Prayer can be challenging at times. Sometimes we don’t know what to say, what we should say, what we should not say…

Sometimes when we pray, we might even just feel like we are talking to ourselves and wonder if God even hears us! Maybe He seems like He is a thousand miles away and doesn’t even care about us.

First off, it’s my prayer if you are reading this today, that you know that God is so close to you right now even if you can’t see it or feel it… And He cares about you and wherever you find yourself facing today.

But what would you say if I told you that there were certain things to help you experience God’s presence in your life and to help you pray? It might not necessarily be a certain strategy of prayer or anything like that, but maybe an approach to life.

I remember there was this one time that I was completely exhausted, worn out and I didn’t “feel” that close to God. I couldn’t even hardly pray…

I knew I needed to do something, so I went and saw a Spiritual Director (more on what a Spiritual Director is in another post). I sat down in front of the Spiritual Director and I explained to him where I was at and the next thing he told me completely blew my mind… 

I thought He would teach me how to pray better. I thought he would give me a lesson on a specific prayer technique… But he didn’t.

He said, “You need to rest well and you need to eat well and then you will pray well.” He continued to say, “When you rest well and eat well, then you will be able to pray well.”

Culture and the society that we live in, teaches us that we must live at a break-neck speed for our lives to count, for our lives to matter. We must be productive and get the 500 things on our to-do list done in the next 2 hours. But there could be nothing farther from the truth.

Your life matters to God because He created you and loves you more than you can imagine and you cannot do anything to make your life worth more than it already is worth!

Please understand that I am not giving permission to be lazy and to not do anything… You were created to be used by God in a special way, not to just sit on the couch and do nothing your entire life…

But give yourself a break. Take time to take a nap. Yes, nap if that is what you need! Take a moment to rest. Go to bed at a decent time. No, you do not have to watch the evening news every night... Especially if it compromises your ability to pray. The world will go on and your life will be just fine. Take a Sabbath (more on that in another post).

Also, eat healthy. Eat what is good for you. If you enjoy the sugar a little too much, begin to give it a rest. Begin small and make one decision that will help you begin to eat healthier. Put down and step away from the Mountain Dew, dude! That one decision can lead to a lifetime of change for the better.

Throw a 30 minute walk into the mix or a little bit of exercise and I think you will begin to see changes.

Once you begin to rest well, eat well, and throw a walk into the mix, then I think you can see a difference in your prayer life. You could experience God’s presence in prayer. You could feel more productive in prayer and you could feel so much more satisfied in your prayer life and grow in your relationship with God more and more!

But it begins with resting well and eating well…

I hope this is helpful.

Pastor Thayne

May this be a blessing for you this week. If it has, make sure to share it with someone you think this could really bless. 

And if you would like to receive more things like this, just sign up below! I just want to try to provide help content to help you experience God and grow in your faith. As always, don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions. I would love to talk. 

There are a few passages of Scripture that you could read with this today. If you would like, take a moment to read them and think about them. 

They are:

Genesis 1:27 :: 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Psalm 139:14 :: 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.