Just Jotting in a Journal

 For ever, O LORD,

thy word is settled in heaven.

- Psalm 119:89

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you.

-Psalm 119:9-11(NIV)

Look at the Word of God.  Look into and seek the things that God wants to share with you.  Oddly enough, the Word tends to strike us right where we are in our lives.  Whether we are up or down, happy or sad, it touches us and it speaks to us through the Spirit of God.

Start keeping track of your daily inspirations from God and His Word.  Jot down in a journal or notebook how God speaks to you daily.  Keep track of it.  Refer to it on your down days or just during your down time. 

Write openly and freely about what the Lord says to you with the Word.  Keep your journal as your own private sanctuary for you coming before the presence of God with the burdens of your heart and soul.  Let loose and see what God does with your thoughts, expressions and feelings.

Pointed Prayer

It's Wednesday night.  You can see them coming into the sanctuary.  They have been beaten down and broken down by the business of the day.  The boss didn't understand.  The kids aren't listening.  The neighbors don't care.  You're the shepherd of the house of God and this worn-out flock.  What do you do?

Offer that lengthy sermon that God laid on your heart late last night? How about that solo that Sister Moore promised to sing once she recovered from tonsillitis? Maybe you can ask Brother Deacon to read the church's treasury report and just ask for an offering, then send them on their way.

"Short prayers are long enough," C.H. Spurgeon said.

That sounds right on time.  Inspire them as they sit and listen to you call on God for their sakes.  Lift their spirits with a brief calling upon the Almighty.  Share in prayer.

Don't drag it out.  Don't drag it on.  Just say a short prayer.

Lead into it with an anecdote or a summation of what a hectic day may have entailed for some of your congregants.  Start with a story, then say a short prayer.  Send them home lifted up by your prayer and encouraged to know that the man of God is in prayer for them, not just looking for their tithes and offerings or volunteer time.

By the way, that lengthy sermon may have been meant more for you and your own edification than a bunch of busy people who came to church in the middle of week.

Pages on Prayer

"Prayers never die."- E.M. Bounds

Prayer is a powerful subject.  Read about it.  Research it. Prayer fills countless pages of books, magazines and other publications.  Rediscover the power of prayer that lies within the Bible, especially books like Psalms.

Use prayer as your spiritual weapon to withstand the attacks of the day.  Stay rooted in prayer.  Hold fast through prayer.  Let the pages on prayer guide you safely through the day.

"Prayer is the daily work of the Christian."- Martin Luther

Taught in Prayer

We find, accordingly, that prayer was a subject on which Jesus often spoke in the hearing of His disciples. - A.B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve 

Jesus taught His disciples in prayer.  He demonstrated how to pray in what we have come to commonly call "The Lord's Prayer" or "The Model Prayer." In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord discussed prayer aspects such as when and how to pray.  He offered warnings to not pray like hypocrites, seeking to be seen or heard praying before others.
As A.B. Bruce shares in his classic Christian book, The Training of the Twelve, prayer was a subject that Jesus shared with His disciples often.  In light of this, the Christian believer must earnestly seek out the Lord's instructions on and model of prayer.  You may not pray the very words of Jesus, reciting and repeating them over and over, but you should certainly spend some time meditating on these verses rather than just simply memorizing them.  The red letters of the New Testament offer the believer both edification and enlightenment in prayer as our chief resource in communicating with God the Father.

Find your way into a new realm of prayer.  Discover more about prayer and how to pray in order to become more committed to praying.  Go to the Lord's Word and seek His guidance on prayer.







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