The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians (ch.5:17), told these first Christian church people to, "Pray without ceasing." And so I ask you, "How in the world, do we do THAT ??"
.............
Such a continuous act HAS to be a lifestyle, that this great man was talking about. Paul was talking about keeping in touch with his best Friend, don't you think? Yes, sharing his joy and also his burdens with Jesus. Actually, what Paul was doing was to allow Jesus to direct him through his day. Paul wanted with all of himself, I am sure, to have his Lord and Savior be the steering wheel of his life, as you and I should daily, also.
..........
And I am sure that Paul meant a lot more than just when he, or we, are going to bed or about to begin a meal, or even at church. He meant, and I mean this with all of me, for us to share our moment-to-moment experiences with God, as HE did. Yes, our prayers should be our natural way of bringing God DIRECTLY into our daily life of trials and drama, successes and laughter, our conflicts and hugging, and even loving moments with our best of friends.
Talking to God. Telling Him our feelings. Sharing with Him our thoughts. Wondering with Him about our doubts and even our certainties. Yes, letting the pattern of our life have HIM in it with every thought we can captivate for Him.
And a big part of this, "praying without ceasing", this life-attitude, is our asking God to help us develop the habits of us each to so-very-often be sending up to God our short prayers IMMEDIATELY as our concerns arise. All we have to say to God is, "Lord, I forgive this person RIGHT NOW, THIS very instant." Ask God all the time, yes ALL the time, to create in you a clean heart and a renewed spirit. And when you get more in the habit of shooting out these little prayers, your attitudes get set up for your longer prayer times, a lot like prayer-practice, maybe, OK?? The longer and more-focused prayer times will then surely come more easily, when you and I have time for more comprehensive praying.
The 23rd Psalm, and any line or verse within it, has ALWAYS been my "little prayers", from the very beginning of my eternal life with Jesus. And that was just about 34 months ago! Wow !!
When I get my flashes of doubt, I am IMMEDIATELY reassured by telling myself, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Names' Sake." That's telling me AND GOD that I have the confidence that my Lord and Savior has my back ......... always !!
..........
Help me, Lord, be vigil enough to never wander from Your Commandments, nor forget Your Promises to be here for me, and WITH me. HELP me remember Your Glory and Righteousness through my days and weeks and many months of life yet to come, maybe. I need You SO much, Father. And I need my prayers to be as concrete in Your sight. Please, Lord, help the very person reading this RIGHT NOW to be more solid in their efforts to continue their prayer life. He or she needs You more than they can ever know. You know that. Thank You, God. Tommy
........
At times we all feel that our prayers aren't making much difference in God's GIANT realm of universes. But trust, that when you pray, it is NEVER in vain, OK? It is time well spent in Eternity.
Ask God to provide for you, and He will, usually when and how you least expect it. He WANTS you to spend time with Him, I just KNOW it!
HE will show you a way to find the time and place and even the memory to try to pray more often. He doesn't care about the length of your prayers, anyway, I am sure. He wants the depth, the width and the breadth of your prayers to Him to be honest and sincere and rich with how you are, OK?
And pray where you are. Picture ANY place you might be tomorrow. Write yourself a little stick-um note right now and put it where you'll see it before leaving your house for work or school. Maybe on your dashboard or work desk, I don't know. Maybe write on it, "What do I need to pray about right now?" or, "Am I remembering to pray today?" Write on that little sticky note whatever will work for YOU. Do it right now.
My Friend, pray specifically and don't ever forget to pray for yourself. When I first received Jesus into my life I really felt weird for months about praying for myself. It seemed selfish or something. But then I realized that God knows all my thoughts and feelings anyway, so why tell myself that He doesn't? Just let it out. Tell Him what you need and what you want, and what you don't have, what makes you cry and what makes you laugh, and what you hate in your life and what or whom you're crazy in love about. Yes, tell it all, once you start to get into the habit of letting Him be HIM, and letting YOU be you. He's God and you're a human who is often in need, or hurts, or is confused or is tickled to death about something. Just tell it all to Him. Remember to remember, please, that ANYTHING you have or WILL experience, Jesus already has!
.........
Lord God, thank You for this special event called, "prayer". You have entrusted this special event into my care and I need to remember this fact EVERY day, OK? Please grant me the grace to never, EVER be too busy to pray for anything that I think about, and never too busy to come to You with other peoples' needs and MY needs. Help me pray for wisdom to know what's important in my life, and to know that Your Love will take care of everything in my life and in the lives of my loved ones. Thank you, Father, for loving me as You do, OK?
.........
I recommend just a few steps to take in your prayers: ALWAYS start your prayers with your, "Thank You's". Think about what you have in life, or what has happened to you in your life. If you believe in God then you know where it all came from.
Then confess to God exactly how you have sinned since your last talk with Him. He knows, but I am SURE that He wants to hear it from YOU. He wants to SEE how much you hate your sinning. Next, honor God for what He has given to those who you know have had something good happen to them, or come to them, the last day or week, or for the thing that happened 10 years ago and you just remember it now. Finally, ask for intercession, for Almighty God to help other people you know who hurt more than YOU do right then.
........
My Friends in Jesus Christ, have the confidence that there is a God who is FOR YOU. If you do not yet have a personal Savior, I just KNOW that there are many here on this website who will GLADLY pray with you and tell you how to invite this wonderful God into your life RIGHT NOW, OK? I mean this with all my heart and mind and soul.
