There is a saying in management that if you want a job done quickly and efficiently, find a busy person to do it. Or as Henry Ford states, “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them”. Busy people do not try to skirt around the issues or excuse them away but take note of the problem, analyze the situation fairly quickly, create an action plan and then execute that plan. The same can apply to our prayer life.

It is amazing to me, (and I myself am guilty), of the multitude of reasonings as to why one does not have the time to develop a meaningful and effective prayer life.

I am reminded of Jesus’ remarks of those who were invited to a great banquet and why each person was unable or unwilling to attend. “Each one began to to make excuses … I have bought a field and it is necessary for me to go out and see it … I have bought five oxen and I am going to test these … I have married a wife and I am not able to come” (Luke 14: 18-20).

The excuses given by these people, and I suspect by ourselves, can seem legitimate. After all, if I give time to this one thing I won’t have time for something else. Yet can business and family issues actually hinder us from having an effective prayer life? Are they, or should they be, mutually exclusive?

It really depends on how you view prayer. If you see it as an activity relegated to those who have more leisure time than yourself, you may convince yourself that it be better left to another time when the busyness of your life lessens. Then you will pray.

You may see it as something for seniors, (eg. my grandmother really knew how to pray), but I am not yet a senior and nor am I my grandmother. She was a saint. Me? Well, not so much.

I would think that the converse of our human logic would be equally true. The busier we get and the more complex our responsibilities are, the more we are in need of wisdom and strength and courage beyond ourselves. The more taxing our lives become, the more we need external input to not only sustain us but enable us to fulfill and find fulfillment in the responsibilities of our lives.

The Biblical axiom regarding prayer is always the same. “Ask, and you will receive” (John 16:24).

I learned this many years ago in the area of tithing. Though I still may struggle at times with it, I heard very clearly in my spirit these words. “If you want My help, do it My way. If you don’t want My help, then do it your way.”

If you want God’s help in the things of your life, make the time to pray. If you don’t, then you know how it ends.

Most of your life requires purposeful planning to achieve your goals. Why not plan in prayer and see what happens?

Blessings!