How to Pray and Enjoy It
I remember my first day in my 3rd grade class at Sidney Lanier Elementary School. It was a dreary mid-February day. I arrived at my new classroom very early that morning and found my assigned seat. I sat statue-still, hands clinched and stared at the established groups of laughing kids running about the room. I felt like the outsider that each new kid is.
Over the weeks that followed, I learned how to communicate with my new peers- how to open up and when to shut up, how to encourage others and when to accept teasing. Pretty soon, I was part of the gang and loved it.
It sort of works that way when you start a prayer life. It is like arriving at a new classroom and trying to figure out how to strike up a conversation with the Alpha male of the whole place. You kind of feel awkward. (It doesn’t help that you can’t see the one you are talking to but He gets to see EVERYTHING you are doing- unusual rules of an unusual relationship.)
Yep, at first prayer is an awkward type of conversation. But, just like a new kid in the classroom, you have to keep at it. You practice and gain skill and comfort. After a while, you know when to speak, how to listen, when to praise, how to confess. You are one of the gang.
Because a mysterious thing happens- something deep inside your own spirit. God works in your heart. You are no longer an outsider, but one of the Holy Spirit’s gang of insiders.
Prayer surprisingly becomes engaging, relational, satisfying- something to look forward to.
Have you had your moment yet? The moment when prayer becomes you feel like part of God’s gang and prayer is awesome?
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Vicki,
Today at our Saturday Home Group, (Christchurch Beckenham) Harriet Wynne-Jones, Vicar’s wife and the leader of our group, printed out your suggestions on ‘Try ACTS when you pray’. Aafter our Bible Study, we each took an ACT – Adorable, Confession,Thanksgiving, Supplications, and used this as a guide to say our indidual prayers.
Harriet said that a woman in our church uses the Five Finger Prayer.
The thumb nearest to my heart reminds me to pray for those I love.
The pointing finger reminds me to pray for those who are in authority.
The middle, tallest finger, like a steeple reminds me to pray for the Church.
The ring finger, which is the weakest, reminds me to pray for the most vunerable people in our world.
And lastly, the little finger reminds me to pray for myself.
Your sister in Christ,
Mikki
Greetings to Beckingham, Mikki,
It is a gift to have friends from afar!
I love the idea of using our own five fingers to guide us in prayer. We carry our reminders with us all day long.
Blessings,
Vicki