October 23

“God will use your prayer times to soften your heart and change your focus.  As you pray for others, the Holy Spirit will work in your heart so that you have the same compassion for them that God does.....You cannot be intimately exposed to God’s heart and remain complacent.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 10/6

Over the years I’ve read many books on prayer and have been exposed to all the different explanations.  I have been in prayer groups and have led prayer groups.  I’ve finally reached the point in my spiritual life to be astonished that a whole book can be written on the subject of prayer when it can be explained in just three sentences.  Prayer is honest, two-way communication with God.  It is speaking your inner most thoughts and then listening with humility.  It is accepting all that God gives you.  The last is important because if you do not obey what God has revealed to you in your prayer time, you will harden your heart so that it will be difficult to hear Him.  In fact, true prayer is a continuous, open line to God.  You may set aside a special time to bring requests to God or to even offer Him praise and thanksgiving, but if your heart isn’t in an attitude of prayer during the other times I venture to say most of this set-aside time will be in getting your self right so that you can be honest in what you say and open to hearing Him.  It also sends God and us the message that this is God’s time and the rest is our time.  Prayer, therefore, is an attitude and not an activity.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  Colossians 3:1, 2