Busted

Prayer. Your prayer life. Have you grown in your prayer life or bottomed out? Do you pray? How do you pray?

For over 40 years I've lacked in prayer. I pray every day. Short prayers. And I've improved. I finally got a small spiral ruled notebook, and I write down names and concerns. But I don't always pick it up and use it.

Well, I was busted. Royally. Jerry and I visited an older couple, yes, even older than us. We got to talking about prayer. The women pulled out her prayer notebook and show it to me. It was astonishing. I felt small. 

God wants us to pray all the time. He wants us to talk with Him. Cry with Him. Laugh with Him. He wants a relationship with us. 

I was amazed at the pages filled with names and concerns in her prayer notebook "This is a prayer warrior," I knew. "This is somebody who spends a lot of time talking with God. This is a woman who knows He answers prayer.

As I get older, I can see myself spending more time in prayer. The simple fact that one slows down and can't move as they did in younger years provides the opportunity to pray more.

Seeing what this woman does each day made an impression on me. I may be a Christian of over 40 years, and I may be up in age, but I still have a lot to learn.

Because my eyes were opened by a true prayer warrior, I am making some changes to help me become a better person of prayer. I now have a designate time in the afternoon when I will turn to my prayer notebook. I've already started. This one change has made my morning devotion time richer. 

Busted. I'm so glad I was.

"Prayer does not enable us to do a great work for God. Prayer is a greater work for God."

Thomas Chalmers, 1780-1847

It just kind of quiets your heart!

There is a prayer in the book "The Light of His Presence" by Anne Graham Lotz, that caught my attention a few years ago. It's a prayer for our country. Since reading that prayer, I read it every Sunday morning to do my part in praying for our country. I have repeated it below to help you pray for the United States of America, our country, that needs the help only God can give us.

Most Holy God,

"In a world of famine, floods, and fire; a world of disease, death, and the disruption of our everyday activities, I choose to look up from my knees. I see You seated on the throne of glory, in control of all things. All things. I know that You are a God of mercy, grace, faithfulness, and loving-kindness. So I reject fear and its impact on my life, and I place my faith in You. You have said that Your ears are open to the cry of Your people, that Your eyes are upon us, and that Your arms are long enough to reach us and strong enough to hold us. Hold me now. Quiet my racing heart. Breathe Your Spirit of peace into me to calm the fear and turmoil.

"Even as I pray for Your peace, I wonder if the disasters erupting in our nation could be the spark that ignites a spiritual awakening. Are You trying to get our attention. I know that, when it comes to our relationship with You, we desperately need to wake up.

"We have legalized defiance against Your institution of marriage; we celebrate relationships that contradict Your instructions; we exterminate life that You created and that bears Your image--for our own convenience, we have become so secularized we don't even acknowledge that You exist, much less reverence or obey You.

"You have my attention. Therefore, like the prophet Daniel of old, I turn to You in humility and shame as I confess on behalf of America some of the national sins that come to mind . . .

"I confess national addiction to sex. To money. To pleasure. To entertainment. To pornography. To technology. To popularity. To ourselves.

"I confess our foolishness in denying You as the one true, living God, our Creator to whom we are accountable, living as though our lives are a cosmic accident with no eternal significance, purpose, or meaning.

"I confess our greed that has run up trillions of dollars of national debt.

"I confess our arrogance and pride that has led us to think we are sufficient in ourselves.

"I confess to believing that our nation's prosperity comes from our own greatness, while refusing to acknowledge that all blessings come from Your hand.

"I confess that we depend on our military might and our weapons systems to protect us from harm and danger while we deny, defy, and ignore You.

"I confess that we have succumbed to the pressure of pluralism in our desire to be inclusive, honoring other gods as though You are just one of many.

"I confess that we have allowed the material blessings You have given us to deceive us into thinking we don't need You.

I confess that we have valued our foolish pursuit of happiness through wealth and prosperity rather than treasuring our relationship with You. I confess that we have marginalized truth and main-streamed lies.

"I confess that we have become one nation under many gods, divided and polarized, with license to sin and justice that no longer follows the rule of law.

"Holy Spirit of the living God, convict us of the need to turn from our sin and get right with You.

"Lord God, have mercy on us. As we repent of our sin and return to You, return to us. There is no one like You to help the powerless against our mighty enemies, be they visible or invisible. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on You.

"I hold You to the promise you gave to King Solomon. You said, "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers."

"I hold You to Your word as I plead with You. Hear my prayer. Forgive our sin. Heal our land. I am standing in the gap for our nation.

"I pray in the name of the One who is our Deliverer. Our beautiful and only Savior. Lord of the nations. Son of God and Son of man. The living, reigning, soon-to-return Lord of lords and King of kings, Jesus Christ.

"In His Name and for His glory, I pray. Amen."

By His Grace . . .