"Conclusion to Prayer"

WOD:

Push Press 5x3

then:

5 Rounds of:
5 Muscle Ups
10 push press (115lbs)
50 double unders

Bible WOD:

Prayer.... What exactly is prayer? The world uses prayer as a last resort to bring the problems that they can't control to God. A true christian uses prayer to talk to God and get to know Him for who He is. Have you ever wondered why we seem to always pray before dinner, before bed, or just at church? The problem is prayer has become so traditionalized that it's become more of a routine to us. We find ourselves holding dinner up so we can give thanks over the food that was prepared or praying when we are about to go to bed. Is there a problem with this? Absolutely not! The question is... Are we praying because it's become traditionalized to these times?  The bible says that we are to pray continually... meaning always! We pray to talk with God because we want to build our relationship with him. If you and your spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend never talk, then what kind of relationship do you have? Well.. You don't have one or not much of one anyway. We need to get out of this routine of traditionalized prayer and start praying for the right reasons! Aren't we always thankful for our food, clothes, and other material things that God has provided to us? Then why do we just pray to give thanks before we eat? Tradition, that's why! I've been guilty of only praying before bed but through Bible study I have come to realize that I'm not praying and talking with God near enough! How can I get to know God if I never talk to him?

Another thing we do is pray when we're in need, want a loved one healed of an illness, or other things that are for our selfish gain. Do we ever stop and pray just to thank God for what he has not given us or the salvation that we have thanks to Him? We need to take time out of our "busy" day and talk with God. My relationship to Him has become much stronger now that I take the time to submit my heart and mind to him more often throughout my day.

What stops us from praying? Well... it could be a lot of things... Not taking the time, putting ourselves before God, or maybe we think God has better things to do than to listen to our small prayer. Another thing that keeps us from praying is, we think we don't know how to pray. We hear these really formal prayer in churches that sound so mythotical. You don't have to talk to God in some fancy way for Him to listen. Pray like you talk to another person. Just speak to Him from your heart, that's what prayer is all about.

If you think that you're lacking the relationship with God that you think you should have then think about spending more time on a personal level with Him, through prayer. Take the time to do this. You can pray driving down the road, before you read a book, anytime! It doesn't always have to be a long 10 minute prayer like some think. It can be a short prayer thanking God for another day to live or asking God to help you be more faithful to Him. I hope you all will take the time to do this. I promise your relationship will be stronger than ever before if you just spend some time with Him. Thank you all for reading.