as if january never existed.

i'm perpetually running out of minutes in a day and days in a week. looking at my blog it's as if january never existed -- in eleven months of blogging only january is without a single post.

as scarce as my blog in the month of january was my dialogue with God. it's almost as if with the new year came a distance between myself and my Father, and my prayer life suffered drastically. as with any relationship, if there is no communication there is essentially no relationship, and though i knew this to be true, i refused to make time for prayer.

understand that when i say prayer i mean a real dialogue with my Creator -- a back and forth, give and take kind of communication. january wasn't without the habitual prayers before meals or the routine prayer after my head hits my pillow.

the kind of prayer i was missing out on is the kind that requires listening, something i'm not sure i was willing to do. the beauty of it all is that when we pray with a right heart, God listens to us... and even more beautiful, He responds [psalm 5:1-3].

last night i listened to a message on prayer at lifechurch.tv and noted five things to consider when attempting to rekindle your prayer life:

1. when praying, your relationships matter. mark 11:24-25 warns that we must forgive others before coming to God in prayer so that He too will forgive us. 1 peter 3:7 teaches husbands to be considerate to their wives so that "nothing will hinder your prayers." both verses imply that our relationships have an impact on our prayer lives and the effectiveness of our prayers.

2. when praying, your motives matter [james 4:3].

3. when praying, remember that the way you live matters to God. james 5:16 states that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. and proverbs 15:29 reiterates this idea: "the Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the righteous."

4. when praying, your faith matters [james 1:6-7].

5. and finally, God's Will matters. 1 john 5:14-15 promises that He hears us if we ask according to His Will.

i'm comforted by these guidelines for prayer, knowing that God promises to hear us when we pray, and my goal is to be more intentional about preparing my heart for prayer and then really setting aside time to communicate with Him. as for blogging more frequently, we'll see... i can only do so much, you know.