Some Lies That Will Kill Your Prayer Life March 31, 2009

Lie #1:  Prayer is Hard.  God is so busy and so holy and so far away that I have to work really hard and try really hard to get His attention.

The Truth:  God is near me (Acts 17:27) and He is attentive to my prayers (I Peter 3:12).  I really believe that from God’s point of view prayer is supposed to be easy, natural, and pleasurable for both of us.

Lie #2:  God’s will is always done.  I should just pray for strength to accept it.

The Truth:  Not everything that happens is the will of God!  God is not evil and cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13) and yet evil is everywhere we turn.  One of my favorite bits of advice is ‘Think Noble Things of God’.  I believe God is Just, Good, Holy, Loving and Generous, and I don’t chalk up the evil I see around me to God’s will.

Lie #3:  God doesn’t work the way He used to.

The Truth:  God works powerfully today, and He intends for us to work powerfully with Him through prayer in bringing about His will on the earth.

 

What do you think?  What are some lies you have believed about prayer?

My Daily Prayer July 25, 2008

God,

You are my Dad.

You are my Real Dad.

You have always been my real Dad.

Thank you for being my Dad.

Thank you for being such a Great Dad.

God,

I want to Live today.

I want to Feel.

I want to Be.

God,

Thank you for the victories you will send me today.

Help me to recognize the stumbling blocks,

Both large and small,

For the fiery barbs they really are.

May I take the battle seriously,

But not take it personally.

Bring me home soon.

Love 

Lisa

Walking with God January 20, 2008

When I was a little girl one of my favorite Bible stories was the one about Enoch.  There’s not much really written about him, no more than a line or two.  But those scant phrases lit a fire in my imagination that never went out.  Enoch walked with God and he was no more because God took him.  Imagine.  To have a relationship with your Creator such that the Inventor of the universe would bend the rules of life and death to be with you.  To set off one day and just never come back.  I’ve wondered often about it.  What was so Special about Enoch? — how did he get so good at praying? – what was his spiritual secret?  

I’m starting to realize that I’ve had the story all wrong.  It’s not a story about a special man, but a story about a special God.  A God who loves to be with us.  A God who makes Himself accessible — makes it easy even, to find Him and to share our lives with Him.

I’ve been learning to walk with God.  To listen for His voice.  Here’s how it looks for me.  I quiet my thoughts.  The usual clutter that skips around in my brain:  what bills need to be paid? how am I going to get that project done at work?  I think we’re almost out of milk — I let that settle down without feeding it.  And then I’m still.  I ask God to come and I wait for Him.

When my mind wanders off again as it inevitably does I pull it back and I try again.  I’m often distracted during this time with self-destructive thoughts and negative habits.  Refusing those cravings brings to light the pain that was hiding underneath them.  I let myself feel it.

God often comes for me in a feeling deep in my stomach.  A warmth and a feeling of peace radiates through me.  I talk.  I listen.  I draw closer.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this.  How do you walk with God?

Prayer blocks January 14, 2008

Why is it so hard to pray?

The typical excuses apply.  He already knows.  Why bother Him?  He’s too busy.  I’m too busy.  But for wounded hearts there’s something more.  Our struggle with intimacy also (or maybe especially) applies to our relationships with God.  When someone we trust violates our trust we initiate measures to protect ourselves.  Accusations take root deep within us.  Accusations against other people, against ourselves, against God.  Peace dissolves.  We prepare for the worst.  Our prayers, if we pray at all are cynical lists of demands and complaints.  Fodder for a large, impersonal ’suggestion box’ in the sky.

Yet kept alive within our hearts a courageous voice cries out for something more.  To share ourselves without fear.  To know.  To be known.  To emerge from the complicated system of devices we’ve invented for the purposes of relating and interacting.  To be ourselves and not to be alone.