Prayer

At Bible Study last Tuesday, we were talking about the discipline of prayer. It was a very thought-provoking study and I thought our leaders did an awesome job of humbly talking about their own goals and sometimes shortcomings when dealing with prayer. Here are some of the key points we talked about. Do you have any hints or insights to add for developing a meaningful prayer life?

*There are two kinds of prayer: the scheduled, daily "stuff" --- like prayer before meals, maybe a devotion before bedtime that you do every night, etc. and the ongoing, sporadic prayer --- we should be in constant communication with God and live our lives in such a way that it is a prayer uplifted to God. For this type, I always remember part of a sermon by Pastor P, who compared this type of prayer to being married (of course, this example is, or should be, to a much different degree) --- you are married to your spouse, but you are not with your spouse 24/7, but you should live in such a way that is honoring to your spouse, maybe show outward signs that you are married, and talk about your spouse and let others meet your spouse, etc, etc.

*Some reasons why people don't pray as much as they should, or would like to: some people believe prayers aren't answered or that God will do what He wants anyways so why bother, some people get into the busyness of life and forgot to ask God/praise God/tell God about it, people feel inexperienced or don't feel they know how to pray effectively, etc.

*There are tons of places in the Bible that focus on prayer (we looked at a few of them) -- Jesus prayed all the time, the disciples tell others that prayer is uberimportant and people in the OT knew to lift up their prayers to God. One spot (now I can't remember which verses...) basically said that God would've healed this person sooner but there was no one interceding on his behalf. So, he still healed the person (as per His plan), but it would've been quicker had people been praying for this person.


I know JJ and I always plan to do specific devotionals and lots of times they fall by the wayside after a few days or weeks. Then it gets frustrating. JJ often likes to pray by himself and I prefer to pray outloud together. It's definitely a balancing act of finding ways that work but making sure to give God the time He deserves. At one time I was very faithful about listening to a Bible podcast. It was awesome - this guy shared a bit about the passage (one or two chapters from the OT, one psalm, a few verses of Proverbs and a half of a chapter to a whole chapter from the NT) and then read it. It was interesting and got me digging into my Bible. But, after a few months it became something on my "to-do list" and that made me get frustrated at myself, thus negating what I had set out to do in the first place. I think if I would've concentrated my prayers on asking God to bless this time it would've been more fruitful.

Anyways, just some random thoughts about prayer.