I admit that this verse in Scripture has always made me feel guilty. Okay, I feel like I can find the postive in most situations but that part where Paul says, "pray continually"? Come on Paul! Do you know how busy I am? I mean, how can I pray all the time when I'm always running this way and that. And if I can't pray continually then here comes the guilt. How on earth can we be prayerful at all times when there are so many other things vying for our attention?
I recently read A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer by Cheri Fuller
In the book Cheri Fuller acknowledges the hectic pace of life that we all lead and how quickly prayer can be viewed as a burden in our lives rather than the wonderful gift that it is. The gift of a relationship with God. She has a number of suggestions to help implement prayer in our lives so that we may pray continually.
1. Pray BLESS - When you feel the need to pray for someone pray for their; Body, Labor, Emotional, Social and Spiritual growth.
2. Place Post It Notes with prayers in a place where you'll see them everyday; the treadmill, bathroom mirror or over the kitchen sink.
3. Rather than try to find one extended period of time to pray during your day sprinkle little prayers throughout the day.
I pray for my family while I fold clothes. As I pick up each item I pray a short prayer for the person it belongs to and the activity they may be doing while they wear that particular item. Socks, I pray that God may lead my family down the path to Him and Truth. I'm not great at prayer and there are days I forget. Sometimes it's hard to be thankful when all I want to do is complain to God.
How do you pray? How do you keep it in the front of your thoughts everyday?
Hmmmmm..... I tend to pray in the car when I am by myself, or when I am outside and am caught up in God's Beauty. Then there are the times when the girls are pushing every button, and I try to send up an SOS prayer to save everyone's sanity. I probably need to be a bit more structured and not so random in my praying, but at least I'm trying.
ReplyDeleteI love this verse. No, I don't pray without ceasing, but it always comes to mind when "bad" things happen. It reminds me to find something in the circumstance to be thankful for.
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