Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I give you the awesome opportunity to do the one thing I call absolutely necessary with your lives. And yet some people live all their lives and never do it even one time, many do it occasionally, and a few do it without ceasing, and those few are the little flock to whom I am pleased to give the Kingdom even now.
What is the “one thing” that precedes and fuels all other things so that you make wise decisions and your lives are fruitful and filled to overflowing with good things? The answer, of course, is in My Word, the Holy Bible, and by My Spirit in you and on you, for that is where you find the answers to everything in life. My Word not only gives you My many and magnificent Covenant promises but also the exact ways you must follow to receive them into your lives.
Make me know Your ways, O LORD, teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5.
So let us go to the time that Jesus was in the home of his good friends, Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and find out. Having Jesus stop in her home, Martha went to the kitchen and began preparing a meal and doing all the chores required for gracious hospitality. Her sister, Mary, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to have Jesus there for them and seated herself at the His feet, in the position of a disciple with her teacher, and listened to His Words, which are Spirit and Life.
Martha, being distracted with all her preparations, was getting very angry with her “lazy” sister who left her to do all alone the preparations for the meal she was planning on serving. She finally came and interrupted the lesson by coming up to Jesus and saying, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42.
Fellowship, a relationship, a time for instruction, for questions and answering, and for sharing is what I am talking about. Jesus is no longer walking the earth as one like you but now He is in you and with you by His and My Spirit and you have My Words readily available to you, in fact, My written Word is as close your phone if you have internet or a Bible app and can search and even listen on audio to online Bibles at any moment of the day and night that you are seeking a particular passage or answer.
But even with prayer and the teaching of My Word so available, many of you, like Martha, often get caught up in all your preparations, daily errands, work schedule, and family duties first and leave prayer and fellowship with Me for occasional spare moments, and often leaving it until late at night when you are too tired to stay awake, or else you only get serious about praying when a crisis hits.
What Martha did not understand, and so many of you as well who get pulled right into your hectic schedules as soon as your feet hit the ground out of bed in the morning till after midnight each night, that your time and your “busyness” on your jobs and with your families and schoolwork, would flow much better and be much more fruitful if you spent time with Me in prayer before you got out of bed and received My wisdom and insights on how to order your day aright and what the best solutions are to all you are confronted with.
If you want good days filled with peace in your hearts and minds, it is time you learned how to “pray without ceasing.” Prayer without ceasing is a command you are given by Me as My Will for you in Christ Jesus and it simply means to spend every moment of your day conscious of My presence in you and around you and in constant fellowship and partnership with Me. It is about receiving input from Me as you ask Me questions all day long at each new client, assignment, chore, task, class, exam, and whatever else you face or have to deal with. I am ready and willing to answer you every time you ask with the solution you need, from turning off a broken burner on your stove, cooking a meal, opening a jar, getting the right product at the best price, to dealing with an unruly child or student (and even with yourself if you get “out of sorts”) to solving difficult legal problems simply and quickly, discovering a new way to do things or an invention that shakes the world and blesses all, to composing songs, healing your body, and mending a relationship that has turned from sweet to bitter, letting Me show you and guide you in making it sweet again. All this is available to you, for the I AM a very present help in time of need, if you just do the one thing necessary before all the other things, with all the other things, in all the other things, and then you will find that you get through all the other things victoriously!
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14.
Not only will you come out an “overcomer,” you will also be a light shining My glory to everyone and My sweetness, for My Word is sweeter than honey, will manifest through you to all who have the opportunity to come into contact with you during the day. Why? You have Christ in you, your hope of glory! Each day is your opportunity to shine the Light of the world brightly in and through you.
Prayer is not toilsome, it is fellowship with Me and I am Love and Light, and as such it is pure delight. If you learn My thoughts and ways from My Word you can live like Jesus did when He emptied Himself of His powers of God to take flesh and dwell among you as one like you. It is true He came to take your sins on Himself and away from you to make you righteous, blameless and beyond reproach before Me, your Father, but He also came to teach you how you too could live a powerful and glorious life like He did.
