Be Prepared to Pray

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. – Matthew 25: 1-4,13

Yesterday I received a text message for an urgent prayer request. The message sounded dire and the needs were unspoken. As I stopped what I was doing to pray, I was instantly reminded of Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

The reason the Lord sent me the reminder was that my day had been full of mental frustration. I had a wrong attitude towards some clients, I was short with people while driving and yelled at the dogs for no reason. My heart was not in the right place.

As soon as I took some time to repent and confessed my shortcomings to the Lord, I began to feel a weight lifted from my soul and my heart was better able to focus and truly pray for the needs of my friend.

The lesson that the Lord wanted me to receive was to be prepared to pray. Like the story of the ten virgins, I was lacking oil for my lamp. I didn’t have the right spirit within me to pray in a way that would honor God. So when the need came, I was unprepared. Yes I could have blasted off a quick prayer, but it would have meant as much as their pleaded to be let into the wedding banquet once the doors were closed, because my heart was not right.

Nothing about my day warranted my wrong attitude and because of it, I could have missed out on an opportunity to lift up my friend to the throne of God in their time of need. Nothing about my day was worth missing out on being in a right relationship with God.

Lord, I thank You for Your correction and I pray that I will choose to have a clean and right heart as I wait for You. Help me to be wise and to fill my lamp so that I will be prepared to pray at a moment’s notice. In Jesus’ name, amen.