For a couple of months I have been working very hard to put together an online prayer program for you, my readers, and the members of my church. This idea has actually been in the making for years, but the last couple of months have all been pushing toward today. Or, so I thought. God had different plans.
For that past two days I spent a huge amount of time shooting a video loaded with great content on how to pray. It addresses several of the most common struggles people face with prayer i.e. an in ability to stay focused during prayer, feeling guilty about only coming to God when life is tough, etc.
This morning, when I sat down to upload and post the video, Viola! Nothing happen. My computer sounded off, the hard drive whirred happily, but I found myself staring at a black screen. Of all of the times for this to happen, now was really awful. Launch day and I am dead in the water with no access to my video. Yehaw!
Rather than go into a raving mad fit and shake my fists at the cosmos, I chose to trust that God’s got a different timeline in mind for this project than I do. Truth be told I felt like I was pushing the pace of the project a bit. In my heart I am pretty convinced God has been tapping me on the shoulder trying to tell me that I needed to slow down and get a few things right before launching. Well, I am listening now God.
Part of what I need to get right is a message of just what an amazing difference a life of consistent focused prayer can make in both our relationship with God and in our daily living. For example, being able to not freak out and trust God is in control when circumstance seem to conspire against me, like my laptop failing today, is in large part a byproduct of my prayer life.
I would love to hear from you how pray has transformed you, your life, and/or your relationship with God. Any feedback could be tremendously helpful in helping others understand the transformative value of prayer. The more concrete you can express those benefits the better.
I would especially love to hear any stories from those of you who have applied a tip from my book “Tips on Prayer” or from my blog. What did you apply and what was the change it made?
A big thank you ahead of time to anyone who shares a story.
Lastly, if you are running into obstacles and life isn’t going as you planned, what opportunity is available? How might God be leading you by closing doors? Remind yourself that God is in control. What does it mean for you to be faithful right now?
P.S. Once my laptop gets back, I promise to get my new video into your hands as soon as possible. It is loaded with practical instruction that you can apply immediately to your prayer life. I think you are going to love it.
Just downloaded your Tips On Prayer, and I think it will be very helpful. But, I HAVE to ask: how LONG do spend on your prayer routine every morning?! I think I spent 2 hours trying to cover it all! I’m “off” today, but I don’t have anywhere NEAR that kind of time on most days! Even on most days off, I need to try to accomplish something useful, although I tend to just want to rest and be online…
Anyway, thanks! I’m sure with God’s help I’ll get the hang of it eventually…!
Hey MK: Sorry, for the slow response. I have been out of town a fair bit. First, thanks for downloading “Tips on Prayer.” Second, regarding time…My baseline daily devotional time typically takes me about 15 to 20 minutes with the bulk of that time being prayer, scripture reading, and journaling. Sometimes I might spend a half hour or more, particularly, if I get caught up in journaling. From time to time, I will adopt a longer discipline. For example, once I prayed for an hour a day for 40 days, but that isn’t my norm. This stuff doesn’t include odds and ends of time when I prayer during the day, and recently I have started meeting with 3 other men by phone for prayer each Wednesday morning. The call usually is an hour or more. It depends on how much sharing we do before praying. We sort of peer counsel one another as well. So that hour isn’t all prayer. Just a couple of guidelines I would keep in mind regarding time–1) Keep in mind “Tips on Prayer” is a compendium of best practices. I am probably never doing all of those things at any given time. The book is essentially a resource tool box. Pick out of it only the tools you need at any given time. In fact, I would highly recommend only picking out one or two things at a time to work on. 2) Pray is as much about quality of time as quantity. What I call “checklist praying” is always a danger, particularly when we are time conscious. What I mean by “checklist praying” is getting in a mode where you become legalistic about getting in your 15 or 20 minutes and checking it off your list as done for the day. This is particularly easy to fall into if you use a particular prayer method for a long period of time. It becomes routine and you start going through the motions. 3) All of this said, just be conscientious and intentional about connecting with God daily. One heart-felt “I love you” or “thanks” is probably a golden moment in God’s day and may mean more than hours of going through the right looking motions of prayer. Please contact me again, if this isn’t helpful or you are struggling with prayer. Blessings.