The word “prayer” is something that we probably think and say enough to have potentially lost a little bit of power in our minds. So, I wanted to look at the word in a little bit of a fresh way today.
Someone who walks is a walker. Someone who programs is a programmer. Someone who carpents is a carpenter (yes, I just made that up).
And someone who prays is a “pray-er”.
Why is this important? Well, if Jesus is to be an example for us–and I think He’s meant to be–then it must be pretty essential to our lives to be pray-ers. All throughout the gospels, we see countless examples of Jesus making time in His busy schedule to be alone with His–and our–Father in heaven. Jesus was a pray-er who prayed a lot.
Why do we need to be a pray-er? Why did Jesus? Because Satan opposes every good thing. He did not want Jesus to spread His message that we should all love God and love other people. He does not want us to be kind to strangers or forgive our enemies. He does not want us to raise our kids with values and morals. He hates love and loves hate.
And he’s coming after us. You, me. Our kids. Our nation. Our pastors and political leaders.
After witnessing the evil one at his most cunning, Peter gave us this stern warning:
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV, emphasis added)
This is language that should, quite literally, scare the hell out of us. Satan is not messing around, and he means to destroy us and everything we cherish. We cannot take this lightly.
If this freaks you out, then good. It should.
Thankfully, our loving God does not leave us to deal with this on our own.
But this is why we need to be pray-ers. Praying is our grace-filled opportunity to beg the Creator of the universe for His help. God is the only One with enough strength and power to defeat Satan. We cannot beat him on our own, but one of the tricks he uses is to give us enough pride that we think we can. He allows us to believe that we don’t need God. It’s another nasty pitfall, another way he deceives us so he can take us out.
Do not be fooled.
Be a pray-er!
Fight for yourself and everything you love and cherish. Fight back by asking God to defend you and your family.
You don’t need long-winded, fancy prayers to be a pray-er. It’s enough to whisper these few words: “Help me, Jesus! I can’t do this without you!”
Master's Canvas - Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter 
In a hot tub session once , I heard “ what do you mean all we can do is pray? That’s the best.. and first thing we should do”
That has been a call for me ever since
Being a pray.. er has been a comfort to my soul for a long time
I pray that it ALWAYS is the first thing i do
Good blog SIL.. as always