"Sweet Hour Of Prayer"

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7

I am pulled between two words to give you this morning so I believe I am to give you both. They are both on the subject of prayer. Yesterday we talked about how life will knock us to our knees sometimes and when it does we are in a perfect position to pray. So why don't we pray, even when we are "knocked down"? Prayer is not always an easy thing. I remember my mother in law years ago making the comment about the song "Sweet Hour of Prayer". She commented that the time spent with Jesus is sweet, there is nothing like being in His presence, but it's not always a "sweet hour" sometimes it's work, sometimes it's difficult.

We often have struggles praying because it is "work". It's work in the sense of disciplining your flesh and bringing it under subjection to pray- it does not like to pray. It's work because it sometimes involves "travail". When the needs are great, the prayers become more effectual and more intense and we have to "push" a little harder to make our request known. When I think of prayer being hard work, I am reminded of Jesus in the garden. His prayers were so agonizing that He sweat drops of blood. It's work to stay in prayer until the answer comes, we tend to try to hurry it up. Prayer takes perseverance. The woman with the issue of blood had a prayer- to touch His hem- the pressing through the crowd was literally her prayer. She did not stop pressing and received the answer.

The second thing I want to say is, prayer puts us in a 'low" place- on our knees or on our face before the Lord. When we are low, there is only one direction to look-- up-- up to God. The good news is that when we look up, we don't have to look very far because God will come down low to meet us where we are. He may sit high, but He looks low. He will draw near to us when we draw near to Him. He isn't a God that is afar off. He is a very present help in time of trouble. He is right there with us. He will come to where you are.

Don't put off prayer. Don't let the "work" that it is sometimes cause you to hold back and neglect it. It may be work, it may be travail, it may involve knocking, persistence and perseverance, but it is worth it. God will come to you in prayer, where you are, even in a low place.

Have a great day. Prayer is work, but the rewards are sweet- it brings God close and He answers.