If I asked you is prayer a waste of time, what would you say?  I would imagine those reading this are believers and immediately you would say no.  Probably with emphasis.

However, what would you say if your pastor spent this Monday out of the office and prayerwalking and prayerdriving your city?  What if he went to a room and prayed by name for everyone in the congregation.  Would he have to defend that time spent in prayer to you?  Would that seem like a good use of time?

Unfortunately too many times we don’t spend focused time in prayer – even as ministers.  Many pastors spend little time in prayer.  It just seems like we too busy.  We fall into serving the tyranny of the urgent instead of getting a word from God.  We can download messages instead of getting alone with the Lord.  We can just do last year’s calendar all over again instead of spending time asking God for vision.

How do we spend more time in prayer?

If prayer isn’t at the top of our priority list, it isn’t on the list.  It’s just too easy to go through the day without praying.

Set aside scheduled time each day to pray.

Set aside a block of time to prayer each week at a more in depth level.  Give the Lord time to speak in your life.  Maybe go out for a walk in your neighborhood and pray for your neighbors.  Go to the school campus and pray around the local school.

Prayer changes things.  Prayer changes our hearts and turns them toward the Lord.  Let’s spend more time in prayer for our neighbors, nations, and next generation.