Prayer Posture

In our daily quiet time, should posture be important? Our quiet time is typically a time of more formal prayer -- not in the sense of formal language, but of having a scheduled time and place, a sense of structure for our prayer time.

Our morning prayer sets the tone for theday, a prayer of worship, confession and surrender. Does the Lord care whether we sit or stand or walk or kneel? He has shown me that in my life, at least, sometimes He does.

For years, I prayed in the shower, and in my favorite chair. Then one day, I read an article by a man who realized he never knelt to pray. It bothered him, until one day he simply had to kneel -- and he's spent part of his prayer time on his knees ever since.

Like him, I couldn't get the idea out of my mind, until one day I felt I had to begin my prayers with at least a brief time on my knees. It became important for me to kneel to surrender my life, then the rest of the day, I could feel more comfortable praying wherever I was, aware that I had honored the Lord in a special way.

I knew when it first became important to the Lord that I begin my day on my knees,
because He wouldn't let me put that thought out of my mind. I think it had something to do with pride.

Pray with me now — Lord, You may not want everyone to kneel in prayer every day. But if it would please You in any of our lives, help us to do it, in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Pray Like Jabez

Just like many of our friends that we've taught over the years, Jabez was a prayer warrior.  You can hear it in how he prays.

"Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request."
 --1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NIV)

So how do we pray like Jabez?  How do we enter into a sanctuary of prayer with our Lord so that he hears the overflow of our hearts?

We believe it sounds like this:











Father, bless me and these I know and love. 

Bless us with living honorably in every way. Bless us by enlarging our borders, extending our lives and influence for Your greater purposes. May Your hand be with us so we will walk worthy of our calling.

Bless us with Your protection from the evil one and all he tries to bring against us. Grant these requests for the sake of Your kingdom and glory.

Concert of Prayer

Today is new day--a day that our Lord created. 

And even though we may not have all of the answers--it's important that we act in a concert of prayer.

A concert of prayer is an orchestrated prayer time.

The prayer leader acts like the conductor of an orchestra, moving through different seasons or topics of prayer. You might consider yourselves like different instruments, all praying along together, blending your voices into the same symphony—rather than each one praying his or her own melody.

The prayer leader will generally move us through seasons of prayer which follow the A-C-T-S acronym:
Adoration,
Confession (silent),
Thanksgiving and
Supplication (intercession).

Concerts of prayer are sometimes built around a theme: for instance, you might sometimes pray with a focus on
prayers for your pastor(s). At other times you might pray for ministries and missions, for families, for our country, for revival, etc.

Prayer in the Midst of Tragedy

Today has been a heavy day.  In the midst of a tragedy like the one in Boston, our hearts are heavy.

When things like today happen--it's important that we turn to our faith and pray, both as individuals and together as Believers.

Pray for our nation.
Pray for our leaders.
Pray for the first responders.
Pray for those afflicted and their loved ones. 

Pray for the return of Christ.

And pray like the below.

Father, You are the same yesterday, today and forever; You do not change. You have promised in Your Word that if we, Your people who are called by Your name—we Christians, the church—will humble ourselves and pray, and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, You will hear and heal our land. (Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6; 2 Chronicles 7:14)

You are a refuge for the poor and needy, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat. But You are also our God, who deals with Your people as Your vineyard—when we go our own way, bearing bad grapes instead of good, You have said You will take away our hedge and break down our wall. (Isaiah 25:4; 5:1-6)

Have mercy on Your people. We pray in hope because of Your great love, knowing that Your compassion never fails. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. You do not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. Help us examine and test our ways, and return to You. (Lamentations 3:22-23, 33, 40)

Effective Prayer, Pt. 2

Recently we posted about Effective Prayer.  See Pt. 1 here. 

Effective prayer is prayer that is offered in the name of Jesus (John 14:12-14), in His authority, according to His nature and character, asking for what He would ask. It is prayer  according to the will of the Father(1 John 5:14-15), which certainly includes praying Scripture—prayers taken directly from the Bible, such as the beautiful prayers of the Apostle Paul, or verses of Scripture turned into prayers. We are on powerful praying ground when we pray God’s Word, whether extemporaneously or with written prayers.

Remember, too, that effective prayer doesn’t mean eloquent prayer—it’s not the number of words, nor the beauty of our words that make a difference. It’s the fervency of our heart, not emotions, but genuine love for God and for others. God’s Word tells us that though we look on the outside appearance of a person, God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). That’s as true of prayer as any other part of life.

Effective Prayer, Pt. 1

Sometimes people equate Jesus’ teaching on “vain repetitions” or “babbling” (Matthew 6:7) with reading prayers or praying for the same things every day. But the word Jesus used means using words that are “meaningless” or “mechanically repeated.”

A mechanical prayer would be words repeated by rote, requiring no thought, no concentration, having no heart—words so familiar that our thoughts easily drift as we pray.

Many times, that might occur around the dinner table--where are prayers sound like heartless incantations.  

That’s the opposite of the “effective, fervent prayer” that James speaks of (James 5:16).

Certainly we can pray for our loved ones every day without being vainly repetitious.