On Prayer
Psalm 141:2 (New International Version)
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Prayer--it takes many forms and shapes. I awoke this morning as I always do, with an awareness of God's Presence. It was natural to slip from Presence to prayer in my first thoughts and words.
While prayer can be as automatic as breathing, there is also a more intentional kind of prayer on behalf of someone else. This is an area of ebb and flow for me, with the exception of a specific few people for whom I pray regularly. Prayer needs fly in the Christian community as thick and fast as a Denver snowstorm in winter--and sometimes I feel stuck in a snow-drift!
So I had an idea. I wrote all the needs that I know of for prayer on little slips of paper. I put them into a wicker basket that sits on the coffee table in the room where I meditate, read and pray.
Each morning, I reach into the basket, trusting God to lead me to the needs that I am to pray for that day. I can take them with me to work and I'm carrying blank slips with me to write on when I promise to pray for a need that someone mentions during the day.
The part I'm looking forward to is this--on the reverse of the slips I'm going to write the answers to prayer and place them in a basket of thanksgiving!
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Prayer--it takes many forms and shapes. I awoke this morning as I always do, with an awareness of God's Presence. It was natural to slip from Presence to prayer in my first thoughts and words.
While prayer can be as automatic as breathing, there is also a more intentional kind of prayer on behalf of someone else. This is an area of ebb and flow for me, with the exception of a specific few people for whom I pray regularly. Prayer needs fly in the Christian community as thick and fast as a Denver snowstorm in winter--and sometimes I feel stuck in a snow-drift!
So I had an idea. I wrote all the needs that I know of for prayer on little slips of paper. I put them into a wicker basket that sits on the coffee table in the room where I meditate, read and pray.
Each morning, I reach into the basket, trusting God to lead me to the needs that I am to pray for that day. I can take them with me to work and I'm carrying blank slips with me to write on when I promise to pray for a need that someone mentions during the day.
The part I'm looking forward to is this--on the reverse of the slips I'm going to write the answers to prayer and place them in a basket of thanksgiving!
Comments
As for the "thankful slips"--I too anticipate a snowdrift. I can't wait!
Thankful to be in one or two of those drifts myself, Lil.
"To keep the lamp burning we have to put oil into it." Mother Teresa