I want to talk just a bit more about prayer.  Needless-to-say, prayer will always be a strong topic in our Christian life and certainly with our blog.  How could it not be?  I don’t know who said it,  that he did not believe in the power of prayer, but rather in the One who has the power to answer our prayers. Can’t remember who said it,  but it’s  so true. Prayer’s power is in our powerful God and in Him alone.  A lot of us use prayer like some magic incantation,a magic wand of words.  Using certain words to get things from God, said in just the right way or just the right words or just the right number of times.  That’s not prayer in my mind…more like magic or superstition.  But I catch myself falling into patterns of prayer once in a while.  Or thinking that if I had just prayed enough, or with more fervency, then God would have answered my prayer.  Years ago I remember seeing a book entitled ‘Prayer: How to Get Things from God’.  Terrible book insinuating that God was more like  a big, old cosmic meany that you had to trick to get Him to hand over the goodies to you. ‘ Say the magic word and…’  Prayer as a means to an end.  That’s barely prayer at all, as I see it.  Prayer is spending time with the God who loves us and cheers for us and is for us and who loves to bless us  when everything seems to be the contrary.  There’s a great verse in the Old Testament book of Daniel that you should read now…’As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given…'(Daniel 9:23). Now read those verses just before this one and you’ll discover that Daniel was praying for his own sins and that of the people of Israel. So, God sends the angel Gabriel to encourage Daniel that God answers the prayers of His people ‘as soon as you began to pray’.  Could it be any clearer?   As quickly as we pray, God is at work for us.  Think about that today.   As soon as we pray an answer was given.  As soon as…keep on praying.  Keep on trusting in the Lord who is acting on your behalf, on my behalf, right this very moment.  Doesn’t that sound good?  More than just sounding good, it is the truth we can believe in and hold onto.  Pray…and then keep praying, believing in the One who has all the power, the power to answer our prayers…