2/2/16
I have to confess that my prayer time was no always very extensive. I often thought that my style of prayer lacked finesse and felt dissatisfied. It is different now. A couple of weeks ago our Sunday message was about prayer and how to pray. Pastor said we could consider it as an Acrostic. For this reason I put the dashes in between the spelling of pray in my title. When we pray we could use the acrostic making the word look like this....P-R-A-Y. Each letter stands for stands for an element in your prayer.
P stands for Praise.
When we start our prayer we should name the things that are praiseworthy about God. This can be attributes about God that are signal characteristics such as righteous, all powerful, kind and the like. I am sure you can think of others. You might look up the names for God which also tell of His many and amazing qualities. As you do this you might want to enlarge on the words you are using instead of just speaking a list.
R stands for Repent.
We are speaking to a holy God who cannot be near evil. We need to repent of any sins that we can remember. We do things that seem small in our minds and do not consider sinful...maybe assigning them the name of poor choices. It can seem to us small...things like being judgmental or ignoring someone who is not our favorite. Sometimes these things are done in a blink and forgotten. I have added the statement in this part of my prayer repenting of any forgotten sinful acts and asking for forgiveness.
A stands for Ask.
This is exactly what it implies. Make a prayer list and pray for these needs you have listed. I did five the first week and prayed for them. Then I added five new requests. I don't want to forget the previous entreaties. So, I list them every day and pray knowing that they have been heard by God. I ask Him to remember my former stated requests. Then I proceed with present supplications. As I do this I tell Him things about the plea that I think are important. I know that He knows, but I feel it is important to share my thoughts. It is important to me as well.
Y stands for Yield.
When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested, He prayed to His Father that this cup could pass away from Him. He did not want to have to face what He was facing. He prayed that, but then He prayed, "Not my will but Yours be done." We need to think this way. Just because we are praying does not mean that He has to jump to oblige. It is not an order it is a request. God will answer it as He sees fit and as our appeal fits into His divine plans.
This helps me to keep on track, and I have found that my mind does not wander nor do I get distracted as easily. The whole prayer takes me about fifteen minutes.
I will bless you as long as I live,
lifting up my hands
to you in prayer.
Psalm 63:4
I have to confess that my prayer time was no always very extensive. I often thought that my style of prayer lacked finesse and felt dissatisfied. It is different now. A couple of weeks ago our Sunday message was about prayer and how to pray. Pastor said we could consider it as an Acrostic. For this reason I put the dashes in between the spelling of pray in my title. When we pray we could use the acrostic making the word look like this....P-R-A-Y. Each letter stands for stands for an element in your prayer.
P stands for Praise.
When we start our prayer we should name the things that are praiseworthy about God. This can be attributes about God that are signal characteristics such as righteous, all powerful, kind and the like. I am sure you can think of others. You might look up the names for God which also tell of His many and amazing qualities. As you do this you might want to enlarge on the words you are using instead of just speaking a list.
R stands for Repent.
We are speaking to a holy God who cannot be near evil. We need to repent of any sins that we can remember. We do things that seem small in our minds and do not consider sinful...maybe assigning them the name of poor choices. It can seem to us small...things like being judgmental or ignoring someone who is not our favorite. Sometimes these things are done in a blink and forgotten. I have added the statement in this part of my prayer repenting of any forgotten sinful acts and asking for forgiveness.
A stands for Ask.
This is exactly what it implies. Make a prayer list and pray for these needs you have listed. I did five the first week and prayed for them. Then I added five new requests. I don't want to forget the previous entreaties. So, I list them every day and pray knowing that they have been heard by God. I ask Him to remember my former stated requests. Then I proceed with present supplications. As I do this I tell Him things about the plea that I think are important. I know that He knows, but I feel it is important to share my thoughts. It is important to me as well.
Y stands for Yield.
When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested, He prayed to His Father that this cup could pass away from Him. He did not want to have to face what He was facing. He prayed that, but then He prayed, "Not my will but Yours be done." We need to think this way. Just because we are praying does not mean that He has to jump to oblige. It is not an order it is a request. God will answer it as He sees fit and as our appeal fits into His divine plans.
This helps me to keep on track, and I have found that my mind does not wander nor do I get distracted as easily. The whole prayer takes me about fifteen minutes.
"Let us never forget to pray. God is near. God lives. He is real. He is not only aware of us; He cares for us. He is our Father. He is accessible to all who seek Him."
ReplyDeletequotation of Gordon B. Hinckley