Prayer is hard work. We may neglect it because we're too tired, too busy, or too distracted to put into prayer the effort required.

Sometimes when you're suffering really intensely, you can't pray for yourself.

Abraham wasn't perfect. He failed, made mistakes. But, he would go back, get right with God, and then just keep moving forward. He didn't quit when things got hard. He just kept on going. And everywhere he went, God was there. God was with him.

If God can bring blessing from the broken body of Jesus and glory from something that's obscene as the cross, He can bring blessing from my problems and my pain and my unanswered prayer.

When I put my faith in Jesus Christ as my savior, and I asked him to forgive and to come into my life, and He does - from that moment forward I have established a personal relationship with God that I have to develop, you know, through Bible reading and prayer, and living my life for him.

I'm living my life for an audience of one. I live my life to please God. And I believe if He's pleased, that people like my mother and my daddy, my grandparents, you know, my husband, my children, they'll be pleased.

Prayer offered without faith by a person that doesn't truly believe God exists will not be effective. Sin in our lives that we refuse to confess will also render our prayers ineffective.