This is the final week of our Integrated theme and our time in the Book of James.  It’s also the final week of Connect Devotionals before we go on summer break – never fear, we’ll come roaring back in late August!

Integrated means our lives have been made whole, put together right, rescued from ruin and restored to fruitfulness and vitality in Christ.  Through Christ, we become rightly connected to God, to our neighbors, to the world and to ourselves.  The many “short circuits” between head and heart, belief and behavior, our “inside” and our “outside” are getting properly “rewired.”

James has covered a lot of ground: how to meet and handle the tests and sufferings that come with learning to follow Jesus; the distinct differences between “true religion” and favoritism; our frequent disconnects between hearing and obeying, between faith and behavior; how to have our tongues move from being sources of toxicity to sources of blessing and life; about the true meanings of humility and submission, and some very stern warnings to the rich.

And, at the end, James’s final word: prayer.  But if we’ve been paying attention, it’s clear that prayer isn’t the final word; prayer is to be our first word, our last word, our continuing word, and our best word.

Whatever we find ourselves facing—trouble, sickness, joy, our tendencies to wander, our sin and its consequences—we are praying.  Not just praying “about it,” but “praying it” in ways that deepen our dependence upon and communion with the Lord Jesus.  Prayer isn’t simply one thing we do among many things; prayer is becoming who we are, a life of prayer and a life at prayer.  Whatever we’re facing, we’re praying it; whatever we’re in the middle of, we’re praying it; whatever we’re looking back upon, we’re praying it.  A life at prayer, a life of prayer, can take many forms and embrace all kinds of prayer practices; the important thing is to begin.

So whether it’s been quite a while since you’ve prayed, whether you feel “good at” prayer or not, here’s some great news: we get to be beginners.  Whether your “prayer life” is a masterpiece or a mess, you can simply begin afresh.

And begin now.

How could prayer become your “first word” as you head into each and every situation of the day?  How might it become more of a “last word” as you finish a task, a day, a month, a season … a lifetime?  How is God calling you to “continue” as a man or woman of prayer?  And what could it look like for prayer to become the “best” words of your life?