Making Time To Spend With god In Prayer:

 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
[1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]

I have a friend. We have been friends for more than 20 years now. we spent a lot of time together years ago, sometimes we would call each other on the phone and talk for hours. I still love talking to her but usually,unless I make the first move and call her she doesn't call me. I understand, after all I know she has a busy life, she has 2 daughters and a husband and she works a few days a week. It would be nice though if she would call me sometimes.  don't you have people like that in  your life that say they will call you or keep in touch and they don't?
I have two other friends that I share a house with. we have lived together for 16 years. They are a married couple and I have a room in their house. Even though they like to have times when they are alone, they always have time for me. If I go a day without talking to them I regret it. Sometimes we don't even talk but just sit silently together, only speaking when we have something to say.

So what does this have to do with prayer? i was thinking about this today. It seems like when bad things happen in our lives we are constantly calling out to God for help but when things are going ok we sometimes forget to pray. I have prayer times twice a day but sometimes I think "Well here i am, father, but I don't really know what to talk to you about."  sometimes I have things on my mind and it's good to talk to god about them but other times I just rest in god's presence, speaking if I have something to say and listening in case he has something to say to me.

the point is, he is always available any time we want to talk to him. More than that, he wants us to come talk to him as often as we can, even if there's nothing specific we have to say to him. he knows that we are busy with different things but he wants as much of our time as we are prepared to give him. He wants to be involved in the things we do. The bible says:
In all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make straight your paths.
[Proverbs 3:6]
 He knows we can't always drop everything and get on our knees,  sometimes all we can do is send up a prayer while we're working and he accepts that. He is glad when we spend time with him, no matter how long or short. That thought just makes me want to praise him. The God of the universe wants to have  a relationship with me and wants me to talk to him at any time!

The bible tells us to:
 Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
[1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
Does that mean we are supposed to spend all our lives on our knees praying? I think we would soon have very sore knees if we tried that. no, it means that we should learn to always be aware of our relationship with God and that we should keep those lines of communication open at all times so that we can talk to god and he can talk to us. Whether we send up what I've heard called "arrow prayers" [little prayers like "god help me"  or "I love you Lord"  or "What should i do about this lord?"] or whether we take some time out of our activities to sing and praise God or to talk to him about what is on our hearts, we need to keep open the lines of communication with our heavenly father.

The more effort we put into our relationship with God the more our love and faith in him is going to grow and the more we will know him. We can't get to know someone without talking to them and we get to know them as we spend time with them.

I hope this message has encouraged you to spend some time in prayer today. Remember that god loves you and he is waiting to hear from you.

Prayer:
Father i thank you that you love us and that because of your grace and mercy you have made us part of your family  through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. help us to make more time for you even in the midst of our busyness. Thank you that you are always there for us whenever we reach out to you. I praise you God and thank you for your love and kindness in Jesus' name Amen.