What I Read Wednesday

"¹⁹And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king." ²⁰And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. ²¹And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. ²² For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. ²³Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. ²⁴ Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. ²⁵But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king." 1 Samuel 12:19-25

Verse 23 caught my eye. It was convicting to me because I'm always saying, "I'll pray for you..." "I'm praying for you..." and so on and so on. Prayer is something I want to be more deliberate with, but it's so hard to schedule it into my day. It sounds so weird to say that I should schedule prayer into my day, but I was thinking how Jesus took time in the morning, or whenever, just to go by Himself to pray. I'll have more to say on this in another blog, but right now I really want to follow through when I say "I will pray for you." I even made a notebook and everything. I've gotten into the habit of waking up early in the morning so I can read the Bible and study. And I do a quick prayer for my kids each morning, but there is so much to pray about, and I want to just sit down for a little while and just pray. Too many distractions...and that's the first thing I need to do. Cut down my computer and TV time.

So, how does prayer fit in your busy day?