Prayer

Apparently the Lord really wants to get it through my head that prayer is important! It's not that I don't pray but my prayer life is lacking. The Lord is not the central focus in most of my activities/relationships. Thank you, God, for teaching me this before I get too far away!

Our church is going through a sermon series on prayer. It's been really great to learn about prayer in a new way. Yesterday the sermon title was "prayer faux pas" - that maybe our prayers reflect what we feel we need rather than what God wants most for us. The pastor gave us various examples from Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1 and 4 and Colossians 1 about what to pray for. Some of the topics were the knowledge of God, wisdom from Him, purity and peace - these all being things more eternally essential than even important issues on earth like health and basic necessities.

The pastor also pointed out some prayers that sound good but may not be reasonable. My favorite example is about saying grace before the meal:

"Dear Lord, thank you for this Big Mac. Bless it to nourish my body. Amen"

That is, praying that the Lord will give my Big Mac the same kind of nutrition as a bowl of veggies. :) This was a great example for me because it made me think of some of the shallow or self-serving prayers that I have said during my study in the TW book.

Lord, teach me to pray! Help me to praise You for who You are and to ask for Your guidance, leading and care. Lord, show me what You want for my life and correct me when I ask You to bless MY plan. Amen.