Granted I've done a LOT of reading, talking and writing about prayer the last few weeks. I am sure that the overall effort involved in all of that could contribute to feeling a little "burdened" about my own prayer life. Nevertheless, I find it troubling that in a time of difficulty and frustration I run away from prayer rather than lean on it. Why do I do that? Why would I neglect prayer at a time when I'm facing something where additional interaction with and help from God would be so helpful? Then again, don't we all do things like that in different areas of our life. Go left when we know we should go right, or intentionally avoid those things that would help us most...especially when we can use the excuse of busyness.
That isn't to say that I've completely ignored prayer completely (...even if I've ignored blogging about it for a few days) or stopped communicating with God. Yes, my excitement and expectation about prayer; the depth and richness I've experienced in my recent prayers, has wained quite a bit recently. Despite that, I've continued making efforts to spend time in prayer. Though I long for a return to greener pastures of prayer, I am trying to take some solace in the fact that regardless of the pitch, strength or volume of my prayer voice, God is still listening as long as I will still speak with him. Thought I'd share a couple things I've done to try and put up a fight so to speak over the last few days:
- Rote Prayer - I have a couple prayer books and some books on prayer that include a section of collected prayers from other christians and early believers. When I don't have words of my own in a given moment, I've been able to lean on the words of others. I often find these prayers penned by others are a source of far more of a blessing than I was initially prepared to receive.
- Praying from Scripture - Along the same lines, I've prayed a fair amount from Scripture lately. In particular, I turn to the various prayers recorded in the Bible and to the Psalms. If you haven't prayed a Psalm before, I highly recommend you do that every once in a while...powerful voices crying out to God! Obviously, I spent a lot of time praying through and sometimes just praying word-for-word the Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6.
- Praying with Others - Some of you may not feel comfortable with this, but it's been quite helpful. I've tried to take advantage of several opportunities lately to pray in a group. Some of them were easy opportunities, like volunteering to pray before a meal with my family or offering to do evening prayers with Sophie before bed. Other times, I've simply followed the impulse to pray with someone in the midst of a conversation or interaction with a group. Someone needs to lead a prayer during your LifeGroup meeting, raise your hand. You're in a conversation with some people where a concern or hurt is being discussed, suggest you all stop and pray about it. There is strength in praying with others. More than that, if I feel like God and I are a little distant at the moment, including others in a prayer narrows that gap a bit in my mind a little. Obviously, nothing really changes in that moment, but psychologically I'm pulled into the moment of prayer a little more fully because of the tangible presence of others who are there praying beside me.
I'm sure there are other things to do when you feel like you're in a valley in your prayer life or stuck in a rut with your prayers. Maybe some of you would like to share some other things that you've found are helpful practices or tools for this??? We'd love to have you share them in a reply below. I hope your prayers are full and frequent right now. If they're not, I hope you're still seeking God's presence even in the midst of a difficult day (...or week). Maybe some of the ideas above will be helpful.
Til next time...keep praying!!!
I have also relied in the words of others from time to time. To start the day nothing beats "Peace Prayer of St. Francis" and think of 3 things you are grateful for(to me usually is the Sun,,:)
ReplyDeletekathia