Here comes the
sun do-dah-do-dee. If you saw Paul McCartney
at Glastonbury then you probably witnessed
the official kick off the summer of 2004.
Exams are dead and gone, work’s flinging
open the windows and setting you free on annual
leave but amidst all the rest and relaxation
God’s heart is still fervently beating
for our generation. Throughout July ALOVE
online is tearing apart the issue of prayer
and, hopefully, finding time to put it back
together again. We start with five general
prayer tips for creative prayer dredged from
out own minds, experience and some prayer
sites we found out there. These ideas can
be used in your own time spent with God or
in a cell group setting.
General
prayer tips ...
1. Make an appointment
with God:
Make an appointment to meet with God just
like any other appointment. If it's not on
your schedule, it will tend to be put off
easily. Finding time to pray will mean that
you have to sacrifice something else that
you are now doing instead. Prayer has to be
moved up the list of daily priorities so it
is high enough to bump off something else
that is considered more urgent and important.
It has to become a strong enough priority
so that you can't go to bed until it is accomplished,
like brushing your teeth. When your best friend
calls, you make time to talk to him or her
even if something else that is important too
has to be sacrificed. You may not know it
yet, but God is your best friend and making
some time for Him every day is going to be
the best long-term investment that you have
ever made.
2. Just Do it:
Don't spend too much time thinking about it.
Don't wait until you are in the mood and don’t
look for the right time or place. Obstacles
will always come up that make for wonderful
excuses why you should be distracted from
prayer or be delayed in starting your prayer.
Ignore them and focus on just getting a start,
even if it's a very small one. Be open and
honest as you get started. Any new relationship
with another person starts out with small
talk. It's the same with prayer. Even a meeting
of old friends who haven't seen each other
for a long time starts with small talk. Take
time to get acquainted with God. Sometimes
getting started is the hardest part, so start
with honest small talk about how things are
going.
3. Think of God's Point
of View:
The famous Chinese Christian, Watchman Nee
taught that often God will not do His Will
until we pray and ask Him to do it. Even though
God wants to do His Will very much, He will
not violate our freedom by interfering before
we ask Him to. If God interfered, then that
would violate our freedom and thus destroy
our ability to give and receive true love,
which requires that we be free. If we don't
ask, then God cannot interfere with the workings
of our hearts. If He did, then He would be
controlling us against our will. This would
destroy our freedom and simultaneously destroy
true love. God is a parent who truly loves
His children but He also respects their creativity
and responsibility. He would never choose
to force them to love Him. God chooses to
wait until His children are ready to respond
and then give them what was actually His Will
all along.
4. Pray out loud:
Of course God hears all prayers both silent
and spoken but there is something about speaking
out prayers that contains a unique power.
When you speak out loud to God you are using
your physical voice to praise and in doing
so speaking to creation around you of your
love and respect for your creator. It also
brings a focus to your prayers, forcing you
to clarify your thoughts, eliminating the
wandering of the mind that so easily snatches
away our time spent with God.
5. Pray with others:
One of the initial hardest but, undeniably
most rewarding things you can do is to pray
with others. This can be particularly hard,
and not just because its embarrassing but
because it takes a genuine commitment and
requires us to become vulnerable as we open
up our very personal thoughts and desires
in prayer to someone else. As two people each
draw closer to God in prayer, they are simultaneously
growing closer to each other. Think of it
as a triangle with God at the top and those
praying on opposite ends of the base. As they
each move closer to God, then they have in
fact moved closer to each other also.
