bubblegum n prayers

i like today's rbc dailybread that likened his quarter that could buy him his favourite bubblegum from the machine to our prayers that releases the vast resources of God's blessings and character.
it is so true. there was a time when my prayers were not earnest and gradually i barely prayed. i felt so dry and i could literally feel Him closing the doors of His vast resources on me. anw i jus wanna say that prayer is so important! so so so important!

here are some lyrics from the song "My Desire".

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind
You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the king

I've sung this song a zillion times in church but never before had the lyrics glared at me the way it did today. It's always like that because God knows exactly when He wants to tell this to me; exactly when it would mean the way He wants it to mean to me. I know that lately He's trying to teach me to let go of myself. I'm trying too hard on my own at everything and I'm too stubborn to quit trying so hard. Even when I think I'm laying it down before Him, I'm actually not. It is so much more difficult than I had imagined it to be. I thought that if I were willing, it would come naturally. but I'm way more stubborn than that. Like shu said, it is something that we have to learn to do over and over again.

"The thistles of self-interest grow naturally within me, while the fruit that pleases God requires constant weeding and watering through prayer, confession, and obedience to the Lord. Without these, the soil of my heart will become choked with the thorns of trivial pursuits and greed.

'Keep your heart with all diligence,' Solomon wrote, 'for out of it spring the issues of life'"