Every Time I Say Your Name in Prayer

"Every time I say your name in prayer — which is practically all the time — I thank God for you." (2 Timothy 1:3, The Message).

Who do you pray for — practically all the time? Notice the question is not "WHAT do you pray for, but WHO?"

Many people pray for a thousand different things practically all the time — a new job, a new car, a new house; a breakthrough in finances (even if it means winning the Lottery). And the list grows infinitely larger with each passing day.

But WHO do you pray for? Your answer reveals who it is you truly love. Prayer is a very revealing thing in this regard. We love WHO we pray unto, and we love WHO it is we are praying for. We pray for our family, our friends, our neighbors, our pastors, our leaders — and so on.

Try an experiment today. Rather than praying for THINGS, pray instead for PEOPLE. Just for today. Open your heart to someone you know, someone you love — and pray for them. Then watch and wait to see how God responds. You just might be so amazed that it becomes a regular exercise from today forward. So much so that indeed you may be able to say along with the apostle Paul, "Every time I say your name in prayer — which is practically all the time — I thank God for you."

One last bit of advice — when you pray, for Heaven's sake do not come off sounding religious! Keep it real, for those are the only prayers that God listens to anyway.