Prayer is Work

Prayer is work.  It requires commitment, it requires time, it drains us, it is necessary to provide spiritually for ourselves, our families and our church.  It is both commanded and expected by our Boss (Jesus), to not pray is to be an unfaithful employee.  

Prayer is supernatural work.  Physical work rewards us with a paycheck (or direct deposit), sense of a job well done, promotion, praise and that internal joy that comes from checking off an item from our "to do" list.  The supernatural work of prayer does not reward us in any of these ways.  The reward of prayer requires faith.  We'll get the job done if we believe God is present when we pray, if we are confident that He hears us and we trust He will answer.  We are encouraged to pray when we realize there is no hope for our burdens without prayer (this is being forced to our knees).  We show up to pray when we are confident that  our prayers will make a difference in the eternity of others, in the situations we bring to God and even at highest levels of power in our world ("Pray for kings..." 1 Timothy 2:2).   

The reward of prayer is the tiredness that comes after pouring out our hearts to God, the peace that results from giving our burdens to Him and the joy that is present when we know we have obeyed our Lord.   The hope of the Christian mission in this world depends on prayer.  Christian, its time to show up to work and get to work.