Take care, my friend. Tommy
.............
Such a continuous act HAS to be a lifestyle, that this great man was talking about. Paul was talking about keeping in touch with his best Friend, don't you think? Yes, sharing his joy and also his burdens with Jesus. Actually, what Paul was doing was to allow Jesus to direct him through his day. Paul wanted with all of himself, I am sure, to have his Lord and Savior be the steering wheel of his life, as you and I should daily, also.
..........
And I am sure that Paul meant a lot more than just when he, or we, are going to bed or about to begin a meal, or even at church. He meant, and I mean this with all of me, for us to share our moment-to-moment experiences with God, as HE did. Yes, our prayers should be our natural way of bringing God DIRECTLY into our daily life of trials and drama, successes and laughter, our conflicts and hugging, and even loving moments with our best of friends.
Talking to God. Telling Him our feelings. Sharing with Him our thoughts. Wondering with Him about our doubts and even our certainties. Yes, letting the pattern of our life have HIM in it with every thought we can captivate for Him.
And a big part of this, "praying without ceasing", this life-attitude, is our asking God to help us develop the habits of us each to so-very-often be sending up to God our short prayers IMMEDIATELY as our concerns arise. All we have to say to God is, "Lord, I forgive this person RIGHT NOW, THIS very instant." Ask God all the time, yes ALL the time, to create in you a clean heart and a renewed spirit. And when you get more in the habit of shooting out these little prayers, your attitudes get set up for your longer prayer times, a lot like prayer-practice, maybe, OK?? The longer and more-focused prayer times will then surely come more easily, when you and I have time for more comprehensive praying.
The 23rd Psalm, and any line or verse within it, has ALWAYS been my "little prayers", from the very beginning of my eternal life with Jesus. And that was just about 34 months ago! Wow !!
When I get my flashes of doubt, I am IMMEDIATELY reassured by telling myself, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Names' Sake." That's telling me AND GOD that I have the confidence that my Lord and Savior has my back ......... always !!
..........
Help me, Lord, be vigil enough to never wander from Your Commandments, nor forget Your Promises to be here for me, and WITH me. HELP me remember Your Glory and Righteousness through my days and weeks and many months of life yet to come, maybe. I need You SO much, Father. And I need my prayers to be as concrete in Your sight. Please, Lord, help the very person reading this RIGHT NOW to be more solid in their efforts to continue their prayer life. He or she needs You more than they can ever know. You know that. Thank You, God. Tommy
........
At times we all feel that our prayers aren't making much difference in God's GIANT realm of universes. But trust, that when you pray, it is NEVER in vain, OK? It is time well spent in Eternity.
Ask God to provide for you, and He will, usually when and how you least expect it. He WANTS you to spend time with Him, I just KNOW it!
HE will show you a way to find the time and place and even the memory to try to pray more often. He doesn't care about the length of your prayers, anyway, I am sure. He wants the depth, the width and the breadth of your prayers to Him to be honest and sincere and rich with how you are, OK?And pray where you are. Picture ANY place you might be tomorrow. Write yourself a little stick-um note right now and put it where you'll see it before leaving your house for work or school. Maybe on your dashboard or work desk, I don't know. Maybe write on it, "What do I need to pray about right now?" or, "Am I remembering to pray today?" Write on that little sticky note whatever will work for YOU. Do it right now.
My Friend, pray specifically and don't ever forget to pray for yourself. When I first received Jesus into my life I really felt weird for months about praying for myself. It seemed selfish or something. But then I realized that God knows all my thoughts and feelings anyway, so why tell myself that He doesn't? Just let it out. Tell Him what you need and what you want, and what you don't have, what makes you cry and what makes you laugh, and what you hate in your life and what or whom you're crazy in love about. Yes, tell it all, once you start to get into the habit of letting Him be HIM, and letting YOU be you. He's God and you're a human who is often in need, or hurts, or is confused or is tickled to death about something. Just tell it all to Him. Remember to remember, please, that ANYTHING you have or WILL experience, Jesus already has!
.........
Lord God, thank You for this special event called, "prayer". You have entrusted this special event into my care and I need to remember this fact EVERY day, OK? Please grant me the grace to never, EVER be too busy to pray for anything that I think about, and never too busy to come to You with other peoples' needs and MY needs. Help me pray for wisdom to know what's important in my life, and to know that Your Love will take care of everything in my life and in the lives of my loved ones. Thank you, Father, for loving me as You do, OK?
.........
I recommend just a few steps to take in your prayers: ALWAYS start your prayers with your, "Thank You's". Think about what you have in life, or what has happened to you in your life. If you believe in God then you know where it all came from.
Then confess to God exactly how you have sinned since your last talk with Him. He knows, but I am SURE that He wants to hear it from YOU. He wants to SEE how much you hate your sinning. Next, honor God for what He has given to those who you know have had something good happen to them, or come to them, the last day or week, or for the thing that happened 10 years ago and you just remember it now. Finally, ask for intercession, for Almighty God to help other people you know who hurt more than YOU do right then.
........
My Friends in Jesus Christ, have the confidence that there is a God who is FOR YOU. If you do not yet have a personal Savior, I just KNOW that there are many here on this website who will GLADLY pray with you and tell you how to invite this wonderful God into your life RIGHT NOW, OK? I mean this with all my heart and mind and soul.
Take care, my friend. Tommy
