A lamb was to be sacrificed every morning and every evening. There seems to be a wonderful principle for which the Lord is laying the groundwork here - we are to start our day with the sacrifice of prayer and praise and end it in the same way. Prayer in the morning opens the door to blessing. Prayer at night locks it in and makes us safe and secure. You see, the Enemy doesn’t snooze. Therefore, if you wake up feeling blue and wondering why, it could very well be that you’ve been a target of his. But you can shield yourself to a large degree from his attacks by turning off the TV and praying before you end your day.

Think of it this way: If I came home from a week away and said, “Tammy, we don’t need to sit down and talk. You can just follow me around and we’ll talk on the go,” what kind of relationship would we have? There needs to be a constant flow of conversation, true. But for a marriage to be strong, there must be not only a quantity of time, but a quality of time, where both people are completely focused on each other.

And I suggest that same thing is true in our relationship with the Lord. While we are to indeed pray without ceasing all through the day, there also must be times when we say, “Lord, I’m here to talk to You, to hear from You, to offer You the sacrifice of thoughtful, articulate, emotional, and intelligent praise. I’m here to press into Your presence, to pour out my heart, to focus exclusively on You.” It’s not a “got to.” It’s a “get to.”