The Habit of Prayer~

Romans 12:12 “Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come endure them patiently, steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer.”

When the kids were in elementary school they had a bunch of different teachers who had various approaches to the students’ behaviors.  One in particular had a big, colorful dog house on the bulletin board with all the kids’ names written on individual construction-paper bones.  If you misbehaved your bone was placed in the dog house.

It seems like every single day there were more bones in the dog house than not.  I know because I made it a habit to check for my own children’s names. And every kind of bad habit could get you sent to the dog house.

“Don’t bite your nails!”

“Don’t pick your nose!”

“Don’t pick at that scab!”

Then came Rayray’s second grade teacher, the lovely Mrs. Albury.  She had a completely different approach.  Rather than point out all the stuff the kids were always doing wrong, she made it a point to catch them doing something good and then announcing it to the world by putting a little bee in the beehive on her bulletin board.  If your bee made it to the hive, then everyone knew you were up to something good.

Trust me when I tell you that all those second graders worked hard to make it to the beehive.  Mrs. Albury’s personal philosophy was that little children could unlearn bad habits and relearn good ones with some gentle encouragement.  She was right.

Mrs. Albury noticed that practicing good behavior led to more good behavior.  It became almost automatic for doors to be held open and for children to share happily with each other.  

Likewise, in the verse above, God encourages us to make prayer a habit because it will become the go-to response when things get rough.  Rather than freaking out and losing control, someone who is in the habit of prayer will first go to God rather than go crazy. 

Notice how the right way – the only way, really – to go through a trial is to pray your way through it.   Each of us, regardless, is going to have to endure some stuff.  How we endure is key.  Living in fear is an unbearable way to live.  Complaining won’t change a thing.  But maintaining the habit of prayer will.  Even if everything all around you is out of control, staying on a steady course of prayer will work wonders.  It will invite joy, peace, hope, and the promise of better days ahead into your situation.  I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, which is great news for all of us.  We have all been praying longer than that!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Prayer is one habit we want to keep.  Help us, strengthen us, and bless us as we pray.  We welcome You into our lives and thank You that You cover us with Your love.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~