Making PRAYER
part of your daily life
1 Thessalonians
5:17 “Pray at all times”
Relationships = relating = talking and listening
If you relate
well with someone you get a healthy relationship. It’s all about the need
to stay connected. This same principle also applies to our spiritual
lives. That’s why St Paul tells us that God wants us to be people of
prayer. Being a Christian means being a friend and follower of Jesus.
It’s not just believing
about
Jesus or God (accepting some religious facts as being true). It’s
believing / knowing / trusting Jesus (having a personal relationship with
Jesus as your Lord and Saviour).
Allowing prayer to shape your life
We can learn a
lot about prayer from the way limestone caves are formed: Our prayers are
like calcium rich tiny drops of water, slowly but surely transforming our
lives. Each prayer leaves its mark behind. Each prayer contributes to
our spiritual growth. Every prayer in some way or another changes the
person who prays; helping us to grow closer to Jesus.
-
Build up your life like a stalactite (drip by drip) and “hold on tight”
to Jesus!
Approach life with a prayerful attitude and let this in turn shape your
whole life: Your attitudes, your relationships and your decision making.
-
The
best decisions in life are always those in which you include God in your
decision.
Prayerfully ask yourself: What would Jesus do? What would God want me
to do? What would glorify Jesus here? What would best reflect God’s
love and grace?
Praying with listening ears and an open heart
Many people make
the mistake of imagining that prayer is mostly about
talking. Prayer
is actually just as much
listening to God.
If
you pray without expecting God to answer at all, you will miss what God
wants to say to you because you’re not listening for it.
· Learn
to listen so you can hear
God’s
answer.
If you pray but only expect to hear the answer that
you want, then
you will miss the real message that God has for you.
Live
on the “pray-as-you-go” plan
The spiritual
discipline of making prayer part of your daily life means reminding
yourself throughout the day that God is with you – and drawing strength
from that truth and letting it lead you into prayer. A helpful metaphor
here is
an
automatic door at
a shopping mall - Its sensors detect your movement and open the door for
you. In the same way, God wants us to use our sensors to pick up what is
happening around us and then respond to it in prayer. As people who pray
when they drive will tell you – you don’t have to close your eyes when you
pray! In fact it is often better to keep them open and see what is around
you and let that be a trigger to prayer.
Lord,
teach us to pray …
Tell Jesus that
you want to grow closer to him and that you want to share your daily walk
with him. Jesus will say “yes” to that prayer because that’s exactly what
he wants for you
too! Go on, ask him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
three-step process to help you make prayer part of your daily life:
1. At the start
of the day dedicate that day to God. Tell Jesus that you trust him with
each situation and every interaction that will happen.
2. During the day remind yourself that you have asked Jesus to walk with
you throughout the day and that he is with you at all times.
3. When you encounter a difficulty, a need, or a joy let that trigger
your prayer: “Jesus, help me.” “Lord, bless them.” “Thank you, Jesus.”
Like learning to ride a bicycle, the
best way to learn how to pray is simply by giving it a go and start
praying. God will help you. Don’t worry about “getting the words right”–
simply open your heart to God and talk to him.
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