How many times have you been in a conversation about a need and heard or said these words, “Well, we will just have to pray about it.” I am amazed at how long we will struggle in a situation before we talk to God and listen to what He has to say to us. Often we complain about our problems, explain our situation with others, grumble about how long we have been in this situation, talk to friends for advice, and even say we wish God would do something about where we are and what we are facing. Stop! Listen to yourself! You need to PRAY FIRST. David tells us that it is the first action we should take. (Psalm 63:1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is not water.) We struggle with situations in our minds and seek answers for ourselves while we fail to take advantage of the simplest solution available to us: PRAYER! We treat prayer like it is a last ditch effort. Well, nothing else has worked for me so I guess we should pray about this. We are saying in these few words that we do not fully believe in the power of prayer, or we think it only works when initiated by others. David prayed first. He was in a dry and thirsty place and the first thing he did was call on God. He was tired and thirsty, but the first thought each day was to talk to God. Prayer works. We carry burdens we do no have to bear and we make life much more difficult than it should be by not realizing and implementing the power of prayer into our daily life. Praying and listening to God needs to be our first response and not a last resort. Prayer still works!! Pastor Don [image: image.png]