Praying Through the TO DO's

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

Romans 8:26

Do you ever start to pray, but find you do not have the words?

Are all of your thoughts focused on other things than being with God and what to say to Him?

This is a perpetual problem I face nearly every time I sit down to pray. I start and then my mind creates a "To Do" list of all of the other things in my life:

• Check the presentation for work
• Schedule Christmas party for GUMY
• Read new training manual
• Clean the kitchen
• Do I need to make cookies for someone?

The list will keep going and going until I physically stop myself and refocus on talking with God. I can have several rounds of starting and list making before my spirit lets go and I allow God's Spirit to work in me so that I can truly communicate with God. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, my prayers are weak and broken filled with starts and stops and not a great deal of content.

Prayer is our two way communication with God and just like in our communication with other people we have to be fully present to understand the other person and to be coherent in what we are trying to communicate. When we rush through communication - whether we are giving a speech in class or talking to a friend on the phone - we often do not say exactly what we intend and the other party often misunderstands what we are trying to communicate. Prayer is not different.

When we stop and take time to pray, we must focus our whole being on God and being present with Him. By focusing your mind and your heart on God, your spirit will know how you are to pray and for what you are to pray. With your mind and heart focused, your ears will become tuned to God's still, quiet voice and His direction will become clear.

Prayer is a learned behavior. Just like we expand our vocabulary each week with new spelling words or through reading new books, we grow our ability to communicate with God through intentional practice. Intentional communication with God can be hard in the midst of the bombardment of external voices in the world, but through God's grace and your willingness to try, He will cut through the noise and whisper in your heart.

Prayer is powerful - - and prayer is up to you. You have a choice to communicate openly with God - with anyone - you need to decide if communicating with God is a high priority in your life.

For me, prayer ranks pretty high up on my list....and even in the midst of the crazy "To Do" list - prayer always wins.

Scripture

Romans 8:22-30

Quote of the Day

There is a vast difference between saying prayers and praying.

Unknown

Question of the Day

Where do you pray?





The I in We....

What are you going to do today?

I am guessing you would answer that question something like this…


“Well, I’m going to eat breakfast, brush my teeth and then go to school (work). I will talk to my friends, learn something new and then come home. Tonight I will check my email, watch some TV, eat dinner and go to bed.” And get up and do it all again tomorrow.

How would your day differ if you went from and “I” to a “We”?

What would happen in your day if you went from “I am going to…” to “God, what are we going to do today?

Everyday we have the opportunity to invite God into every aspect of our lives – even the mundane and the seemingly trivial. God wants to be your Leader – to be your Captain. We are called to be His followers.

During this year’s World Series, there was a bit of miscommunication between the Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Bull Pen. He called down and asked for two specific pitchers to warm up, but the Bull Pen Coach only heard one name. Then an inning later, the Manager called to the Bull Pen Coach again and asked for a specific pitcher to warm up, but the Coach misunderstood and had a different pitcher warm up. The wrong pitcher went to the mound for the change in pitchers and the Manager had to come out onto the field, after only one batter, to dismiss the pitcher and bring in the original pitcher he wanted from the very first phone call.

This confusion of miscommunication played out on national television, during one of the most important games of the year, because the Bull Pen Coach wasn’t listening intently to his Manager. He simply wasn’t connected with his leader. The same thing can happen to each of us if we do not ask God to be our Leader in every situation. We can have trouble hearing Him clearly when we only ask Him in during big moments, because we are out of practice hearing His voice. However, if we seek God as our Leader in the tiny things – even going to school and eating dinner – we will be clear as to what His direction is during the big events of life.

So today, when you think, “What am I going to do today?”…why not ask, “What are we going to do?”

Imagine what could happen if you let the Great I AM be the "I" in your "We".

Scripture

Luke 5:27-28

Quote of the Day

A leader is a dealer in hope.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Question of the Day

What is your favorite baseball team?

DON'T FORGET...5TH SUNDAY FUN FOR GUMY JR/SR THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30TH...PLEASE RSVP BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28TH