One of Jesus' more hard-hitting stories is the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25:14-29. It tells of a man who trusted his servants with his property; and most of them looked after the talents they were given by doubling what they'd received. A 'talent' was an amount of currency, like a 'dollar'. All good. But, one told his boss: 'I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground' (Matthew 25:25 NKJV). In response he is called a 'wicked and lazy servant' (Matthew 25:26 NKJV). The story ends with the servant being sacked and punished.

Harsh? It may seem so on the surface, but if we dig a little deeper we'll see the point Jesus is trying to drive home. The servant told his boss he was afraid. He was afraid to take a risk with the gift he had been given. He was afraid of how his master would react if he failed, so he didn't even try.

God's pretty keen for us to develop the gifts he's given each of us, especially the gift of himself. By spending time with him, and stepping out of our comfort zone to share him with others, we're investing in his Kingdom. To not do so is a wasted opportunity to introduce people to a wonderful God who saves and loves them.

So what now? Comfort-zone testing time. Today, ask God to meet someone's needs. Better still, if you can, step out and ask that person if you can meet with them to pray for their situation. Use your God-given talents.

Have we ever said to ourselves: 'Right, I've a free evening, I'll just pray for the next 30 minutes', then four minutes in we've covered everything we can think of and we're done. It's easy to start feeling guilty about it. Classic guilt-train destinations: 'Wow, God must be pretty peeved at me, I can't even concentrate for five minutes', 'I must be one of those bad Christians', etc.

It's OK, it happens. Instead of beating ourselves up about it, use whatever's on our mind as something to pray about. Our work, a relationship or a health matter - if it's something that's weighing us down then God wants us to tell him about it. 'He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him' (Psalm 91:15 NIV). It's clear that God will have our backs when we call out to him for help. For those who need a little more convincing, Jesus said 'If you serve me, you must go with me. My servants will be with me wherever I am. If you serve me, my Father will honour you' (John 12:26 CEV).

The more we offer everything up to God, the more our prayer life will flow into our everyday life. The more we find our flow, the more we'll experience God working beautifully and supernaturally in our lives.

So what now? That secret place you found yesterday. Get settled in it and pray through the first things that came into your mind this morning.

Prayer is such a personal thing, because it's us being open and honest with God about what's on our heart and mind. So we need to find a way of praying that suits us. Jesus said: 'When you pray, go into your room, and... pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly' (Matthew 6:6 NKJV). Meaning - where's the place we go, what's the thing we do to spend time with God? For some people it's a morning walk with him. For others, it's sitting by themselves and talking to him in the quietness of their heart. Whatever our go-to is, the only 'right' way, is to be able to talk to and be honest with God in a way we're comfortable with.

One of the many great things about God is that we can talk with him anywhere at any time. Jesus dying on the cross didn't trade our massive spiritual debts for some exclusively heavenly reward: God's love is wall-less, so we can get more of him here, now. The curtain in the temple tore in two. Before, only the high priests were able to talk to God on behalf of everyone. Now, we can personally approach his throne of grace (see Hebrews 4:16).

So what now? Where's your secret place? Where can you be available and vulnerable with God, and where might you find it easier to pray? Find that place, and set it apart for prayer time.

One of the Kings of Israel, Hezekiah, was being intimidated by Sennacherib, King of Assyria. And Hezekiah's first response? 'After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see' (Isaiah 37:14 CEV). In his letter, Sennacherib was playing the intimidation game. He was trying to throw his weight around, talking up how big his army was, about all the nations he had conquered and how Hezekiah's God couldn't save him.

Any guesses what happened next? He was made to eat his words. Hezekiah didn't try and oppose the Assyrian army in his own power; he turned to God and laid the bullying letter out to him. How did it turn out: 'The Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them all in one night' (Isaiah 37:36 CEV).

So, what's our 'intimidating letter'? What's our distressing news, work deadline, failing relationship? No matter what it is, know this: our God is greater than what we face, and he doesn't want us to carry our fear alone.

So what now? If you're feeling intimidated, at work, college or, yes, even at church - chat to someone godly who has people experience under their belt. Ask God to provide you with good advice

Those times when we're in a prayer meeting and absolutely everything's going through our mind - except what's being prayed for. Everything seems to be a distraction, from the rumble informing us we haven't eaten to organising our schedule.

Here's something that should be a relief: we have someone praying for us 24/7. A wise, patient, kind person who just enjoys spending time with people and with God. We find the identity of this person in Romans 8:27 GWT: 'The Spirit intercedes for God's people the way God wants him to.' Let's take a moment to let that sink in. The Holy Spirit is constantly praying for us, for our family, for our anxieties, for our future. That's a sweet deal. The work of the Holy Spirit is to join our spirit with God's, making us more like him.

To maximise this godly connection, let's work towards a more focussed prayer time. Here are two tips: (a) Phone on silent (or off completely!). It's very possible to survive 15 minutes without our phone! (b) Do our best to fight through any tiredness or distractedness - if we can fight past tiredness to watch an extra episode, we can do it for God.

So what now? Make a dedicated effort to spend quality time with God today. Firstly, thank the Holy Spirit that he has brought you before your heavenly Father already.

CS Lewis said, 'Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.' When we refuse to forgive a person who has hurt us, we may feel like we're powerful. But it's a false power. Unforgiveness is like sipping poison and expecting someone else to die. Jesus puts the focus squarely on us: how we're going to deal with the hurt. In Matthew 5:39 NLT, he says 'If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.' That's massively challenging. And the attitude Jesus is talking about here is extremely counter-cultural.

When we have negative words spoken to us, let's test them. If there is any truth in them, our job is to take that truth on board and allow what's been said to change us for better. If there is no truth in them, let's not hold to the words, but brush them off and show grace to whoever hurt us (that's where turning the other cheek comes in).

It's not our job to control other people and their responses - it's our job to control and manage our own emotional health. When we're next wronged by someone, let's not retaliate or hold onto anger or resentfulness, but show the other cheek by offering forgiveness and letting go of the offence.

So what now? Is there someone you're finding hard to forgive? Slowly, carefully, bring them before God. Slowly: obviously, it can't be rushed. Carefully: forgiveness means asking God to allow his forgiveness to flow through you to them bit by bit.