And how did He do it? By making My thoughts His thoughts, making My Words His Words, and making the works I wanted to be done on the earth His works. He lived His life as one with Me. And that’s what He wants to help you do as well.
And Jesus prayed and constantly talked to Me, you hear Him turn His attention and His gaze on Me at many times, like at the tomb of Lazarus when He called him out from death to life, and at various other times, but always He was keeping up that unceasing connection. And you see Him rising early in the morning before the busy day hit to spend time hearing from Me, and sometimes He even found such delight and strength in our fellowship that He spent whole nights in prayer, especially before life changing events.
And that is why I tell you that I gave you Jesus so that you could live your live through Him. It is in learning from Him, as Mary, Martha’s sister, was doing, that you become one in your walk with Me so that you live as He does in perfect joy, purity, and peace, walking in love so that offense has no part in you nor does torment or fear, just as they have no part in My thoughts, ways, or divine being. If you want a good life, you must discipline your unruly mind to think the thoughts that I do because you will have great happiness and peace in your inner self and depression and torment, shame and regret, bitterness and offense, will find no more place to lodge in you, not even a toehold. Like Jesus, the devil and his unclean demons, his realm of darkness, will have no place in you when you are filled with My light and the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus tells you how to do the one thing that produces all good things in your lives:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.
And that is a good definition of prayer and the one thing necessary to have a productive and satisfying life.
His yoke is not the iron yoke of slavery that the devil puts upon you but is the kind of yoke where you team up with another and pull together so the load seems light, especially when the One who joins you under the yoke is the One who bore all your sins, took away all your pains and sickness, and gave you His peace, His joy, and His righteousness. There is no better partner to pull with you and I have also given you the Holy Spirit to stand at the helm of your life pulling with and for you so that your ship always comes through every storm unharmed as well. Romans 8:26.
So think about it now, when you reach the end of your time on this earth as it is now to go on to your heavenly reward and Kingdom living forever with Me, would you be able to say you had done the one thing necessary with your life that made your life the good and fruitful life that I gave you the gifts and opportunities to live? Or let me put it this way, do you pray? I.e., do you fellowship with Me or are you too busy on social media, telephone calls, texting, working, studying, and taking care of the busy affairs of your life? Martha was too busy and you know what Jesus answered. Would He have to say that to you? You are worried and bothered about so many things; but one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33. Yes, it sounds like the one thing adds everything. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give constant thanks, this is My Will for you in Christ Jesus. Why? Then you will have everything, no matter what storm, trial, or evil thing dares to attack you, work together for your good. Rejoicing and thanking are the two bookends that hold prayer up in place.
Smile. I AM with you to take the load if you will just come and learn from Me in My secret place of rest in the midst of a storm. Pray without ceasing, and that means so you are prepared before the storm hits, like the man who built his house on a solid rock foundation compared to the one who built it on shifting sand. Shifting sand conforms to your ways but being on the rock attaches you to My ways, I AM your everlasting rock. I do not change. Perfect love does not have to change for it never fails but prevails over all. And that is where prayer is made, in perfect love for there is no fear in love. Come with confidence to receive mercy and find grace just when you need it.
The things that you carry are burdensome, a load for the weary beast. They stooped over, they bowed down together; they could not rescue the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity . . . Listen to Me, . . . you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you. Isaiah 46:1-4.
All your actions must stem from time with Me in prayer. Prayer is fellowship where we each know and care about the other’s thoughts and dreams and we build your life together. Thus, prayer is not limited to but can also encompass consultation and partnership. Never do anything that is a life changing decision until you have prayed.
I love you. What an amazing, wonderful, awesome opportunity I give you so I can give you everything, you just have to come to Me and do the one thing so that everything comes. And it is prayer in the Spirit of fellowship. For to dwell with you has been My greatest desire since I formed you in My image and according to My likeness to be My family forever. My Name is wonderful, counselor, Father forever, God hero, and I AM your Shalom peace.