Prayer

Could your prayer life use a tune up? 

How often do we get distracted and not make time to pray?  Or we just don’t feel like our prayers are working and quit?  Or we just don’t think we’re getting it right?  I guess that’s why there are lots of books on my shelves about prayer.  I want to learn to pray better! 

In prayer we lay it all out to God, our hopes, our dreams, our pain, our sorrow, our joy, our confusion, our fear and our success.  Prayer is a risky business because it’s through prayer that God takes all that and changes us and the world.   “In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him:  to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills.  Progressively, we are taught to see things from his point of view.”  (Foster)

But most of all in prayer, I express my love for God and feel God’s love for me. This is what motivates me to pray often and why I try to pray, as St. Paul says, without ceasing. 

Prayer, like meditation, is learned.  It takes practice.  But it’s not about finding the right words or the right ‘formula’ – it’s about openness and honesty and trust. It’s about nurturing a loving relationship with God.  Just as there is no ‘short-course’ on marriage, there is no ‘short-course’ on prayer.  So rather than give you suggested ways to pray, I’m asking you to take some time to think about the following questions.  

What does it mean to you to pray?   The words for prayer in the Bible mean to petition, to request, to beg, to meditate, to bow down, to wish.  Prayer is all of those things and more.  For me, prayer is an act of faith.  Prayer is an act of love. God is concerned about and responds to human needs. God loves you and wants to hear from you!   “Prayer is, above all else, a response to God’s initiative.  We can lift our mind and heart and voice to God in prayer because of the life and love that has been given to us.” (Patricia Brown)

Who are you praying for?  I like the way Richard Foster’s book, Prayer, Finding the Heart’s True Home, organizes the subjects of our prayers in three broad categories ---- moving inward, moving upward and moving outward.  Prayers that move us inward seek to transform, to change us!  Prayers of confession and grief, prayers that help us examine who we really are.  Then there are the prayers that focus on God - prayers of adoration and praise.  Prayers that express our love of God.  And then there are prayers that focus on the needs of others – prayers of petition, intercession and healing.  Some days my prayers are all about me…some days they are all about God, others are about the needs of the world….Some days they are all over the map.   Prayer guides my loving – love for self, for God, and for the world.

How do you pray?  Prayer is not one-size fits all.  There are many kinds of prayers and many ways to pray.  God created you special and because of that your relationship with God is unique.  So is how you pray.  You can pray Scripture or the prayers of the church, you can write your prayers (journal!), you can say breath prayers throughout the day, you can go on prayer walks.  You can sit still, you can kneel, you can move around, you can be silent, or you can speak out loud.  It really doesn’t matter how you pray  - it just matters that you do!  Pray in a way that reflects your love.   (By the way, I have a little quiz you can take to identify your prayer style.  Just let me know if you’d like to try it!)

My prayer for you today is that you not wait until you feel like praying – but set aside time each day to pray, to connect with God who loves you more than you will ever know. 

Peace,

Susan

Next…..Fasting

Drawn primarily from Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growth as the outline for these devotions:  The Inward Disciplines of Meditation, Prayer, Fasting and Study;  The Outward Disciplines of Simplicity, Solitude, Submission and Service; and The Corporate Disciplines of Confession, Worship, Guidance and Celebration.