Tuesday, January 31, 2012

One of my other resolutions, for lack of some other term to call it, is to focus on my prayer life this year. I tend to be the laundry list kind of person. I want to develop that aspect of my Christian walk so it's what it should be - communicating with God.
I want to share a book that has truly helped me in this exploit - THE 21 MOST EFFECTIVE PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE by Dave Earley. Just as the title suggests, the author focuses on 21 prayers raised up by various characters in the Bible. Each prayer has its own chapter, and within that chapter the story of the original prayer is given and discussed. Then, Earley brings the prayer into the context of modern-day. He suggests how this prayer might be one that readers should pray.
I have already read the entire book and am going back again camping out a little longer on each prayer. Some of the prayers particularly hit home with me. The prayer of Elijah was simply, "Answer me." Earley tells a story of a missionary in this section that brought me to tears in light of the fact that I will be going to Haiti later this year. Also, the prayer of Jabez which speaks of enlarging his territory, strikes a chord with me as you might notice in one of my earlier posts about God enlarging my influence.
Prayers aren't magic incantations to get what we want. Prayer is communicating with a God Who knows what our best path is and wants to guide us on it. With that in mind, I'm learning to pray and commune with Him. As I learn, I recognize Him all around me. He was always there; I just wasn't tuned in. Now that I've begun to tune in through prayer, this Christian life has become more of an adventure than ever before.

No comments: