What is Prayer Without Participation?
by Janis Cox
Prayer is work. YES Work.
Talking to God is starting to come naturally to me in the morning as I awake, during the day at certain times, at night before I sleep and in the watches of the night when He wakes me up.
But to actually have a full prayer life I need to make a determined choice to just do it.
I need to set a daily time for specific interaction with God for me and for others.
Ron Hughes gave us some points to ponder on prayer. The two that I decided – yes I made a determined decision – to work on are the first two in Ron’s List:
1) Keep a Prayer List
“I’ve resorted to keeping a prayer list, which my spontaneous side thinks is mechanical, but my mechanical side knows is necessary. If you’re young with a fabulous memory, you might not need this. I’m not and I do” – Ron Hughes.
2) Recall a Face
“When I know the person for whom I’m praying, I take time to recall his or her face, even briefly. This little bit of effort focusses my mind better than simply speaking, or thinking, a name. On a few occasions when the Lord has brought someone to mind, but not shown me what to pray for, I simply hold that person’s face in my mind and trust the Spirit to pray through me” – Ron Hughes.
I feel now that I am doing the “work” I am called to do.
“The quality of a person’s life is in direction proportion to their commitment of excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour” – Vince Lombardi.
I want to be excellent in my prayer life. Therefore I need to make a determined commitment to work at it because the quality of my prayer life is in direct proportion to the amount of effort I put into it.
How are you doing in your prayer life?
I have moved my Gratitude List to Mondays on my website. www.janiscox.com Please come and visit; subscribe by email or by RRS feed. I continue to count my gifts and will be hitting 2000 very soon.
Related articles
- How Can Prayer Sustain Us? (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)
- 9 Things to Remember When Praying for People (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)
- What Is Constant Prayer? (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)
- Did You Pray? (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)
Jan Cox
Jan, a former school teacher and small business owner, found a new passion in writing in her retirement. She has published two devotionals and a number of articles for magazines and a Bible study. She is owner of Under the Cover of Prayer and moderates the site. Jan has completed a children’s book called Tadeo Turtle. She is the watercolour illustrator. Word Alive has published Tadeo Turtle. See more information at Jan’s Website.
