Day 11 of Prayer

Daily Scripture

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a]Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Daily Devotional

The story of Mary and Martha is one many of us have heard countless times. I know for me, when someone starts teaching about this story I am quick to think “Yeah, yeah… I’ve heard this before. Martha was the busy body who was too consumed with her own work when she should have been like Mary, sitting at the Lord’s feet.” Intellectually, I know the story. I get the moral. Spending quality time with our Lord and Savior is the single most important thing in my day. But sadly, so many times this head knowledge is not reflected in the way I live my life. Nowadays, we cannot literally sit at Jesus’ feet. However, God has graciously given us his word, the Bible, which is so readily available to us to read. Along with this he has given us the amazing gift of prayer. We have the blessing of being able to “sit at Jesus’ feet” anywhere, at any time. So often I forget this amazing privilege. I am so quickly consumed with the tasks of my day. Often the pattern in my life is this: the busier I am, the less I pray. This obviously should be the exact opposite! The busier we are (or I am, at least), the more prone we can be to stress, annoyance, anger, etc. I need prayer to be victorious over these emotions and to behave righteously in the midst of a crazy day. I need prayer constantly in my life, especially during the busiest of days.

Daily Challenge

Today, in a moment you feel like you want to be “worried and upset” by many things or take action instead of being still before God, take some time to stop and pray. Trust Jesus’ words that he said to Martha “few things are needed- or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Trust that your time in prayer will be fruitful and that there is nothing in your day that can surpass the importance of intimate time praying to our God.