As I get older, the impression I get about the power of prayer becomes more and more clear: If you don’t pray, you lose your way. When you pray, God makes your day. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:15-16 ESV) Some people see prayer as a last resort, to be tried when all else fails. Our priorities are the reverse of God’s. Prayer should come first. When praying to God isn’t first, I look like a lost man: I am aimless, visionless and bloated. Moving from one bad idea to the next. Going from one bad situation to another. There is no way I could sustain my life or my lifestyle without God helping me with directions and supply to travel. When we get out of our minds that we have any ability to impact the world around us on our own, then and only then, is prayer the only security we have in life. It starts to become first. When we understand that we start to live and pray in a way that fully submits to God. It isn’t our faith really or the strength of our persuasive prayers that make the difference; but rather, the character of God in whom our faith rests that changes everything. God is pleased to use our prayers to accomplish His purposes and He delights in answering our needs. His power is infinitely greater than ours, so it only makes sense to rely on it. Especially because God encourages us to do so. The Apostle James believed in prayer. In fact, tradition tells us that he spent so much time in prayer that his knees became hard and calloused. God works effectually through prayer. Prayer changes you. And living prayerfully everyday is effectively the only thing you can and need to do for the security of your future.