When I was little and my mom told me to clean my room, I was never exactly sure why I needed to do so. Within a day or two the toys would be strewn about again, not to mention the fact that just a few hours later I’d pull down the covers on my bed and hop in again. Did you ever face that same dilemma? Or perhaps you still do. Without purpose behind it, cleaning was just an item on the checklist that needed to be accomplished. As I’ve gotten older, cleaning my room has gained some purpose. My clothes stay in better condition when they're hung instead of in a pile, I can more easily find things, and I find that I think much more clearly in an orderly space. Over the years my attitude toward prayer has followed a similar trajectory. As a kid who grew up in church, prayer was not unfamiliar to me in the least. I knew the children's prayer songs, prayed before every meal, and before bedtime as well. I knew that prayer was talking to God, and that seemed  important, but I didn’t always understand why prayer is so vital, and what a blessing it is that we have the ability to pray directly to God. As I’ve grown up, and especially very recently, God has taught me a lot about prayer. Prayer is no longer something to check off a list; it’s something I'm excited about, and I want you to understand its purpose and value so you can be excited by it too! I’m going to give you a few reasons we pray with scripture that supports them, because God’s Word on the matter will always be better than mine.
            Perhaps the simplest verse in scripture regarding prayer is this: “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, ESV) If you’re thinking about starting to memorize scripture, this could be a good place to start! It also leads into my first reason to pray…
 
1)     We are commanded to pray.
 
“And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18, NIV)
 
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (Colossians 4:2, NIV)
 
2)     Jesus prayed. Jesus’ life was an example to us of exactly how we should live. Though perfection is not attainable for us as it was for him, we still strive to be as much like Christ as possible. At various points during his ministry, Jesus was intentional in praying to God. This was so important that the gospel writers all included references to Jesus praying in their accounts of his life.
 
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, {Jesus} departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35, ESV)
 
3)     Prayer deepens our relationship with God. How do you get to know your friends better? By talking and hanging out, of course! Prayer is our avenue of communication with God. We are promised that our prayers are not one way communication; they are heard and answered.

“If we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” (1 John 5:13, ESV)
 
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV)
 
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.” (Jeremiah 29:12, ESV)
 
4)     Prayer invites God into the action in our lives. God is an active part of everything that happens in our lives, and prayer acknowledges his role. Reread 2 Chronicles 7:14. When we pray, we assume a posture of humility before God and we recognize our need for his intervention in our situations.
 
5)     Prayer helps us combat temptation.
 
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Matthew 26:41, ESV)
 
Girls, I’m praying for you. I know it sounds cliché after a post all about prayer, but I really am! I’m praying that you dig deeper into this topic of prayer, and that it transforms your relationship with Christ. All of us on the Worth More team believe in the power of prayer, which is why we always ask you to share your prayer requests with us.

There is so much more to say about prayer, and I’m stilling learning more and more! Be on the lookout for another post about prayer soon.
 
​Written by: Emily

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Hey Worth More Girls,
 
  I am writing my first blog in California! I just moved here going on 3 weeks ago. It has been a crazy whirlwind adventure and I am not fully settled into my apartment yet. I can’t even describe to you all the changes, the new faces, the new surroundings I have been encountering.  I don’t believe there has ever been a season in my life that has had this much change as this past year. It has been an exciting adventure, but I have to be honest it has been scary as well. This time of change has really shaped my relationship with Christ. The question, that I have often posed to the Lord the past few months and even weeks is “God can I really trust you will…..? “.
 
This time of change felt so exciting but at the same time frightening and lonely.  Have you ever had an instance in your life where you have felt like this?
 
I think to all the things we often put our trust in the first thing that comes to mind is a roller coaster.  When we go to ride we nonchalantly strap ourselves in and trust that this machine will operate safely and take us on a fun adventure.  When we ride an airplane and get on we are trusting the pilots we never see to get us to our next destination.  If we put our trust in these man made machines and humanly operated aircrafts and don’t have a hard time trusting them, then why do we have a hard time trusting God?
 
It comes down to control and the lie the enemy tries to get us to believe.  We as humans have a sinful nature because we live in a sinful world. We want to be in control and Satan want us to believe that our way is better than God’s way. He wants us to question the sovereignty of God.  We might not always have all the answers but we were created by a God who does have all the answers. He is forever faithful and he is completely trust worthy.  The reason we know God is trust worthy is because of his character.
 
In Psalms’s In Psalm 84:11 we read, “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (NASB).
 
 You can not fully trust without some kind of commitment to walk by faith and not by sight. God is trustworthy because he always is considering what is in our best interest.  David in the Psalms and throughout his life writes verse after verse about trusting the Lord.
 “Blessed be the Lord, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him” (Psalm 28:6-7, NASB).
 
Is God trustworthy is a common question many of us ask at one point or another. The verse that I often remind myself and meditate on often is a simple and well known verse.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will lead your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5
 There are so many lessons to unpack in this verse!! Here are two simple ones to think on!
 

1. We can not lean on our own thinking!

God does not operate like we do! He is the everlasting God the creator of the universe so his ways and the way he operates is not our way. So we can not rely on our own thoughts and ways to navigate our lives all the time. We have to realize and trust God that even though we don’t understand the circumstances that the world or our lives are in, we trust God’s sovereignty to know he does!

1. God will direct your steps

If we trust Christ with our lives and each change in our life He will be the author of our story! He will write it for us. God’s way is perfect, he doesn’t need a coauthor to write your story. He just needs you to be the beautiful illustration of his penmanship.
 
So sweet girl, whatever you are going through put your trust in the one writes the best stories. Know that he is trustworthy and that the changes, the trials and perils He is there! He is with you every step of the way. Stop trying to figure it all out and enjoy being the illustration in his story he is writing for you!