Good Morning, dear friends.

I like to hear from other people who are on the journey--people who want God in their lives--who are endeavoring to think deeper, truer thoughts, and turn them into prayer. . . I have included five of the responses to my questions yesterday: How is your prayer life? What are your challenges? What is most meaningful to you? Where do you lack? The responses below were from women and men~

>I seem to pray more when things are not going as well. I know this is the opposite of what I should do. I feel disconnected lately as we have missed church for the past few weeks and work is getting harder and more frustrating. I do find that when I pray, I like to do it while I lay in bed first thing when I wake up, as I always wake up first. I know when I have a big day in front of me I find it helps the stress levels…

>It was a really good study this morning. Psalm 5 is in my head. I remember from waaay back @ Costa Mesa Calvary, where I accepted the Lord, "Big John," (I think we called him) had the most beautiful voice... and he sang that scripture in a song. It just brought back such a good memory for me..a good time in my younger years...a stable time. So I never forgot those words, or the melody of the song. So thank you for that... and prompting me to examine my prayer life. I do need to set time apart from all else, (even driving) to pray because I know God honors that. It is difficult in a busy home...

>I personally struggle with prayer because I think it has been lost to this idea of always simply asking for help. As a Catholic, you pray to everyone, the saints, to Mary, to Jesus, to God, and always it seems it is in the name of asking for help in some form or another. However, I've always thought of prayer as a means of self reflection and meditation in the presence of God.

>Challenges: sometimes thinking that I am always *asking* for something.

But then there are plenty of times where praise and thanks are given.

The best feeling in the world is when you have been praying and praying and praying and then finally, it's answered. And you almost fall on the ground, your heart pounding with joy and you get the biggest smile and just shout out Thank You! I LOVE that feeling. It's a feeling that can carry you for several hours, sometimes even days when you reflect back on it

>My prayer life--for me, its a constant challenge. I tend to pray at nite-- thank the LORD GOD for the day or ask for help if there are any issues.

The hardest part is the validation-- sometimes I feel that there are so many other people that need his focus that I'm being selfish.

I also get hung up on the wording.

Let us order some of the feelings and dealings about prayer in a way that we might learn from each other's experiences--

First - In order to come into prayer fully expectant of meeting God, we must endeavor to think rightly about God, for as Tozer said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." I believe we must realize something about God's character, and certainly about His abiding love for us. . . Oh, we won't be able to fully grasp either, but try we must! You see, God is wild about you; He thinks you are delightful; He considers you to be fearfully and wonderfully made. You might notice that your biceps aren't as big as they were in college, while your waist size is bigger than it was in college--but He doesn't. He is interested in you, at your core. . . It is one of the greatest mysteries in this life to contemplate just what His love for us might mean, if only we could grasp it. Unfortunately, we have let others be the 'keeper of the keys' as to our worth, and let others interpret God's character to us, instead of investigating it on our own, searching out Scripture, and pouring ourselves into developing an ever-deeper experiential relationship with him. So as for being selfish in going to God in prayer--because others might need His help more. . . remember, His storehouses are limitless, His attention able to reach each of us individually, and His desire to talk with us in prayer incredible. You know, I always thought it would be cool to have a man who could sing to me--I just realized I have Him, and what's more, He has me--Scripture tells me God 'will sing over me with His love'. (Zephaniah 3.17) Go ahead. . . top that. (That was a loaded paragraph; you may want to read it again)

,

Second, I think that creating order in our prayer time is a way of feeling more complete. . . in the prayer model our Lord gave us, we can make an acronym; while there are several, I should like to offer you mine. A.C.A.T., from a message I delivered to a high school group about 10 years ago entitled, "How to skin A CAT"-- a message on prayer.

A is for Adoration - taking a moment to start your prayer by giving God his 'due', praising him for who he is.

C is for Confession - searching your self, and allowing God to also show anything you need to confess and turn away from

A is for Asking - for your needs--and also interceding for the needs of others

T is for thanking God for his good gifts to you--for your health, God's Word, Heaven, your spouse, your children, your job, sunshine,

hope, grace, forgiveness, mercy, news days. . . you get the idea.

When I am able, I like to write my prayers in a spiral notebook, using this grid to stay focused--I am present with my pen, and my mind is not apt to wander. The notebook also serves as a record of God's unending faithfulness in my life. Now, if you like to pray in your car--perhaps you could put the four words on a post-it note and put it on your dashboard, turn off your radio, and pray out loud. This is not to make you feel regimented, but to give you the freedom to pray about all that is in your life, without getting lost or distracted. Plus, with the advent of the 'blue tooth', folks will just assume you are talking on the phone--so go ahead, pour out your heart and mind to God. Christine