Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

_Philippians 4:6-7 (MSG)

Effective prayer doesn’t have to be a matter of a month-long retreat or even an hour of meditation. Pray is a conversation with God. Prayer is effective anytime, anywhere. There is no time or distance in prayer.

We are IN the world. We are NOT of the world. Prayer can be a conversation with God while driving to work or waiting for an appointment.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia

 “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.”

_ Galatians 4:5-7

Don’t think for a second that your Abba Father is sitting on his throne—out there somewhere in the distance—with arms crossed glaring at you and waiting for you to get your prayer life together before he will listen. No! In fact just the opposite is true.

Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with me.” _ Revelation 3:20  Jesus waits for us to open the door and welcome him in. When we do he listens to us. He speaks to us, if we listen. This communication is prayer in its purest form. And God changes people, situations and circumstances through prayer.

Prayer is an expression of an intimate relationship with the Father, who makes his love and resources available to us.