Many churches used to have a ‘prayer meeting’ on Wednesday nights. Over the years, many of these prayer meetings have become a Bible study with a time for prayer requests. Most, if not all churches have prayer on Sunday morning. But I have found that prayer is almost used as a bumper or transition as the worship team shuffles off the stage, or the ushers get into place. Many churches spend more time sharing announcements than they do in prayer during a worship service. That's weird. 

For those who aren't familiar with a 'prayer service,' let me describe it. There is no singing. No devotional. No one is leading in prayer. The sanctuary doors are unlocked. You walk in. People are praying. Some are walking while they pray. Others are standing still. Some are sitting. Others are kneeling. Sometimes a person is stretched out on the floor with their face to the ground. Some pray out loud. Others pray quietly. Some are crying as they pray. Others may be using words that you can’t quite make out. It is a prayer service.

I do not consider myself a great prayer warrior, though I do tend to think more deeply about prayer the older I get. Again, I am no expert on prayer, but here are 5 practical things to consider when cultivating your prayer life.

When Is The Best Time To Pray? There is no magic time slot for prayer. God is no more attentive to an early morning prayer than He is to a lunch time prayer. We are encouraged to always be in a spirit of prayer. So whatever time of day work best for you to be in the right frame of mind to talk specifically with God is the right time to pray. There is definitely no wrong time to pray. You should talk with God as often as you need to… and as often as you want to.

Should I Pray Out Loud? God isn’t deaf. You don’t have to shout your prayers to God. Neither is He nervous. He gave you your voice. I’m sure He would like to hear it lift up prayers. We are encouraged to lift up our voices in praise. Praise should be a part of our prayers. So I think there are times when we should pray audibly. And there are probably times when we should pray silently. The enemy cannot hear your silent prayers. So maybe it is good for him to hear your lips calling out to God and putting him on notice.

Do I Need To Kneel To Pray? Prayer is a very spiritual exercise. It is your heart communing with God’s heart. But just because prayer is spiritual does not mean that your physical body is disconnected from it. In the Bible we find people praying while lifting their hands, folding their hands, bowing their head, looking to the sky, standing, kneeling, stretched out on the ground, weeping, smiling, walking, standing still, pouring ashes on themselves, after washing themselves, aloud with others, silently by themselves. You get the idea? The spiritual vibrancy of prayer should inspire your body to enter into the experience, though that may look differently at different times.

What Should I Pray For? You can ask God for anything, and He may or may not give you what you want. But if you pray for those thing God wants you to have, you will receive them. To reach this level means your prayer life needs to be more than a Christmas list. If your child only comes to you to ask you for stuff, how will that make you feel? You want a relationship with her/him. The same is true with God. Pray that God’s will would be accomplished in your life.

What Is The Key To Prayer? – Everyone wants God to hear and answer their prayers. But sometimes we kind of wing it. People pray in a moment for a moment. God may and often does answer those prayers, but your prayer life should not be a list of 9-1-1 calls to Heaven. Be purposeful in your prayer life. Here are five keys to successful prayer…

·         Pray often. The Bible says that we have not because we ask not. It encourages us to ask and keep on asking. Most people have a shallow prayer life because they don’t pray. So… pray, and pray often.

·         Pray according to God’s will. God wants to transform you and bless you. But if you only seek the blessings without the transformation, it will skew the relationship. Pray that God will make Himself known to you. Find out what He wants you to have, and pray for that.

·         When you pray, pray to God. He won’t answer prayers you pray to a tree, or the sun, or your grandma, or a saint, or Mary the mother of Jesus. Pray to God. 

·         Pray in faith. Do not doubt. The Bible tells us that our prayers aren’t answered sometimes because we don’t actually believe what we are asking. Prayer is not a wish. Prayer is to be an act of faith where you trust God enough to approach Him about an issue in your life. He looks for faith in your prayers more than any other element.

·         Make sure your heart is clear. Don’t expect to live a life of sin and have God respond to your prayers. He will answer the sinners prayer for forgiveness and restoration. But if you have idols in your life, that will get in the way of your prayers.

“Ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7)

“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.” (James 4:2-3)

Today know that God hears prayers lifted up in faith from sincere hearts. 

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

​You will make several decisions today. Most of those decisions are probably inconsequential. But some are fairly important, and a few of them will have long term consequences. When we were kids, most of our decisions were made for us, and we didn’t like it. Now that our decisions carry serious weight for ourselves and those around us, we probably feel like we wish we could go back to other people making those decisions.

Regardless, it is where you are, so you need to make the best of it. Many decisions can be made on the fly. But there are some into which you have to put a lot of thought. But I hope you aren’t making the most important decisions solely based on a great amount of thought. Hopefully you are seeking input from wise people. I think it would be foolish to make the biggest decisions in my life based only on my own thoughts. I have several people in my life who I know I can call on off of whom I can bounce ideas or scenarios and get their thoughts. While I may or may not go with their counsel, I know I can get it, and I know I need it. I hope you have and use the same avenue.

