Heaven holds the key by which decisions governing earthly affairs are made but we hold the key by which those decisions are implemented… Prayer is not overcoming reluctance in God. It is not persuading Him to do something He is unwilling to do.  It is “binding upon earth” that which has already been bound in heaven (Matt. 16:19 Amplified).  It is implementing His decision.  It is enforcing His will upon earth... The content of all true prayer originates in the heart of God.  So it is He who inspires the prayer in the heart of man, and the answer to every God-inspired petition is already prepared before the prayer is uttered.  When we are convinced of this, then our faith for the answer is easy — far easier than it would be otherwise.
Destined for the Throne – Paul E. Billheimer

I used to wonder what the point of prayer was.  I knew God had the power to do anything and He knows my every thought, so why pray? The quote above sheds some light on why.  God’s will is fully loaded and ready, and prayer pulls the trigger on it.  At the end of Ezekiel 22, God declared that because no one would stand and pray for the mercy and grace on behalf of the land, He would pour out His wrath.  He looked for someone praying to Him and found none.

Knowing why we need to pray, or even just having an idea of why, does not always translate into us following through.  We humans have the uncanny ability to make excuses to get out of just about anything, and the most common excuse is that we are just too busy.  I’ll leave you with one more quote from the same book quoted above.  Put your helmet on because it might hit you harder than you expect.

If you can buy the new car, the new home, the new furniture, the new gadgets, hold down two jobs, etc., for the glory of God — well and good.  But if we didn’t have to have such a high standard of living would we not have more time to pray?  If we were not so intoxicated with travel, pleasure, vacations, and recreation, would we not have more time to pray?  If we were not so enamored of sports and entertainment, would we not have more time to pray?  We have more leisure than ever before — but less time to pray.  We are not only cheating God and the world but we are cheating ourselves… We are robbing the world of God’s best plan for it…

If the American dream makes you too busy to pray, maybe it’s time to rethink the American dream.