Last Sunday the message at LifeTree Church's worship celebration was about prayer. I would like to expand my comments in this entry and describe some beneficial and creative ways to pray. These are by no means my own. I have gleaned many of these prayer forms over the years from friends and fellow believers. Others I came across online while researching prayer.

At any rate, I encourage you to use the following ideas to help strengthen your prayer life.

Praying Scripture

Perhaps the best way to start praying if you are new to the discipline (or if you are unsure of what to pray) is to read scripture and pray it to God. Much of King David’s Psalms were prayers using Old Testament Scripture. God answered King David straightaway and considered David His friend. If your heart’s desire is to be known of God, as David was, use the Psalms in your prayer life. Watch what God will do on your behalf!

Praying Scripture is helpful in extending one’s aloneness time with God, creating an intimate relationship with Him.

The following are examples of how to pray God’s Word:

“I command you--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go" Joshua 1:9.

Thank You, Lord for being with me wherever I go. I will be strong, brave, and encouraged. I will not be afraid or dismayed. I will pray, and go, and do Your will. I thank You, Heavenly Father. Amen.

"I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid” John 14:27.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the peace that You give. I accept this peace, so my heart will not be troubled with the affairs of this world. I thank You, Heavenly Father. Amen.


Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Then a scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead." Matthew 8:18-22

Father, help me to be like Jesus, who when the scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever You go." Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead." Help me to know what this focus means for me as I live my life.

Prayer with Hymns and Songs of Praise

A great way to pray is to pray the words of a hymn or song of praise to God. Let Him know how you feel towards Him by singing a prayer or praying a song to Him. This is kind of like finding a love song that expresses how you feel toward your wife or husband, boyfriend or girlfriend. A band that I really appreciate, The Swift, has a song that always speaks to me. I have prayed this song to God on many occasions. The song is called "I Need You." The lyrics are listed below:

My heart is restless in me
My wings are all worn out
I’m walking in the wilderness
And I cannot get out
I need You, oh I need You
Blessed savior come
I need You, oh I need You
Fill the every longing of my soul

Oh how I need You Lord
I need Your perfect word
With tearful eyes I see
The sin that I afford
I need to weep and pray
For all the thousand ways
That I have failed You just today

My bed is soaked with sadness
My sadness has no end
A downward spiral of despair
That I keep falling in
I need You, oh I need You
To You my soul shall fly
I need You, oh I need You
Yahweh how I love you more than life
Oh how I need You Lord
I need Your perfect word
With tearful eyes I see
The sin that I afford
I need to weep and pray
For all the thousand ways
That I have failed You just today

Your silence is like death to me
So won’t You hear my desperate plea

Today my soul is soaring
Way over mountains high
Though I can see the valleys
They are all just passing by
Its not that I am stronger
Look at my feeble wings
But I’ve been lifted higher
Yahweh’s lifted me in His own strength

Oh how I love You Lord
I love your perfect word
With tearful eyes I see
The God who always will endure
Now I will celebrate
For all the thousand ways
That you have shown me grace
And made my heart in grace to stay
You made my heart in grace to stay
Lord, make my heart in grace to stay
I need You, oh I need You .

Silence

As many of us have busier and busier schedules, I have found that a valuable form of prayer is to sit in silence and listen to God. This does not mean no action or thought. Some people call silence meditation. The danger, though, is to think of meditation the way that it is taught and perceived by the world. Transcendental Meditation, or non-Christian forms of meditation, require that the participant empty themselves in order to achieve transcendance. The process Christian meditation is to focus intently on the one transcendant One and find ourselves in Christ.

As Philippians 4:8 says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." We pray in silent meditation when we get away from all distractions in the world and ponder whatever attribute of God the Holy Spirit brings before us.

Prayer Notebooks

Use a notebook to keep track of prayer concerns you lift up to God. Be sure to record the date you began praying for the need, and the date and method God used to answer the prayer. This is beneficial when you enter low periods of life. You can look back through your prayer notebook and see how faithful God has been.

Prayer Journals

Similarly, you can keep a prayer journal. While a prayer notebook contains prayer concerns (usually as a list), the prayer journal is a place for you to write out your actual prayers to God. Many people benefit from this practice. Give it a try and see what you think.

Family Prayers

Praying with our family is a great way to disciple your children to grow into Christ followers. Find a time during the week for the entire family to gather and pray. Begin by asking each family member to describe their day and how to pray for them. Ask God to be a part of your family as He has made you a part of His family. Pray for your family members (be specific), that God would bless them and strengthen them.

Keep track of family prayer concerns in a family prayer notebook.

Prayer Research

Read books about prayer, and read the prayers of great Christian historical figures. Often we can pray the same prayers they prayed. The point is to incorporate their passion for Christ into our lives. It is not to become followers of Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, etc. By reading books about prayer, we are able to see prayer from another's perspective.

Prayer Walking

Take a walk around your neighborhood and pray for your neighbors. Use visual cues along with guidance from the Holy Spirit to know how to pray for them. For instance, if you see toys in the yard, you can pray for guidance for the parents as they raise their kids. Also, you can pray for the kids.

Creative Prayer

A number of people choose to paint, draw, dance, or sculpt their prayers. This type of creativity is a gift from God. Use it to express your relationship with Him.

Resources

Here are some resources on prayer:

Prayer, Does It Make a Difference, a book by Phillip Yancey.

Hearing God, a book by Peter Lord. This may be out of print, but it is an outstanding book.

http://www.namb.net/site/c.9qKILUOzEpH/b.1556013/k.9BA6/Prayer_Help.htm North American Mission Board prayer helps.

http://www.opendoorsusa.org/content/view/5/14/ Prayer website for persecuted Christians around the world.

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ppt_homepage Presidential Prayer Team. Regardless of who is in office, we need to pray for our leaders. This website provides information to inform our prayers.

http://www.upperroom.org/prayer_center/ The Upper Room is a devotional publisher. This is their online prayer center.

I read this article today http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121694247343482821.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries. It examines parallels between Bush and the newest Batman movie. While I have my own thoughts on Bush (and Batman for that matter), the author makes a valid point in describing the simplicity of morality. There are some things that are always right and other things that are always wrong. As Klavan states, "Left and right, all Americans know that freedom is better than slavery, that love is better than hate, kindness better than cruelty, tolerance better than bigotry. We don't always know how we know these things, and yet mysteriously we know them nonetheless."

While the secular world would try to convince us that there is nuance and ambiguity in morality, we must be bold in the face of relativity. As Christ followers, we are to be more than bold. We are to passionately point people to the truth.