Learning To Pray First And Pray More

In summary of 2 Chronicles 20:1, 3 it says,

“After this the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance."

Bottom Line:

After a period of time, war was declared on Jehoshaphat.  News of this terrified him and he begged the Lord for Guidance.

What this means to me:

Sometimes it seems the odds are against me. I’m facing insurmountable and overwhelming problems or tight schedules.  What I’m learning is that before I do anything else, I should take it to God. Something as simple as “God, I am overwhelmed!, what do you think about this situation and what I should do?”  

In reality my perspective is limited while God's perspective is eternal.  God can see the beginning and the end; the past, present, and future all at once. I need to get his perspective (a bigger picture of what the problem really is.)  Often I go to prayer as a last resort rather than as my first thought. Prayer should be my first choice, not my last. If I want God to help me overcome the odds in any area of life, I need to turn to him first.  With every high, there is a low. After every victory, there is a letdown. And with every blessing, there comes a testing. I should expect blessing but also battles. There’s no escaping it, I’m going to have difficult times. I should never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Instead I should let it motivate you to pray more and turn to God first.