Prayer might be the most underutilized weapon in the battle for integrity. We desire to be loving. We desire to be pure. We desire to be strong—all attributes perfected in the divine. We strive to change, as we should, but we want to make sure we aren’t doing anything manually that is best accomplished with a tool.
Prayer is a tool. When we don’t pray, we have to accomplish things alone that God is willing to help us with. I agree with the saying that we become like those we spend time with. God is no exception. It is in the presence of God that we become like God.
Prayer may be effortful at times, a kind of pressing in. Other times, prayer is like soaking in the sun or casually hanging out with someone we like spending time with.
Prayer changes us, and it empowers us to grow even more after we exit the place of prayer.