WANT TO KNOW HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE? PRAY!

On this #ThankfulThursday I am grateful for prayer and I am thankful that God is continually teaching me what it means to pray.

In Timothy Keller’s book, Prayer, he simply states:

“Prayer is the only entry way into genuine self-knowledge.

It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God.

Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.

We must learn to pray.  We have to.”

I think I am slowly beginning to finally get this.

To be painfully honest in assessing my past prayer life, most of my prayers were all about me.  All about my needs, my struggles, my doubts, my fears, my wants, my dreams, my sins…a way for me to talk to God and let Him know about how I was doing and feeling.

But in recognizing that prayer is also a way for us to know God, I realize now how one-sided my approach had been.

Dr. Ralph Martin, in his book The Fulfillment of All Desire gives a very succinct yet comprehensive and thoughtful definition of prayer:

“Prayer is, at root, simply paying attention to God.”

It is kind of hard to pay close attention when you are the one doing all the talking!

So, in studying, reading the Bible, learning from wise teachers, and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me, I have been on a journey to learn more about prayer.

It has been a journey to learn more about myself, more about God, and more about others.

I just the love the C.S. Lewis quote above because the truth for many of us when it comes to prayer is that we are hoping that God will do something, change something, or provide something based on how we petition and plead.  We want our prayers to move God to act in the way that we desire.  And sometimes they do.  But often they don’t.

So what do we make of prayer then?  When prayer doesn’t “work” the way we want?

Aha!  That is the treasure I have found on this path to a deeper understanding of prayer.

The truth is that prayer is really about changing me.

And it starts with changing my perspective:  realizing who God is and who I am.    The more I grasp this…it changes everything!

But I am a slow learner.  And I need help.  Daily reminders.  Guidance in how to pray and how to practice listening to God’s voice.

I found some helpful resources in my quest and would like to share them with you today.

HOW TO PRAY

I have used this simple acronym when I teach about prayer and find I need to use it often myself to help me focus when I pray.

P -PRAISE  Praise God for who He is.  List His attributes.

R– REPENT Confess your sins and struggles and decide to turn from them.

A– ASK  Make your requests known to God (yes, it is okay to do this!).

Y– YIELD  Wait for God’s answer and then humbly accept it.

WHAT TO PRAY

There are times that I do not know what to pray.  I have no words (hard to believe, I know).  I have found several books filled with prayers written by others to be very helpful and instructive.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Interludes     Michael J. Easley

The Valley of Vision      Arthur Bennett

Prayers for Today     Kurt Bjorklund

A Diary of Private Prayer   John Baillie   (just got this today…highly recommended by a dear friend/mentor…already love it!)

THE STUDY OF PRAYER

This is for those of you who want to study and learn more about discipline of prayer.

The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer

The Practice of  the Presence of God  Brother Lawrence

Lord, Teach Me to Pray   Kay Arthur

Prayer   Timothy Keller

I have a list a mile long of many more books I would love read on the subject of prayer, but these are the ones I have read personally and use often.

Please feel free to share your tips, words of wisdom, and helpful tools.  That is one of the reasons I am so grateful to have each of you alongside of me on this journey…so that we can learn from one another!   I commit to pray for you as I humbly ask that you pray for me!

On this #ThankfulThursday let me close with this simple prayer over each of you today: