I am not a good pray-er. I try not to pretend to be. As Bono might say, "I'm not easy on my knees." I have gone through seasons in my life when prayer was wonderful and meaningful and the sustenance of my life. And I have gone through seasons when I have not prayed at all. And it seems that I am always on the lookout for things that will help me be a better pray-er.
On Friday, a book arrived at Family Christian Store that immediately captivated me. It is The Papa Prayer by Larry Crabb. First, I am a huge Larry Crabb fan. His books have been formative in many ways in my life. Second, I was taken by the subtitle, "You think you know, but you have no idea. The prayer you've never prayed." I took home a copy, but didn't get to it. Until last night. I have now in two sittings read two-thirds of Crabb's book. And the subtitle is right. I had no idea. And I can't wait to start praying the Papa prayer. I will post more later about it, but something is stirring, Aslan is on the move, and I am getting very excited.
6 comments:
I know exactly what you mean. I can go weeks without a good prayer life. I am the one who suffers. I try to keep in constant communication with God all day sometimes. It makes me feel like crap when I look back on the days I did not pray. Just like Jesus by Max Lucado is another eye opener.
fb, when you said: "I try to keep in constant communication with God all day sometimes." is that not the prime *model* to pursue? I am not speaking against purposeful prayer, but I am thinking if MORE people felt LESS obligation to have a "prayer life" and just communicated with God on an ongoing basis, they would find they can better hear when God *whispers*
Sandy
If I can always have my thoughts focused on God. The less guilt I feel when I don't set aside a time just for purposeful prayer. It is still important for me to pray alone with my door closed, and to ask God for the things I need. Both sides of prayer are important, and both serve differant functions in my life. Constant communication helps my mind focused on Godly things, and saves me from temptation. Private purposeful prayer is just a more personal connection for me. You are exactly right in what you say. The trick is doing both of these things.
fb...I love that you said: "Private purposeful prayer is just a more personal connection for me." because you are recognizing that while for you the private purposeful way is more powerful, you are allowing that the mix may be different for others. How I wish more people would know that and more leaders would help people grasp their spirituality on a one by one with God thing.
Just got this in the mail..Thought I'd share it here...
HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED TO PRAY AT WORK
When a co-worker comes in a little too happy singing "good morning" to
everyone and you think, "Somebody needs to slap the s#@! out of her"...You
need to pray at work.
When someone comes in and announces, "office meeting in 5 minutes," and you
think, "what the f*&% do they want now?"..... You need to pray at work.
When your computer is mysteriously turned off and you want to say, "which
one of you sons of b*&^%$# turned off my computer?"..... You need to pray at
work.
When you and a co-worker are discussing something, and a third person comes
in and says, "well at my last office..." and you want to throw a stapler at
him...... You need to pray at work.
When you hear a co-worker call your name and the first thing that crosses
your mind is, "what the h*&^ does she want now?" and you try to hide
underneath your desk......... You need to pray at work.
When you are asked to stay late and help do someone else's work and the
first thing that pops in your head is, "both of y'all can kiss my a@@!!"....
You need to pray at work.
When you're in the elevator and it stops to pick up someone who stood for
five minutes waiting for the darn thing only to go DOWN one floor, and you
say "that lazy b*&%$#"...... You need to pray at work.
When you take some vacation time and come back to find a mountain of
paperwork sitting on your desk because no one else would do it and you
think, "sorry a## M#$^%F%&#s"....... You need to pray at work.
If you have ever thought about poisoning, choking, punching, slapping or
flattening someone's tires that you work with...... You need to pray at
work.
If you avoid saying more than hello or how are you doing to someone because
you know it's going to lead to their life story .......You need to pray at
work.
If you know all the words that have been bleeped out....You need to
pray...period!
That is awesome! The Outrageous Claims of God by Lee Strobel has a whole chapter on being a Christian at work. Infact that whole book is a great guide for a small group discussion.
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