Matthew 7:7-8  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Your heavenly Father wants you to know Him!  He wants you to knock so that He can come into your heart and life and give you the desires of your heart according to His will.  When was the last time you talked to God?  Do you talk to Him at least once a day?  He is waiting.

One of my daughters had her father and I pray about a job change that would mean much more income at a more reputable firm, but a very long way from her present location.  She even had the incentive that her sister and her family would be moving within the year to the same location.  They would be reunited!  Sounded great.  Her father and I agonized over her prayer requests asking God to be in our daughter’s decision and what would be best for her family.  Our daughter prayed as well.  She made the decision to stay at her present job and not relocate.  It wasn’t long before she called us and declared that we would not believe what had happened?  She revealed that the team leader and most of his team had been dissolved at the company she was considering making the move so far away.  She would have entered that company only to find her team dissolved!  Had she not prayed and had her parents pray, she may have made one of the worst mistakes in her career!  Her husband would have had to give up his good paying job to move.  As it happened, God allowed her husband to receive a higher paying job where they lived just days after she turned down the company where she would have had to move.  God worked out the situation through many prayers and asking what was God’s will.  She again is praying for another position, but this time in her place where her husband and family reside.  We know if it is God’s will, it will happen!  But, what happens to those of you who never pray?

Forsaking prayer is costly to a person’s well-being.  They are bombarded with weariness, discouragement, and doubt.  I am reminded of a teacher years ago who took a job at my local middle school and let it be known that they had it all under control.  Two months into the year, it was obvious that she did not have her students under control and was screaming and hollering at them daily.  Several of us tried to tell her she needed to seek help for discipline on-line, through books, and also through prayer.  As far as I know, she did none of these and by October, had walked out of the classroom, never to return!  She left her students, faculty members, and Principal without a goodbye.  She suffered the price of prayerlessness.  I often wondered what happened to her as we never found out where she went.  She definitely was not teaching anywhere.  People pay the price every day for leaving God out of their lives.  They may think things are going their way and are just too busy creating a life to realize they have a void that can only be filled with Jesus.

We can daily give our burdens to the Lord through prayer.  In Psalms 68:19, David cries out, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,”  When we give our burdens to the Lord, there is no need for us to pick them back up!  Prayer should be a priority in our daily lives.  If the Son of God needed prayer time, how much more we need it!  We can live a joy-filled life when we “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)  May seem hard to do, but it isn’t.  Jesus should be your best friend.  You Facebook your best friends daily and usually several times a day.  Jesus is only a prayer away!  Talk to Him, tell Him your joys and your failures.  Ask Him for help with the little tasks and it makes it easier to accomplish the bigger tasks when you lift up your needs.  That is how to prevent the damage that comes from a prayerless life.  Confess your prayerlessness to the heavenly Father and then make a time to pray to Him daily in quiet time.  But don’t forget, He loves to hear from you anytime!  You can walk around talking to Him and praising Him for a beautiful sunset, or the beauty of the red bud and dogwood trees, or a grandchild who just told you they love you.  Remember, ask, seek, and knock so that your joy may be full and complete and you can truly live 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.  Jesus will make your burdens light, offer encouragement, and fill your heart with confidence.  May you have a blessed day!