But in terms of consistent prayer, daily prayer and building that habit, it feels very much like a work or a discipline.

There's a sense in which I think that's okay. Some people feel

real guilty or ashamed that like I just don't feel like praying and that really

bothers me and to be able to embrace that and say hey it, it's okay that you don't always feel like this.

That doesn't mean that you can't pray

or that your prayers are not honoring to the Lord

or we can still come before him

and take advantage of that gift of prayer that the Lord has given to us.

Part of the challenge is, you know, what is it that's fueling my prayers?

For many people, that you know their circumstances or their

feelings. Yeah. When I'm feeling it then I'm motivated to pray. If I'm not then

there's just nothing there and it feels like work or a chore.

But one of the things that I think is important for cultivating a healthy habit of prayer is drawing not so much on our feelings but on the truths of God's

word on the promises of the gospel which are steady, which are sure. Those mercies are new every single morning.

The Lord Jesus gives us a wonderful promise,

asking it will be given to you,

seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.

And in saying this, the Lord Jesus invites us to pray, to enter into the throne room of heaven and

present our requests to God with the promise that he will hear and answer for our

good. And yet there are times when we really struggle to pray. Praying is

oftentimes easier said than done. In fact there's even theological questions that arise

from prayer. Does the Lord hear my prayers? Does he care about what I have to say to him?

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