How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!"
-Mary, mother of Jesus (Luke 1:46)
Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life! Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.
- Richard Foster1
In Luke 11, we see the disciples of Jesus ask Him, "Lord, please teach us how to pray!"
Prayer is a learning process! So often we see prayer as a matter of going through the motions, of something we do to remain pure and holy. And while holiness does become an aspect of prayer, it is by no means the sole purpose of prayer.
When walking, or perhaps fighting our way through a learning process, it should be understood that there will be questions, difficulties, even failure. Allow yourself to experiment with prayer! Give yourself the liberty to pray in different ways, different postures, different places. Be brutally honest with yourself when you realize that some prayer may not seem to "work" and then explore the what and why of the problem!
It is critical that we continually explore and discover how to have raw, real conversation with God. Without an effective prayer life, the rest of your spiritual core will have a hollowness to it.
For the next seven days you should devote yourself to a bold new approach to prayer! Pray in a new place… pray during different times of the day… pray with someone you normally would never pray with. Pray in comfort… pray in discomfort. Pray out loud… pray without words. Pray the prayers in Scripture… pray the words that you write with your own hand. Pray Haitian style. Pray the Lord's Prayer.
Just whatever you do… pray. Pray hard.
Challenge #1: Each day, rid yourself of the routine, mundane prayer exercises you commonly use. Stop using cut-n-paste prayer cliches. Your challenge is to pray one unique, purposeful prayer to God each day for the next seven days.
Share your thoughts and insights as you explore the discipline of prayer! Share also your ideas, unique methods of prayer, or any helpful advice that others could benefit from. If you help, here are a few resources to use:
Scripture References:
In Luke 11, we see the disciples of Jesus ask Him, "Lord, please teach us how to pray!"
Prayer is a learning process! So often we see prayer as a matter of going through the motions, of something we do to remain pure and holy. And while holiness does become an aspect of prayer, it is by no means the sole purpose of prayer.
When walking, or perhaps fighting our way through a learning process, it should be understood that there will be questions, difficulties, even failure. Allow yourself to experiment with prayer! Give yourself the liberty to pray in different ways, different postures, different places. Be brutally honest with yourself when you realize that some prayer may not seem to "work" and then explore the what and why of the problem!
It is critical that we continually explore and discover how to have raw, real conversation with God. Without an effective prayer life, the rest of your spiritual core will have a hollowness to it.
For the next seven days you should devote yourself to a bold new approach to prayer! Pray in a new place… pray during different times of the day… pray with someone you normally would never pray with. Pray in comfort… pray in discomfort. Pray out loud… pray without words. Pray the prayers in Scripture… pray the words that you write with your own hand. Pray Haitian style. Pray the Lord's Prayer.
Just whatever you do… pray. Pray hard.
Challenge #1: Each day, rid yourself of the routine, mundane prayer exercises you commonly use. Stop using cut-n-paste prayer cliches. Your challenge is to pray one unique, purposeful prayer to God each day for the next seven days.
Share your thoughts and insights as you explore the discipline of prayer! Share also your ideas, unique methods of prayer, or any helpful advice that others could benefit from. If you help, here are a few resources to use:
- http://www.spirithome.com/prayer_3.html
- Read Chapter 3 - "The Discipline of Prayer" in Richard Foster's Celebration of Disicpline
Scripture References:
- The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)
- Paul's Prayer for Wisdom (Eph. 1:15-19)
- Prayer of Rescue (Psalm 57)
- Experiencing Joy and Peace (Philippians 4:4-7)
- Prayer of Hope (Jeremiah 29:12-13
- Prayer of Confession (I John 1:9)
1. Celebration of Discipline, written by Richard Foster, p.33
Great Challenge. The topic of prayer and the importance of actually exercising it have been coming up a lot in my life lately...I think God is giving me a nudge.
ReplyDeleteI liked when you said "...prayer might not seem to work..." Usually in my case this means my heart is not in the right place, that I'm trying to get God to fit to me rather than the reverse.
I like how Foster kept using the example of children in relation to prayer. I never had really thought about it that way. I want to grow to be a leader of the Church, and so I have been trying to lead by the example of the current leaders of the church. Maybe this is the wrong approach.
ReplyDeleteOver here in Bozeman we've been talking about gaining the relationship with God like a father and his child. I feel like gaining the communication skills to talk with God like he is my father is another good challenge for me. Foster puts it as, "utter confidence... did not find it difficult or complicated to talk... nor do they feel embarrassed."
James 4:8, "Come near to God and he will come near to you."