By Karl Faase, Senior Pastor, Gymea Baptist Church, Sydney
Do you know that researchers have found we only need six minutes of focused, intense exercise each week to make a significant difference to our fitness levels? Just think, we dont have to spend hours in the gym or on the road running or riding. Just six minutes of focused energy can make an enormous difference in our health and well-being! If this is true in exercise, imagine how true it would be in other areas like prayer.
Surveys of average Australians show that around 30-40% of us pray regularly. This means that up to 70% of people in our country are either only praying as a last resort, or not at all. Could it be that these people see prayer as a burden, too difficult a task or something only reserved for desperate times? Certainly there are great examples of how prayer can help in times of crisis.
Rudy Giuliani was the mayor of New York City when planes hit the World Trade Centre towers on September 11, 2001. Many times when he had been faced with difficult decisions he would look out of his office at St Pauls Cathedral and be inspired to pray for his city and his country. And on the day the Twin Towers were hit, one of his first courses of action was to ask the Fire Brigade Chaplain for prayer.
What Giuliani did in a crisis, we can do every day. Prayer can be simple, but it is so vitally important. Here are three things I encourage you to do in just six minutes of prayer each day:
Be consistent. Dont just pray when you are in trouble, constantly seek God
in all areas of your life for things such as wisdom and direction.
Be persistent. Dont give up because your prayer is not answered the first
time. Stay at it and continue to bring your concerns to God.
Be resistant. Dont become bitter because God doesnt always give you
what you want. He may have something even better in mind for you.
Six minutes of prayer have the power to really help our lives focusing our attention on God, bringing our needs to him, and thanking Him for His goodness to us. More time in prayer would be even better, but what about trying six minutes to start with?
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