Prioritizing Prayer

   Prayer is something that many people think they're sufficient at but I've yet to meet someone who's truly "perfected prayer." There are people who have the right words and pray over others, over food, and at night but prayer is more that that. Prayer shouldn't just be something you do at a certain time, it should be something you do all the time. While reading the Bible I've noticed three main parts of prayer that will truly change our lives: persistency, faith, and conversation.
   While I definitely need work in all three areas, persistency is something I've been focusing on for a while. The Bible says many times (Romans 12:12) that we should pray every moment. This is very hard for me because I often get caught up in living and forget about God for hours at time. However, when I do keep up a constant conversation with him, my mood is better all day! Everything in the Bible is there to help us and in my experience, persistent prayer changes my outlook and attitude towards the day for the better.
    Faith is something a lot of people, myself included, struggle with. The Bible tells us that if we truly believe will receive what we ask for we will (Mark 11:24). However, there are lots of times where I know that God can do something but have trouble believing that He will. But the more I see God at work, the more faith I have. The disciples are a great example of how this played out. They saw Jesus work miracles over and over yet they didn't have enough faith to do it themselves for several years but eventually they were preforming miracles everyday. If we immerse ourselves in Gods wonder, we will have more belief in it. 
   God wants to have a true friendship with us. Peter had one of the strongest faith's in the Bible yet He rebuked Jesus several different times (Matthew 16:22 for example).  Jacob had a vivid prayer life yet he wrestles with God (Genesis 32:22-32). God wants us to ask questions and wrestle with doubts. He wants us to have a real friendship that grows and changes. When we pray He wants it to be a conversation with a good friend because that's who He wants to be for us, our best friend. 
    Prayer is something I've been convicted of a lot in my life and is a extremely important part of following the Lord. My challenge to myself and anyone who's reading this is to focus on these three elements of prayer in order to grow you relationship with God!