"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14-15

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46

Monday, January 14, 2008

When You Pray

I was reading my Bible over the weekend and was struck by this phrase in Matthew that said, "when you pray." It didn't say, if you pray, but when. It not only was mentioned once, but three times. The Lord reminded me of the importance of having an attitude of prayer throughout each day. It is something that should be characteristic of my life as a Christian. I want to be known as a woman of prayer and devotion to God.

Yesterday at church services my pastor spoke on prayer. What was especially meaningful was that he didn't just speak about it, but had us actually do something about it. He set up four stations throughout our church sanctuary and had us get up and move to each station to pray. Prayer for ourselves, prayer for our community of believers, prayer for our leaders, and prayer for the lost.

So what is characteristic of your prayer life? If or When?

6 comments:

Kimberly said...

Hi!
I found you through Lysa's blog. I thought I would stop by. I love your page! Beautiful, and your love for the Lord shines through your words!
I love prayer. I love being able to be so open and honest with my Father.I love knowing He not only hears, but He also ansers. But I know I need to pray even more. I need to work on keeping that attitude of prayer through my whole day!
Thanks for the encouragement and the reminder!
In Him,
Kimberly

Kimberly said...

(Added note: I must need to pray about my spelling! :) That would be "answers" not "ansers"!) :)
Kimberly

Karen said...

I'm a new believer, and prayer, specifically HOW to pray, befuddled me for a long time, LOL. In my travels online I came across this mp3 download by John Loftness, via the Sovereign Grace Ministries website:

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=A1205-04-51

(you may need to copy/paste that if it doesn't link automatically)

In it, John talks about the Lord's Prayer and how that can be used as a blueprint to structure other prayers. It's now permanently on my iPod :) Once downloaded you can play it on your computer via any media player.

As a newbie, I got so much out of this message.

Cheers,
Lizzie
http://lizzieshome.blogspot.com/

Sisterlisa said...

I am an early to rise kinda gal for prayer and then throughout the day. Being a homeschooling mom we stop to pray when they're not 'getting' a concept. When they're not getting along, and at meal times. Then there's times when I get to be alone with each child and pray then too.

Anne said...

As I open my eyes each morning, my goal is to have God be my first thought. Then I spend time in quiet meditating upon the Scripture readings for the day, taking a good 10-15 minutes to really talk with God. I do morning devotions with my home school children, since the 2 older ones are gone by 7am. We pray before each meal and will stop through our day to offer up a prayer. Our goal is to also say a rosary each day, meditating upon different periods of Our Lord's life. We end each day with family prayer time before the little ones are sent off to bed. I end my day with my own examination of conscience of how my day went...what I did good (praising God for that grace) and what I need to work on tomorrow and asking God's forgiveness for my many failings. And as I lay my head on my pillow, my last thoughts try to be of Our Lord.

So I bring God into my day, throughout my day and keep what St. Paul said about 'praying unceasingly' in my heart.

Natalie Witcher said...

Before my six week old :) I got up everyday for over 7 years to meet with the Lord. I still do, but it's kind of around her schedule right now. I'm a journaler delux and love digging into the word with the Spirit!