I do not know about you, but I have struggled with my prayer life frequently. It goes without saying, though, that through prayer we build our relationship with God and our expectation of what he can do through us and in us.
How is your prayer life?
Be blessed!
4 comments:
The two things I have struggled with the most in my prayer/devotional life have been setting time aside for God, and then actually finding something to say when I get around to it.
It's not that I don't have the time: my job affords me hours on end of time where I have absolutely nothing to do. I have free time outside of my job. But when I'm trying to find time to pray, the tiniest things distract me. The most uninteresting and unimportant things become urgent enough, it seems, to put off praying.
And those few times when I finally did get around to getting on my knees and talking to God, I found that I had nothing to say to him. I suppose it's only natural; the less you talk to someone, the less you have to say to them. So obviously, it becomes uncomfortable, and I unconsciously I try to spend as little time with God as possible.
So I was feeling kind of desperate and parched, in a spiritual way, more often than not. I had brief periods when my prayer and devotional life was good. Sadly, those periods were the exception.
Then, quite recently, I heard about the ancient discipline of fixed-hour prayer, what is called "Praying the hours" or "the Daily Office." Desperate to have a better prayer life, I decided I'd try it. I picked up a prayer manual (otherwise known as a breviary) to help me do this. Set prayers are prayed at set times (so it doesn't depend on my own preference anymore, the times are set for me), in a set order; there are seven daily "offices", day and night, but the main ones are the four daytimes ones: morning, noon, evening, and bedtime. I pray the Gloria and the Lord's Prayer, portions of scripture (especially the psalms, from which most of the prayers are drawn) as well as other prayers which are set out in the prayer book.
To a lot of people who are not used to reciting prayers, this seems weird. I'm still getting used to it. But, on a personal level, I find it helps "get the juices flowing," so to speak; it gives me something to pray about, it puts me in an attitude of prayer from which I can then offer my own, more personal prayers to God. It forces me to stop whatever I'm doing, three or four times a day, and just devote my attention to offering prayer and worship to God.
And I also find a lot of satisfaction in the thought that praying words that I did not myself come up with on the spot makes the praying less about me and what I want, and more about God and the body of Christ, whom I am praying with. Imagine the (literally) millions upon millions of Christians who have prayed these same words, or some variation of them, before me, who are praying them at the same time as me and who will pray them again after me! It becomes not only praying at the same times as the Church, but literally playing WITH the church, I'm praying as a part of the body of Christ. I find that amazing.
Right now I feel almost like a baby, learning how to pray all over again. I'm trying to keep this up and make prayer ever more meaningful, ever more the centre of my life. I want to make every day sacred to him, and I pray that he guides me into doing it in a way that is acceptable to him.
Paulo, I love the cartoon - a picture is truly worth a 1,000 words! David, thank you so much for sharing your experience with prayer...it gave me the support to share a bit about mine.
Some years ago, before I was guided to Woodvale, I purposely sought out spiritual direction to get centred in Christ. I found the Upper Room, a place of prayer where I met with others with a desire for a closer relationship with God. I learned how to simply be still in His presence, to empty my mind of distraction (still learning!). Then I can hear His voice. I learned about discernment, and how to know what His voice sounds like, and that His voice never contradicts His Word. Those daily commitments to meet with God in prayer has become a continuous communication in relationship with a constant companion who truly is closer than a brother. He is ever present, and loves to kick it with us anywhere anytime ... especially when we're dealing with 'stuff'! There is absolutely NOTHING that He does not already know about our lives, and will be in anything with us when we invite him.
Thanks for listening!
I pray every morning in the shower - I'm not awake before that! :-)
The best prayer "jumpstart" I've had recently was the two weeks I spent at OVPC family camp. Sunday night was great, and encouraged me to be more intentional about speaking in tongues regularly, as part of my daily prayer life.
In 2003 I got a different understanding of what prayer means for me.
If Jesus wants to be my friend and I wanna be his, then I've got to talk to him like he was right there with me.
I spend the entire day giving him tidbits of information as they arise, let him say his piece, and the day goes on just like that.
I haven't taken a chunk out of my day to designate it as prayer time. That is what helps me, then I don't have to remember what I promised to pray for, or thank him for the wonderful events...
Know what I mean?
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