It happened in these days, that he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God. When it was day, he called his disciples, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles Luke 6:12 WEB

Even though Jesus was the son of God, He prayed a lot. He continually developed His relationship with His Father. Jesus lived as our example. Intimacy and infinite knowledge were not freely given to Him. He had to work at it. Jesus was tested in all ways, just like us, but without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus did not pray once at the beginning of His ministry, but often withdrew to have some quiet time to pray and listen. Jesus was on the cutting edge, because He stayed in tune with what the Father was doing.

All of us have heard or read messages that felt like they were meant for us, directly from God. We have also heard others that seemed dated, irrelevant, or boring. When the apostles spoke, the people listening were: 'cut to the heart' (Acts 2:37, Acts 5:33, Acts 7:54) because they sharpened themselves in prayer:

'When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness' (Acts 4:31).

If you want your words to be relevant today, to walk on the cutting edge, then you will have to spend time in prayer as well. Even taking a few minutes to talk to the Lord will help shape your day, brighten your outlook, and encourage those around you. There is an infinite well of resources, wisdom, knowledge, forgiveness, grace and mercy, that we can access, and it all starts with prayer.

Any relationship that stops talking will slowly but surely die, while relationships that talk a lot grow in strength. We have all had friends that we lost contact with because we ceased talking at some point. Most often, we just get too busy with our daily life to maintain a strong relationship with very many people at a time, and we keep a special few. Be sure that the Lord is in your inner circle.

Today, be sure to spend a few minutes alone with God in prayer, if nothing more than to tell Him good morning and thank You for letting you wake up for another day. It is a daily thing that you should get in the habit of doing, and you have to start somewhere. If you want to grow closer to the Lord, take a few minutes to talk to Him each day. Jesus did.

Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank You for always being there and I am sorry that I am not always as faithful as I could be. Draw my heart to You and fan the flames within me. Sharpen me Lord. For the sake of the world, light a fire within me. Help me be steadfast, graceful, loving and merciful today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

> You can subscribe to our daily devotional here <