Joe Thorn? Restart your life of prayer
Not long ago, I confessed to a friend that I often felt more deist than Christian. He knew exactly what he meant. I had trouble with prayer.
- A deist does not believe that God is actively involved in the world.
- But created the universe to work alone and left; In other words.
- God is not involved in our world or in our lives; is essentially absent.
- In such a world.
- Prayer would not make sense.
- Because God would not listen.
- Let alone intervene on our behalf.
- On the other hand.
- The Christian believes that God is a providential God; that actively governs all the affairs of the world and is intimately involved even in the details of our lives: the grass that grows.
- The death of birds.
- The prosperity of one and the poverty of the other.
- When and where we will live.
- And the day of our death are questions that God carefully monitors.
- Since God is connected to our world and our lives.
- It makes sense that we want to call Him in prayer.
Prayer consists in spreading the heart or soul with sincerity, conscience and affection before God, for Christ, in the power and help of the Holy Spirit, for the things that God has promised or according to the Word, for the good of the Church. with submission, in faith, to God’s will. (John Bunyan)
In fact, God invites us to have fellowship with him; tell him about our desires and experiences, our needs, and our wounds. He calls us to call him and he responds: God is acting. And yet prayer is often a wonderful gift that I neglect, so when I say that I feel more deist than Christian, I confess that my life of prayer is usually very small and does not always reflect the faith in God that is there, who cares. So, while I spent a lot of time working on my prayer practice, I came to some conclusions.
I prayed very little
I prayed with little passion.
I prayed with very little optimism (it is a good way to say that I prayed in little faith).
So as I reflected on the implications of my theology for prayer and sought to understand what a healthy prayer life would look like, I also began to create a plan to start over. The goal, for simplicity, is to develop a more consistent attitude and spirit of prayer every day. So I started my prayer life anew. This may be useful to some of you.
1. Set the sentence correctly
Yes, prayer can be understood simply as talking to God, but what many need is a strong theological perspective on prayer. One of my favorite treatments on the subject is John Bunyan’s famous definition. His concept of prayer is clear and useful.
Prayer consists in spreading the heart or soul with sincerity, conscience and affection before God, for Christ, in the power and help of the Holy Spirit, for the things that God has promised or according to the Word, for the good of the Church. with submission, in faith, to God’s will.
This biblical definition of prayer deserves considerable meditation. Even better? read Bunyan about this, why is this important?The better you understand what prayer is, the better your prayer life. For example, for prayer to be legitimate, Bunyan says he must be loving. Does that characterize your conversation with God, or is it more of a recitation, a cold reading of a shopping list with your needs?I’m not going to do an exegesis of this definition now, but I’ll take some time to think about the implications. Are you asking for things that God has promised according to the Word?Do you pray by submitting yourself to God’s wisdom and ways?Do you pray in faith? Clearly defining what prayer is helps us guide and evaluate our prayers.
2. Plan a longer prayer time
Occasional, spontaneous prayers are good, but planned, formal prayers are good too. Make time in the day to be alone with God. Early in the morning, late at night, at lunch? What will it be? Take the time to calm down and enter a period of true communion with God. I know some people understand that prayer planning seems artificial, but this kind of thinking also neglects a date with a spouse. Of privacy? I hope not. The truth is that without an appointment it will be much more difficult to have a longer prayer time.
3. Learn a method of prayer
Spending more time on God is difficult for many, and without a method of guiding, these periods are often stolen with urgent questions, eager to get our attention. Even going back to prayer time can be difficult. Here’s the model I am:
Psalm (a different psalm every time I pray): It is useful because it draws my attention to God’s character and work, prepares my mind and heart in a direction in which I can function well during the period.
Adoration: Worship God for who he is, what he did, focuses on your glory. Psalms are particularly useful here, and this aspect of prayer depends to a large extent on having a well-developed theology.
Confession: Take time to think, confess, and crucify sin
Gratitude: thank God for his provision, his care, his promises, etc.
Supplication: Our requests to God for our needs and those of others.
4. Create reminders to cheer you up during the day
Memories are incentives or supports that lead us to pray during the day, it’s not just about adding another ritual, it’s about reminding you of a pattern of spirit in which you recognize that God is present with you and on which you always depend. Be creative and use technology as a reminder. Paste notes into your mirror, post it on your calendar, leave a voice message at work, send an email, have your friends promise to call you randomly to remind you to pray, etc.
5. Improvement in a short sentence
A short prayer is a brief, spontaneous, informal interaction you have with God. It can be a compliment, a petition or a confession. I’m saying the short sentence should be improved?Because this cannot simply be the prayer of the sloth, in which God is treated with less interest than the girl of the drive-trhu. To improve in a short sentence, we must not only consider the correct definition of prayer. (Of course, this still applies here!), should we also exercise in?Gods, unless we learn to walk every day with the awareness that God is with us and that we depend on them, we will never master the art of short prayer. .