By Joseph Perry

My daily routine each day is to get up and go in my office and listen to a teaching of one of my favorite teachers. Before I listen to a teaching, I pray and thank the Lord for another day.

In my prayers, I want to listen to what God has to say to me, and then He is always listening to what I have to say to Him.

Every one of us should have a prayer life.

We can’t really survive without prayer. We should be praying all through the day to our God.

There are times in our lives when we don’t always pray. Sometimes we are not consistent in praying daily to God. We get out of sync because of so many reasons. It’s not just our flesh that sometimes hinders us. It’s not just our adversary, the devil who tugs at us, trying to turn us in a different direction. Oftentimes he presses us to have something else to do. Sometimes we just stop praying because we don’t see God moving. We become inconsistent at times because we don’t see him moving fast enough in changing our situations. When we don’t see him working in our lives as we pray, we will slack up in communicating to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

We must never forget that God is always at work, and He will respond to our call when He knows it’s the right time. God is always about moving at the right time.

The widow in Luke 18:1-8 kept going to the unjust judge. The widow, even though she got tired of going to him and seeing him not respond in her favor, never stopped going. The unjust judge eventually honored her request. Let me just say to the person who is about to give up, or the person who is about to stop praying, don’t stop praying to God.

You need to know He is listening to your every word. You need to know that He has the power to change your situation anytime He so desires. You need to be reassured that our God can in fact make everything all right in one moment. Don’t stop praying just because you feel nothing is happening or you feel nothing is changing. The very time you think God is not moving, that’s the times He really is. They may have told you no yesterday, but you keep talking to God about it. The doctor’s report may have been negative, but you keep talking to God. You may be having problems with the court system, but take it to God. We have to be patient, yet continue to be persistent, knowing there is wonder-working power in prayer. Your prayers change things. When we pray, Heaven is listening. Don’t stop praying. The Lord is always on the other end of the line.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Perry is pastor of St. Mark AME Zion Church. Contact him at josephp134@gmail.com.