Prayer: A New Study
Recently I have decided to "investigate" prayer. Sounds a bit odd I am sure, however, I do not feel satisfied with my prayer life, and I pray constantly. Whenever something happens that is good, I thank God. Whenever something happens bad, I pray for help. Whenever I notice something that is a beautiful creation, I praise God. I do it throughout the entire day, everyday.
Now these prayers are not my main prayers, these are the random prayers, usually said in a matter of 20-30 seconds. I also pray before meals, even in restaurants. I also pray with my wife, every night before we go to bed. That is the main prayer for me, at night.
When I was researching the "sons of God" topic, I found a lot of online commentaries I have been studying. I have found a few by the Author E.M. Bounds, who wrote several books on prayer. As I stated to read through them, I understood that while my current prayer life is not bad, it is not good. My main prayer time is at night, while lying in bed.
Saturday night, I decided that we are no longer going to lay in bed and say our prayers like that. We got out of bed, and knelt to pray. Before we prayed, we took time to decide what we were going to ask from God, in specifics.
I live in Southwestern Michigan, and we were part of the 58,000 people without, power starting Thursday evening. Consumers Energy told us we wouldn't have power until early Monday morning. Saturday we knelt to pray, asking God to turn our power back on by the time we got home from church. As it went, God turned the power back on before we left.
I had a great weekend. My wife and I enjoyed all the pleasures of camping, with the comforts of home! We had a fire for light on Friday night. We played cards by candlelight, boardgames, enjoyed the full moon, it was amazing. When the power came back on today, we didn't turn on the computers until after lunch, and a game of monopoly.
God used this weekend to teach me how to pray again, and show me I still have much more to learn. He also showed me and my wife that we can still hang out and have a lot of fun. There was so much that happened this weekend, it would take all week to post the amazing things God did this weekend.
I plan on researching and writing more about prayer this upcoming week. Stay Tuned!
2 comments:
I always start out by thanking Him for my life, no matter what circumstances I'm in. I also give thanks for my blessings, which are many. Sometimes, I'm ashamed to pray for anything for myself, as I stumble sometimes, and my heart is crushed at the feeling that I've disappointed Him. I look forward to this line of writing.
I must say that I also have such feelings. There are times where I pray, and when my wife asks what my requests are, I feel there is nothing important enough to ask God for it. Its not to say that it is too small, just irrelevant to life.
Thanking God for life, that is awesome! I thank Him for the new day, I guess its the same thing, but I like the way you say it better!
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