low before a great throne, and making your requests in fear, with little hope or confidence that you will be heard? I think we can all relate to these types of prayer, in some way or another. As I have listened and learned from this book, having a conversation with God, is what I keep coming back to. In order to have a true conversation, we must know who we are speaking with. And in order to know who God is, we must spend time with Him in His word. I doubt that any of us have ever heard God speak to us in an audible voice, but we can hear Him, by opening His word, the Bible, and then opening our heart, that His Spirit, might speak to us.}

_{Tim Keller calls prayerlessness the worst sin. Imagine yourself with your spouse or children, and you never speak to them. How strained, how hostile, would your daily life be? How much joy would you be missing? The union between a husband and wife, the bond between a mother and child, without that daily communication, would be so empty, so painful. A few months after I met my husband, my dad was transferred from Honolulu back to California. I spent my entire senior year of high school away from my true love. I lived for the letters that came in the mail! I still have all of his letters, in a special wooden box, in chronological order. Every once in a while, I will get them out and read them. They still make my heart smile and flutter, just as they did almost 40 years ago. We should have the same feeling when we read God’s letters and especially when we pour out our hearts to Him in prayer. “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” (Martin Luther)}

_{I know what you are thinking, you are so busy. You just don’t have time to pray. Take a step back and ask yourself, how long can you hold your breath? 30 seconds? 60 seconds? How long do you think you can thrive in this dark world, without the sustaining presence of our God and King? He is more than the breath you breathe. When I find myself overwhelmed by all the tasks that I have to complete at work, I will write a list and prioritize the most important. We should be doing the same with our relationship with God. It’s more than taking 3 minutes to read a quick devotional. It’s about taking the time to settle our hearts and minds, step into His presence, soak up His word. We cannot pour His love into the world around us if we are not first filled by Him. And we won’t get filled up, just by attending a Sunday service once a week. We need to prioritize Him, just as we prioritize our morning coffee. “Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves. Prayer is how God gives us so many of the unimaginable things he has for us. Indeed, prayer makes it safe for God to give us many of the things we most desire. It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.” (Tim Keller, Prayer)}