In my ponderings, I've been reading a lot more about prayer. I'm sure I'll be writing about it here and there, but for now I wanted to share this bit I found in a little book by Oswald Chambers titled Prayer, A Holy Occupation. It hit me between the eyes and made me think through my own prayer life, I hope it does the same for you.
"The job of every Christian is to pray. Plain and simple. Yet we want to do more than simply pray. We want to do something important for God; we want to be someone important to Him. We want to build; we want to mobilize; we want to show our strength and exert our influence. Prayer seems like such a small thing to do - next to nothing at all in fact.But that's not what Jesus said. To Him prayer is everything; it's a duty as well as a privilege, a right as well as a responsibility. We use prayer as a last resort; Jesus wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do; Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all.......
.....
And so we try to help God along. Many times we even try to answer our own prayers. We have the idea that more people will become Christians if we can make God look good to them. So we try to convince them of God's generosity by proving that He answers prayer. If we can help God spruce up his image a little, we can get more people on his side. And that's what he wants us to do, right?
Wrong. He wants us to pray. Always and about everything. During times of joy and sorrow. He wants us to talk to him, not about him. He wants us to talk to him about unbelievers before we talk to unbelievers about him.
Prayer is our business, our only business. Prayer is our Holy Occupation. Plain and Simple."
Mary Beth at New Life Steward has been writing a series on prayer that I have really enjoyed and found very thought provoking. Go check her out!
Linked up with: A Holy Experience, The Better Mom, Seedlings in Stone,
Working Kansas Homemaker
Good thought. I've studied the "how to" of prayer before but I find myself wandering far from the pattern laid out in Scripture. It is work to pray. It requires diligence. Two things I am not any good at.
ReplyDeleteWell thank you for the links!! Just love that excerpt from Chambers. He's so good.
ReplyDeleteMary Beth
Newlifesteward.com
You are welcome! I really have loved your prayer series!
Delete"BUT, I feel like there is something missing in my prayer life, so I've been praying about it - ha." You crack me up Amy! Prayer is definitely so important. I tend to over complicate it, or I want it to sound perfect (whatever that sounds like?!). Very thought provoking post! Thank you for sharing it over at Workin' It Mondays :)
ReplyDeleteNicole
Working Kansas Homemaker (.com)
Amy, prayer is not only talking to God, but listening to his voice in the quiet times. Prayer isn’t just what we do, it’s who we are. It’s a moment by moment practice of his presence. It’s a relationship with him, a constant communion. The journey is all about knowing him intimately, as our best friend, the lover of our soul. And when we don’t know how to pray as we ought, the Holy Spirit prays through us.
ReplyDelete“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Romans 8:26
And The Message words it:
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.
Blessings dear soul.
"Prayer isn’t just what we do, it’s who we are. It’s a moment by moment practice of his presence. It’s a relationship with him, a constant communion".... love this! thank you so much, Debra!
DeleteI can truly relate to this! Why is prayer so hard sometimes? I once heard that it's because prayer is not natural, it's *super*natural. So true, right? May God grow and enrich our prayer lives!
ReplyDeleteAmen!!
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