First Things First

“rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer”

Romans 12:12



It was Charles Spurgeon who once said, “Ten minutes praying’ is better than a year’s murmuring.” Today, God is inviting us to pray, to spend however long or little we enjoy praying interceding for a variety of things that when you add them all up Jesus has given way more than an 10 minutes worth of topics we can prayerfully address. Don’t worry about how long you pray, just make sure that you do pray. It was S.D. Gordon who once said, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

The apostle Paul instructing his young protege Timothy about what to pray for wrote in 1 Timothy 2:1-4, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Though this list was far from exhaustive, Paul went on to discuss the location of prayer in verse 8, “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” In Ephesians 6:18 the apostle Paul deals with the frequency of prayer when he penned these words, “ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” and in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 he writes, “pray without ceasing.”

There is a lot more we can do today after we pray but there is nothing more important any of us can do than pray! Remember, prayer changes everything!


“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”


Hebrews 4:16


I LOVE YOU!