Become A Warrior

Hey guys, I know it's been a while since we have posted anything and I apologize. Things have been a little crazy around here. We've got Wes and Jose both planning weddings for next summer and all of us are busy with school and work stuff as well as trying to get out in the field. But on to what I want to talk about. For the last few months God has been laying it on my heart to work on my prayer life, and me being as stubborn as I am I have refused to listen, and make excuses. So the other night as I was sitting at the house by myself struggling with things other than prayer I decided to pick up my bible and read whatever I came to first. Low and behold Matthew 6:5-13 (NIV) is what I turned to. It reads "5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have recieved their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.9 This then is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. "

So what does this mean? How does this apply to me? Jesus starts out in verse 5 by warning us about partaking in self-righteous prayer. So what is self-righteous prayer? What this means is that we shouldn’t pray for the benefit of

making ourselves look righteous to others. Does this mean that we shouldn’t pray in public? NO! He goes on in verse 6 and explains how we should pray. Jesus tells us to pray behind closed doors, just between us and God. It is no one else’s business what you pray to God about. He also says by doing this he will reward us. This doesn’t mean reward us with money or physical things usually. What this means to me is that he will reward us spiritually. In verses 7 and 8 He tells us not to babble and that he knows what we need before we ask. What is meant by babbling is that you have to mean the words you say, don’t just use hollow words, or say oh I'll start tomorrow. Do it now! So if God already knows what we need why should we ask? He wants a relationship with us, and we build that relationship by spending that private time talking with him. Then in verses 9-10 he gives us an example of how we should pray. Do we have to say these exact words? No, this is more of an outline for us. Jesus starts out by praising God, then prays for the works He does throughout the world, pray for the daily struggles we face, as well as asking for His help in those matters.

So how does this relate to us as hunters? I view prayer kind of like I view scouting for a hunt. If you don’t spend the necessary time scouting for the game you are hunting, whether it is duck, deer, turkey, or whatever you really have no direction of where to go how to set up, nothing. At DCO we probably spend more gas, miles on the trucks, and time than we actually spend in the blind or the stand actually hunting. I feel that life is the same way. If we don’t spend the time building that relationship with God, then we are going into life blind or with no direction. Can or will prayer help me become a better or more successful hunter? I believe so, hunting is a gift given to us by God. Will he make us all “professional” hunters? Probably not, yet I do think by spending that time with God he will enlighten us in regard to our passion for the outdoors and hunting which will in turn make us better and more successful hunters.

So how do we become a better prayer warriors and build our relationship with God? How do we grow as people, leaders, spouses, fathers/mothers, or as hunters? I think it’s as simple as starting out by setting aside 5-10 min a day and commit to it. Don’t babble, if you say you are going to do it do it, no excuses. Don’t expect to start out with these massive elaborate prayers that last 20 min. Praying is like shooting or casting a reel, it takes practice and repetition. God doesn't want a whole bunch of fluff, he just wants to spend time with us. If need be write things down that you need to pray about. So when you sit down to pray you can pull out everything you have thought about and be able to bring it to God.

Become a prayer warrior for yourself, for your family. Build that relationship between you and God and I'd be willing to bet that it will impact your life in ways you would never believe.