Prayer

Howdy Blog Blog,

As I shared in my previous post, I am reading Prayer by Richard J Foster along with the Bloom Book Club, and boy howdy has it gotten me thinking about prayer. Obviously :)

Foster's words have been an eye opener for me. The words he writes are the words I think in my own heart. Right off the bat in chapter one, he starts describing me. "We today yearn for prayer and hide from prayer" (pg 7). My relationship with prayer wrapped up in a nutshell.

Prayer has always been hard for me. Where do I start??? There are so many things and people that need prayer I couldn't possibly cover them all! If I pray for myself, then I just feel selfish and petty. I know God is not a vending machine god. Just as Foster describes, I felt/feel that I cannot pray because I have to have everything just right to pray. Heck, isn't that why I am reading the book??

"We will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough, or know enough in order to pray rightly. We simply must set all these things aside and begin praying. In fact, it is in the very act of prayer itself...that these matters are cared for in due time" (pg 8).

Wow. This was like a major DUH to my heart. Doesn't the Bible say it is not by works that we gain our heavenly home? So why on earth do I feel like I need to WORK towards prayer??

Honestly, I guess it is because I feel it is difficult to hold a one-way conversation. Gulp. Honesty or transparency? Yipes.

So as I cruise through the pages of Prayer, I am reminding myself to pray more. Mostly I am praying Simple Prayer, with a little Intercessory Prayer thrown in. Simple Prayer is probably the most basic of all types of prayer and one that most people probably participate in. In Simple Prayer "[w]e do not try to sort things out, the good from the bad. We simply and unpretentiously share our concerns and make our petitions. ....we are the focus of Simple Prayer" (pg 9).

Simple Prayer is the perfect place to start praying. Just begin right where you are. Bad day at work? Tell God. Need help with the crazy kids? Ask God. Angry at your spouse? Yell at God. Thankful for that cup of coffee? Thank God. Just start. It can be quick, short, seconds or minutes. When I am frustrated, I just shoot up a quick prayer and it helps me refocus and reassess the situation.

Is it perhaps selfish? Yes. I am not going to lie and say it is not. But that is okay!! God knows right where we are, who we are, and LOVES us anyways! The point is that you are starting a prayer relationship with God and just like the quote in bold above, our reciprocating love will come in due time and we can move into those other types of prayer more effortlessly and with more confidence.

I am going to end with two more things (nope! I am STILL not done!!) First, a challenge of sorts. Don't worry it is not hard, but perhaps a bit uncomfortable. It is this: when you see on Facebook, Twitter, or even when talking face to face with a friend and they mention a reason for needing prayer, do NOT just SAY you will pray for them!! Stop what you are doing and type a prayer for them right then and there! Stop the conversation and say a quick prayer in your head or even aloud. How many times have we told someone we would pray for them only to forget or even not actually mean it!! Let's stop being THAT person, and actually  pray like we say we will! If I know I am not going to actually remember to pray for a person, I won't tell them that I will. I no longer want "I'll be praying" to just be words, I want them to be reality!!

Second, this lovely picture created by the girls at (in)courage with Foster's simple prayer :)

http://www.incourage.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Prayer-Chapter-1-Simple-prayer.jpg

HAVE A SPECTACULAR PRAYER FILLED WEEK!!