Pictured above is my special room where I pray and write Parcels of Prayers (and do other things). I have my big mustard colored leather chair complete with pillow (I switch out pillow) and my green foot rest, and in the corner I have a round table with my prayer book, hymnal, and journal with pen. You can't see it but I have my CD player (no ipod yet) for when I play music (my flute or recorded music). Behind the care I have my printer and laptop where I write Parcels of Prayers and upload pictures and etc. Not pictured is my chase lounge, and I have my Bible (at this time) over by the chase lounge (which also has a pillow that I also switch out) where I also pray. I pray sitting on my chair or chase, but I also kneel on my knees and sometime I lay face down on the floor and pray.
I have learned something very important about being a child of God. To be child of God is like being a professional athlete, or a professional musician, doctor, lawyer, and so on. As a teacher and technology consultant. I have to continue to learn, and be more proficient at my chosen profession. I accomplish this in a variety of ways that include professional development, employee review and evaluation, peer evaluations, taking classes, attending conferences, attending as well as presenting workshops, and good old fashion studying. All of this takes time, money, and effort. Is it worth it? Absolutely, yes!
How many of you desire to be at the top of your field? Is just getting by good enough for you? I certainly hope not. As Christians we should always strive to do and be our best at everything we do. It is not easy, and it takes an incredible about of discipline and at times sacrifice, but it is worth so much more than our Earthly occupations.
Many people graduate from high school and go on to college, earn a degree or degrees to be able to work in their field, or receive some type of professional training or certification, or have done on-the-job-training and have excelled. If we have to do this in the natural world, it is even more important that we do it in our spiritual lives. We do not want to be babes in Christ forever. We want to grow and become mature in the things of God and be a blessing to ourselves, our families and others.
Attending Sunday morning service, Sunday School, and Bible Study, as well as getting involved at your local church are all good things and something that you are not doing, should consider. The fact is no matter how much you go to church or are in activities, it does not make up for some alone time with God. Think about it. When you were school did you understand everything in class? Did you have to ask questions? Did you have to take notes and then spend time studying to pass the exam? Of course you did. You could not do well in school and be on every sports team and in every group, and the same is true in the church. We only have 24 hours a day, and we must pray and ask God the best way to spend our time working, being with our families, being at church, and other activities and responsibilities.
It is important that we spend time alone with God. We need time to read the Bible and pray. If we do, we will grow more knowledgeable and mature in Christ. We cannot get it all on Sunday morning, or go to a Bible study and jot down some notes and never open our Bible at home. Also, God is alive and he desires to spend some one-on-one time with us. He does not only want to hear from us when we are facing a crisis. No! He wants a continuous loving relationship with us. Can you imagine loving someone, but never talking to them, never spending time with them and still being happy? No, not if you really love them. When you love someone, you desire to be with them. God is no different than we are. He created us in his image remember? So if we can get lonely, God can get lonely for our undivided attention and time.
You may be thinking, "I am already so busy, now I have one more thing to do." You may feel that way at first, but you will find that when you spend time alone with God, you gain time. One thing I love about God is that I can be real with him. I can say what is in my heart and he still loves me, and then, if I take time to listen and obey him, he restores me. God also wants you to praise him and thank him for how he has blessed, provided and protected you.
Just like that are study habits and work ethics in education and business, there are ones in our Christian lives. I am going to focus this post on prayer. The most important thing about prayer is to practice it. There are all kinds of books about prayer, and ministers and elders who will tell you do pray in a certain way, but I find it best to start by just thanking God for what he has done and talk to him, just like you talk to your best friends. Open your mouth and speak. Yes, I know many people believe in silent prayers, but remember this is your private prayer time, when it is just you and God.
I have some personal tips on establishing your very own personal prayer time with Jesus, please adjust them as needed.
1. Pray and ask God to give you the desire to pray - this may sound strange, but many people find prayer very difficult
2. Go to a regular prayer service at your church whenever possible so you can be encouraged by other's prayers - be careful not to get intimidated, each person is different and prays in a slightly different way.
3. Select a time during the day when you are alone and can pray.
4. Set a minimum time for your prayer time - you may want to start with 15 minutes
5. Select a place in your home where you can pray - pleased be advised, you can pray any where at any time, this is referring to establishing a daily prayer habit
Now that you have the time (early in the morning works best for me) you will need your "tool." Yes, I said "tools." All professionals and experts have the "tools" of their trade.
1. BIble - always try to read the Bible before you pray, you read as much as you need. I like to read the Bible from beginning to end over and over again, but you do not have to read the Bible in order. A great place to start if you have no idea where to start is the four gospels or the book of Psalms.
2. Pray the BIble - when you read something in that really touches you, stop and read it aloud. If there is a pronoun or personal name, change it and read it aloud using your name or "I" or the person's name you are praying for. The word of God is powerful and reading silently, and aloud will bless you.
3. Prayer Book - I have the book "Prayers Avail Much." It is a series of prayers on different topics that we all face in life, all based on Bible verses which are listed at the end of each prayer. This kind of tool provides you support by breaking the Bible down into subjects and topics that are important. It does not change the word of God, it is based on the word of God. The Bible is a wonderful book, but it can be very confusing to understand without some background knowledge and instruction.
4. Give praise and thanks - Say aloud praises and thanks to God, these are from the heart, but I will provide some examples. "God I love you and I thank you for all you have done for me." God you are mighty and strong." "God I thank you for your provision and protection." "I love you, Lord." The book of Psalms has many praises, feel free to read those aloud.
5. Hymnal - I love singing and singing is a great way to praise God. You can sing songs that you know, but if you have a hymnal you will have a treasure of songs that you can sing. I play the flute, so I can read music, so I often sing hymns I have never sung before, but I am always so blessed. Also, if you use a hymnal you do not have to worry about forgetting the words, but if you do, that is okay, you can always sing a song from your heart.
6. Pray aloud - talk to God. Open your mouth and speak to him.
7. Listen - once you speak to God be silent and listen to what he says to you. You may think that God will not speak to you, but he will and does, usually we are not paying attention. He will speak to your heart and spirit. If you hear nothing, that's fine, you are developing a habit, and sometimes God speaks to us later in the day, when we are facing a crisis, the thing you must remember is that you have to listen and you need to block out the noise in your life so you can hear from God.
8. Journal and pen or pencil - write down what God says to you, include the date and time, and when you go back over your journal, you just may discover a pattern, and you will be establishing a habit.
9. Box of tissue - I do not care who you are, when you come before God and you are in his holy presence, it can be humbling, it can be overwhelmingly beautiful, and it can be liberating, no matter what it may be on any given day, there will be days (at least for me) of tears. They may be tears of pain, or they may be tears of joy, but I have found having tissues near by are always a good idea.
10. Furniture and/trash can (for tissues) - this totally depends on what you have and what works best for you. I have my place pictured above.
There are many references to prayer in the Bible. You may read any of them and they will please you, but I have decided to close with the Lord's prayer. In Luke chapter 11 we learn that Jesus was "praying" in a certain "place" and the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. If the disciples who worked and traveled with Jesus need support with prayer, then we all do, and if Jesus, the son of God took time to be alone and pray, so do we. Take care, and take time to pray.
Luke 11: 1 - 4
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]' "
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