If there has been one inconsistency in my life, in my spiritual life, it has been prayer. I have jags where it is vital, alive, and pulsates through me. I also have jags where prayer is dead to me. I pray and they are just words. Or I may even just not pray at all. It is more like an appendage which I may or may not need.

Then there are those times when prayer is like a shopping list of wants. “I want this” or “I want that.” Or its a wish list: “God, I wish you would do this” or “God, I wish you would provide that.”

Tripp says, “Prayer is a celebration.” He uses some interesting words to describe what should be my feelings/reactions to what God does when I pray. I find joy. I’m blown away. I celebrate. I find joy. I am amazed. I find peace. I meditate. I rejoice.

They are mine if I can view and “do” prayer as a celebration. But, as he says, it is in the context of surrender and celebration. With those prayer doesn’t become a list of selfish demands or bitter complaints.

“Father, I’ve never been consistent with my prayer life. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to remember the best time it was on fire. Let prayer become vital to me. Let me enjoy it again.”