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| Many
of us struggle to bring God into the busyness of our lives. Our
busy schedule can squeeze out our prayer time, and when we do pray,
we may find it difficult to bring our activities to God as prayer
topics. We might think that God can't possibly be interested in
our work life, or in our housework, or our leisure time. Yet the
God who is the Lord of all of our lives, is interested in everything
we do.
Brother Lawrence was
a seventeenth century French monk who knew God's presence at all
times. His writings, borne out of experience of the bustle of
a monastery kitchen, have much to teach us today. "God is everywhere, in all places, and
there is no spot where we cannot draw near to Him, and hear Him
speaking in our heart." His
central teaching is that we need to practice being aware of God's
presence. "Whoever
practices God's presence will soon become spiritual." "How can
we be with Him, unless our thoughts are with Him? How can He be
in our thoughts unless we form a holy habit of abiding in His
presence, there asking for the grace we need each moment of our
life?" Paul writes
to the Ephesians : "Pray all the time, asking for what you
need." (Eph 6:18)
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Idea
: Why not practice
the presence of God today? If you have a watch that beeps on the
hour, allow it to do so for a day or two, and despite the potential
for irritating your colleagues or neighbours, use this to prompt
you to become aware of God's presence at that precise moment.
Alternatively, put a coloured dot on your diary, or on your
mobile phone. Every time you see it, pray a brief prayer for someone
in your mind at that time. |
| As well
as finding God in the activity of modern living, we also need to
find time to draw aside. Yet this can be hard to do - for one activity
leads to the next in ceaseless pattern, leaving the only opportunity
for a quiet time, the moment when we climb into bed exhausted, and
in no condition for productive prayer. |
| Idea :
If you are often driven by your diary, with one appointment after
another, why not let your diary help you? Book yourself an appointment
with God for prayer - it may only be a half-hour slot, but you can
guarantee that He will never be late for it, unlike some of your
other appointments! Look back over your weekly pattern to identify
some ten to fifteen minute periods that you can use to be with God.
Maybe there is a TV programme that you watch regularly, but don't
really enjoy. |
| Once people have started
praying, the most common barrier to prayer is wandering thoughts,
even amongst people who pray a great deal. Don't
worry about your mind getting distracted, but gently bring it back
to focus on God, and the area you were praying about. Just as when
we are in conversation with others, our minds do have some apparently
irrelevant thoughts, and need to be returned to the topic at hand.
Many Christians
lead busy lives, with our minds working in overdrive to cover
all of the things that we need to think about in our various roles.
When we stop to pray, it takes time for our mind to change track
and to focus in on God. Therefore it can be good to ease
into prayer gently, perhaps by listening to a praise and worship
CD, or by reading a psalm or another passage from the Bible, or
simply by reflecting on what we have to be thankful for.
Then we can enter into a conversation with God with our minds
properly prepared.
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| Idea
: We can pray
at all times and in all places, and it is good to develop the confidence
in prayer to do this. However, it is also good to be able to find
somewhere where your thoughts are less easily distracted for deeper
times of prayer and mediation. In your "prayer corner" you
might find it helpful to have other items around you, eg a bible,
a cross or perhaps a candle. |
| One
structure for prayer is given by the acronym "ACTS", representing
adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (or intercession.)
This is one order, where we start off focusing on who God is, and
praising him for that. Others find a CATS pattern helpful, beginning
by clearing out of the way the things that sadden God in our lives,
before we can go onto praise him. Let's look briefly at each
in turn :
Adoration
is to adore God, to worship him and to fulfil the commandment
to love him with all of our heart, mind and soul. As we spend
time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator,
our Sustainer and our Redeemer.
Confession
allows us to clear away the things in the relationship between
you and God which are displeasing to Him. All of us have
sinned. St John writes in his epistle
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify
us from all unrighteousness." (I
Jn 1:8,9)
Thanksgiving.
From childhood we are brought up to say "Thank You" when someone
does something for us, or gives us a gift. Each moment God
is blessing us, every minute we can recall the wonderful things
that God has done for us, and the gifts that we have been given.
And so, we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings.
In writing to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that we also need to
be giving thanks for everyday, worldly things "
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession
and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all
those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives
in all godliness and holiness."
1 Tim 2:1.
Supplication
or Intercession. Finally we come to ask God for
our needs and the needs of others. There are many demands on our
prayer time - many topics and issues that we could pray for, so
we need to choose, and to be specific.
Pray for others.
In the epistles of St Paul, we read of him praying for
those he has led to faith, and asking them also to pray for him.
So, you too can pray for other Christians, and encourage them
to pray for you. Pray for your familiy members, and for neighbours
and friends. It's also good to pray for those who don't know Jesus
to come to faith - many Christians have come to believe in Christ
through the prayers of others.
Pray for world
issues : for peace in difficult situations, for leaders and
those in influential positions, for global issues such as care
of God's environment, justice for the poor, relief of suffering
in less developed countries, and other issues that come to you.
Pray for your own
needs too. It's easy to neglect this, but Jesus encourages
us to do so in the Lord's Prayer - the model for prayer that He
gave us.
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| These
ideas come from a sermon at Glasgow's Elim Church and from
Bill Hybel's book "Too busy not to pray" which in the church
library. It is a great way to explore the central role of regular
prayer in our Christian lives. |
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