But beyond the wisdom of trusted friends, there is the wisdom of God. If we do not seek His guidance, we are extremely foolish. And I don’t mean asking God to help you in a passing wish of a prayer. The book of Proverbs is full of wise sayings, and reading them is a great way to start each day. One section of the book of wise sayings tells us,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.
Don’t consider yourself to be wise; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.” (Proverbs 3:5-7)

God designed us to think and have understanding. This passage is not an encouragement to abandon deep thought or bypass the decision making mechanism within us. But we should always realize that we are finite in regard to wisdom, as we are in other areas. While God designed us with a great capacity for understanding, He didn’t create us to think independent of Him. We should understand our limitations and seek Him when it comes time to make life decisions.

As the passage says, there should not be any area of our life that does not trust God. The story goes that a tight-rope walker was giving an exhibition and people cheered on both sides of the water fall as he mystified them with his ability. At one point he asked the crowd if they believed he could walk across the rope while pushing a wheelbarrow. They went crazy with applause. So he did… even performing a little dance at the halfway point. Upon arriving safely on the other side, the spectators roared with excitement. He then hushed the mass of people and asked them if they thought He could push the wheelbarrow across with a person in it. This received the loudest cheers of the day. As they finally quieted down he asked, “Who wants to get in the wheelbarrow?” The silence was deafening. People believed in the abilities of the daredevil until it came to their own life. Their trust had limits.

Are you that way with God? Do you trust God... but only to a point? It is really foolish to not trust God with every part of our life. He has entrusted us, who regularly prove less than trustworthy, with so much. We really have no reason to think so highly of ourselves and so lowly of Him. We shouldn’t lean or rely on our own understanding, as it is partial understanding. God’s wisdom takes literally everything into account.

Every part of our life into which we invite the wisdom of God, will experience the guidance of God. If you ask God for help in your finances, God will give you financial guidance. If you ask Him to give you wisdom in relationships, He will guide you there. That’s how easy it is… seriously. God is not only bigger than your problems. He is smarter than you are about your problems. Respect His perspective over your life. He wants you to succeed more than you do.

Trusting God and seeking His guidance will have a great effect in your life… including your physical well being. You know how uptight you get when you try to figure it all out and then worry about how it is going to work out? That anxiety does not exist when we truly trust God’s direction and work in our decisions. Instead of the physical problems that come with worry and trying to figure things out (headaches, ulcers, high blood pressure, anger, etc.), you will be refreshed and more ready to take on the next problem.

Today, seek God. Ask God for help. Trust God before you see the results, and watch Him work in you. Get in the wheelbarrow and have the ride of your life.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

We often hear the phrases, “Follow your heart,” or “Follow your dream.” These seem like benign words of encouragement along life’s journey. But in our desire to speak positive things into a friend’s life, we may actually be providing them with some lousy advice.
 
In the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies the lead character, Captain Jack Sparrow has in his possession, a compass. But this is no ordinary compass. This compass does not point true north. Instead, it points in the direction that will take him toward whatever his heart desires. His compass reflects his heart. Because of this, his world is constantly in chaos, and the people around him are constantly in turmoil.
 
This is a great picture of humanity. We are eager to follow our heart on a great adventure, even though we don’t know where it will take us. You only live once, right? So go after whatever it is that makes you happy, right? The only regrets you will have are those times when you didn’t take a chance and do something totally crazy, right? These are Humanistic ideals. Following your heart places you at the center of your decisions. Following your dreams means putting trust in something that you don’t understand. These have becoming exciting ideas, but are they healthy?
 
Well, the Bible says that following your heart is a bad idea, and following your dreams will land you in a nightmare. I know… I hate to burst your pop culture bubble. But I would rather deal in reality than fantasy. Here’s the reality… “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable – who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Yep. Your heart will steer you wrong most of the time. It is deceitful. That means it is not trustworthy. It will trick you into thinking that it is leading you in the right direction. You can’t fix your heart to tell you the right thing, because you didn’t design or create it. You just can’t trust your heart to tell you the right thing, and you can’t fix it to make it honest.
 
But your friends keep telling you to follow your heart, and chase after your dreams. They want the best for you, right? Can you trust your friends? Well, earlier in the chapter, Jeremiah wrote, “The man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed… he cannot see when good comes, but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.” (Jer. 17:5-6) So yeah… when your friends tell you to follow your heart, they aren’t anymore trustworthy than your heart. I’ve seen many people floundering in life because they listened to friends give them bad life advice.
 
So where does that leave you? How are you to know the right direction in life if you can’t trust your own heart, and you can’t put your trust in your friends? Well, between those two sections of writing, the prophet Jeremiah writes this… “The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.” (Jer. 17:7-9)
 
So this picture is not of a ship captain turning his sails into every wind to find something he thinks will please him. This is a picture of a tree. Doesn’t sound like much of an adventure, does it? Well, do you want adventure in your life, or do you want fruit? Because fruit is more of a blessing to others than is adventure. You weren’t put here to see the world or change the world. And you certainly weren’t put here to fill your life up with everything the world has to offer. You were put here to faithfully grow as a person, and produce fruit. You aren’t so much a ship, but rather a tree. God designed and created you to fulfill His purpose in your life. So mute your own heart, mute your friends, and crank up the volume on God’s voice.
 
He will change your heart. He will give you new dreams. And you can trust Him. He may lead you to some dangerous places, but He will not leave you abandoned like your friends will and your heart will. And in the end, your faithfulness will pay off in a life lived well, and you will leave something beautiful for others.