Say it again and again.

Have you ever tried repeating the same prayer a number of times over a period of a few weeks? I've been reading a book on prayer that encourages us to do this. To take a short verse of scripture such as "God is Love" or "The Lord's my Shepherd" and repeat it in your mind or out loud for a few minutes, then use the phrase during that day and the following week. I've been doing this recently with the prayer "Come Holy Spirit", which has become very meaningful in a short period of time.

In the first instance it helps when i come to spend time with God, by stilling my mind around a theme. Its always hard to start praying with so many thoughts going on in your head, but a short repetitive prayer focuses your mind around God. Our minds are a real battle ground in life, often full of stuff that is far from the mind of Christ. Repetitive prayer conditions the mind to think on the word of God and from that base to bring everyday life into the prayer. As I've been praying "Come Holy Spirit", I've found myself in situations these last couple of weeks where the prayer has become very powerful. Difficult situations have been transformed because I was bringing God into the context by calling out for him to "Come".

Over time the phrase will become second nature to you and God will begin to speak to you through the phrase and bring out deeper meanings. Why not give it a go right now! Stop reading this blog and spend the next 5 mins repeating some scripture in your mind?

Day of Prayer

I made time this week in my diary to spend a day in prayer. I am trying to do this on a regular basis, I think its one of the most important ways I can serve my Church.
Sometimes prayer days fly by and you wonder where the time has gone. Other times they feel like walking through treacle with a heavy load on your back. This was one such day, I found it hard to concentrate and listen with sensitivity. My mind was flooded with issues and concerns, I tried to bring them to God in prayer but my mind was quickly distracted back to the "ins and outs" of the problem.

Then I remembered a prayer a friend of mine taught me which is very simple, "Lord teach me to pray". this was the cry of the disciples and is at the core of prayer itself. In prayer we are all children coming to God learning from him how to speak and dependant on his power to enable us to communicate. In our own strength we are often left floundering, distracted and confused. Prayer always begins in weakness, calling on the Father to help us, not only with the issues of life that challenge us but also in the response of prayer to those issues. How should I pray ? What should I pray for ? What is God doing in this situation? What is God doing in me through this situation?

So I began to repeat this prayer to still my mind and after a time I knew how to go about things, what to pray for and how to pray for it. The prayer time became personally energising and I become aware that God was working in me through these prayers. Prayer isn't at the end of the day what I do for God, its more about what he is doing in and through me.

So why not give it a try? Its got to be the easiest prayer to pray "Lord Teach me to Pray" Repeat it slowly as you still yourself and see what God will do. Why not email me back and tell me what happened?