KENYA FEEL WHY: It's Important to Have a Prayer Life?

KENYA FEEL WHY:

It's Important to Have a Prayer Life?

I'm from the South, and not only am I from the South, I'm a black woman from the South. If there's one thing women from the South don't play about (besides fried chicken) it's prayer. Southern women pray hard. Have you ever heard the saying, "if it wasn't for my praying mother/grandmother"? It is a saying that basically means I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for my mothers' or grandmothers' prayers. I can't express to you how true that saying is. 

Alabama is a part of the Bible Belt, so as youngins we were brought up in the church. We attended Sunday School, regular morning service, and sometimes even a second service if we had it. In the South, church on Sunday's is an all day event. I can remember getting to church at 8:oo some Sunday mornings and not leaving until well after 6:oo p.m. We would run home to eat at about 1:oo, and be back by 3:oo ready to sing for the second service. 

But, as time went on I grew tired of the same ol thing. As a child you pray because you know that's what you're supposed to do. You go sit in church all day because you can't drive so you rode with your mom, and you really have no choice. By the time you're actually able to drive yourself to church you begin to find excuses as to why you shouldn't go. I know this was the case for me. 

You see down here in the South we're hounded with this idea of what a 'Christian' should be. Christians shouldn't curse, they shouldn't have sex, they can't wear clothing that stops above the knees or show the slightest cleavage, and they shouldn't talk about other people. You have to get on your knees to pray, you have to start every prayer off with 'Father God', and you have to mention it in a monotone voice at least 50 times in your prayer. This is what created a problem for me. 

By the time I got to college, I rebelled against the church. I honestly haven't stepped foot in a church in only God knows how long. But, what I realized that other 'Christians' around me didn't was that the church won't save you. The church is just a physical building filled with sinners just like me. I found the church house to be filled with more judgmental people than a court room. The true church is found inside of you, and everyone's relationship with God is different. Surround yourself with like minded people and the rest will take care of itself.

My relationship with God is more so of a casual one. Don't get me wrong, I come to him with respect, but it's not the mundane, repetitive prayers that you hear all the time. My time with God is a time where I can be completely open and honest about any and everything, and that's exactly how it should be. God doesn't want us to follow what everyone else is doing because we think that's what we're supposed to do. He wants us to come to him as we are. Cast all your troubles and cares to him and he'll take care of the rest. Once you confess to him he will intercede on your behalf. 

Just recently, a friend of mine rented the movie War Room for me. At first I didn't want to watch it, because I really don't usually like Christian movies. I feel as if they are chessy and they're exploiting religion to make profit. But, this movie was unlike anything I'd ever seen in my life. It honestly changed my entire prayer life. It caused me to begin to pray like I've never prayed before. I opened one of my old notebooks, ripped all the used pages out, and began writing out prayers. I made a list of who I wanted to pray for, and what I wanted to pray about for them. As I sat down and had one on one time with God, he began to change my life. Not only did he begin to change my life, he started to change the lives of those around me. I'm telling you I've honestly never felt anything like it before. 

I'm telling you prayer still works. And it pays to have a strong prayer life. I highly recommend that all of you watch this movie. It is currently available in the RedBox and on Netflix. To sign up for a free trail on Netflix, click here. I hope you all get as much out of the film as I did. 

Until next time..

God Bless,

Kenya