Promise2Pray

Oh, how excited was I when I opened up my devotion this morning and it was titled "Teach Us to Pray". If you are following me and my business, you know why I was so excited, for this is my passion now, to help others find their way to prayer. But there was also another reason for the excitement. You see, life as the owner of a start up business isn't always easy. I pray each and every day, morning and night, for God to continue to bless me with the gifts and talents that will enable me to touch more people with my words and products. I pray for God to lead me and I look for his answers as I go about my work.

I must confess that after going to a local seminar the other night, I became a little discouraged by the statistics being discussed. They were not being discussed to discourage business owners, but instead to make sure that we are focused and to make sure we are tapped into reality. 70% of small businesses fail within 5 years. Wow, that is quite a statistic.

But, the message was clear that the rate is higher among those that go into a business strictly to make money. You must have a passion for what you are doing in order to be successful. When my brother first introduced me to his concept of a prayer pod, a small device you could take with you to help with remember your prayer commitments, I was clearly sold on his idea. Now that I've taken his original idea and created PrayerSteward I am more passionate about prayer then ever before. I've found my own prayer life to be so much more rewarding. So much so, that my entire focus in my business is providing technology solutions to help people pray more often and with less stress. Why not use technology for something truly good.

So, getting back to my excitement. I admit that I woke up this morning with a small case of the blues. The devil must have been hard at work last night while I slept. I started thinking that I should give this up, give up my dream. I asked myself if this is just maybe a hobby and nothing more?

Then my son and I went to our Saturday morning Bible study. What a blessing those guys are, giving me tremendous words of encouragement for what I'm doing, helping me to see more clearly again my passion. Then, I came home, opened up the "Portals of Prayer" for my morning devotion, and Wham!, there was God speaking directly to me. "Teach Us to Pray" right there in black and white, so obvious. You see, life is difficult, a challenge, and prayer is hard to do. So hard in fact that the disciples asked Jesus to show them how to pray. They didn't ask him how to preach, or perform miracles, but they wanted to learn how to pray, for they saw Jesus continually praying to His Father. It is our privilege to be able to carry our worries and concerns to God. The instructions are very clear and can be found in the Bible. Don't let praying intimidate you, for God knows what is in your heart, and He wants you to bring it to Him in prayer.

I leave you on this Saturday morning with the words of our Savior, Jesus, found in Luke 11:9-10.
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

May God Bless you this holiday weekend. And God Bless our veterans!!