A Different Perspective on Prayer

I’ve decided that I have been praying wrong all these years. Not completely wrong, but I just feel like my perspective when I pray isn't exactly right. It reminds me of the bible verse in James chapter 2. In verse sixteen, it says and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” - but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? When I pray for the majority of who I pray for, I pray as if everything is normal and boring. I want them to stay ok, and if anything comes up just let me know. Then weeks or months later, I find out something has been going on for a long period of time. How crazy does that make my prayer sound? It makes me reflect on Ephesians 6:12. 

12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 

That means that we always have a fight going on. If I have a disagreement with a friend or a family member, they have to sleep, they have to go to work. Those times provide me rest from that conflict. But evil spirits do not rest. My point in all of this is to say that when we have someone in our life and it seems like everything is good, we shouldn't just pray that we hope that they are ok. We need to pray for them to have strength when the times come that they are tempted. We need to pray for them to be seeking God in their life. We need to pray that they are getting the rest that they need, and they are spending time with loved ones. The worst thing we can do is pray that everything stays the same. That would be like telling them to have a good day and to stay warm, but doing absolutely nothing to make sure that they have what they need. I want to be proactive in prayer, I do not want to wait for the devil to make his move before I start praying for the people I love. When I know that things are positive with someone, I will thank God for those times.  Years ago, I heard someone say that one of three things are always going on in everyone's life. Everyone is either going through something, just got done going through something, or is preparing to go through something. I'm not sure who said it, but I'm going to pray as if that is very true.