The Priority of Prayer

I've grown up thinking that prayer is something done in church, before meals and in one's own time. You are supposed to get up 15 minutes earlier (ha! yeah right!!) to do devotions or stay up 15 minutes later to do them in the evening (much more likely). You steal away to a quiet place to pray or you do it in the privacy of your own home. You pray at Bible Studies and with groups of friends and at Sunday School and before tests. There are many places to pray and very few places not to pray.

However. I have never thought that prayer was something one could get paid to do. Often I find myself at my desk with a challenge or an obstacle sitting before me.
To make this program the most effective, should I do it this way or that way? Is there something that could make it even better? Is this what people need or is it just what I want? How do I know if this is what God wants accomplished or what I want accomplished?
Staring at my computer does not provide any answers. However, leaning back in my chair, staring at the ceiling in prayer does, just not always immediately.

The most obvious and easy answer is prayer. Just ask God! I mean, duh! He's all-knowing, omnipotent, He sees the past, present and future all at the same time. What an amazing resource ready to answer any question I ask. Before I even ask the question, I know God will answer. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Mt. 7:7-8 It seems so obvious, prayer!

God has truly blessed me to prepare a place for me to work where I can learn what it means to put Him first in real life, not just a theoretical and hypothetical life we dream about in college.