How to Pray

"But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father "But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door,pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly." Matthew 6:6 (NLT)

I hope many of you felt the sense of release that I did upon reading Jesus' instructions in Matthew chapter six yesterday on how to pray. I was so relieved when I realized Jesus didn't require me to hold a weekly all-night prayer vigil.

I confess, while I really wanted you to get that point, I feared giving you the impression that all we ever need to do is throw up 3-sentence prayers here and there. There is another component to a truly vibrant prayer life.

A common problem I see and have experienced myself is we're so busy each day that we don't pause to pray - for ourselves or others. We don't plug into God, until a crisis happens. Even then, sometimes we're so used to dealing with things without praying that it can take awhile for us to remember to turn the problem over to God. So developing a pray-as-I-go-through-my-day mindset is important.

Equally as important as taking God along with me through my day and my to-do list, is to set aside and spend time with Him. To commune with Him. To read scripture. To pray, and to listen for His response. To be still in His presence and worship Him. This kind of thing can't be done on the run.

Plus, some issues we face in life, for whatever reason in the spiritual realm, cannot be solved with one or two quick prayers. We have to persist praying with faith. We may need to gather others to join us in praying, and to intercede on our behalf. It's always necessary too, to keep in mind that God may not answer in the way we expect.

EM Bounds writes, "We would not have anyone think that the value of prayer is to be measured by the clock." He also asserts, however, "The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance." I believe what the good pastor is saying is that when we find God faithful in the issues of life that have required much prayer and faith, it provides a foundation of trust, experience and relationship on which our short daily prayers can rest.

When I look at the life of Jesus and His prayer practices, I see lots of brief prayers He prayed. I also see instances when He spent extended time praying and communing with God. For instance, in Mark 1:35 we find Jesus alone in a solitary place, very early in the morning, praying. And in Mark 6:46, after miraculously feeding 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus leaves His disciples and goes up on a mountainside to pray. Matthew adds to Mark's account that Jesus remained there alone until evening (Matthew 14:23).

So let's examine our prayer life for a moment. Could you benefit from learning to pray quickly during your day as needs arise? Is a set-apart time of leaning deeper into God with stillness and prayer what your soul is truly craving? Whichever it is, or both, decide to make it happen. We can start with a quick prayer for God to guide us in this.

Dear Lord, show me how to pray. Show me how to stay connected with You through prayer through out my day. And show me how to also steal away alone with You and be refreshed through prayer. Lead me, in Jesus' Name, Amen.

Humor

So my sis informed me yesterday that my blog is getting too wishy washy. Sorry. I guess when you make your blog your own personal diary about your thoughts and feelings, that happens. Except when you are me. Thanks for the heads up, Sis. Noted.

Last night we were all in Indy for the Pacers game. We went out for dinner and a meeting, then to the game. They lost. Standard. But we were all winners. The boys moved down to seats they didn't pay for (13 from the floor) and the girls stayed up and wondered where the boys were.

Pics (and apparently non-wishy washy things) to come

Appropriate Serving Sizes:

Just so you know, I saw this at work the other day. I HAD to share. Next time you are looking at that food label and wondering JUST HOW MUCH a serving size is.... remember this.....
Deck of cards 3 oz. meat, poultry or fish
Pingpong ball 2 tbsp.
Light bulb 1/2 cup
Tennis ball 3/4 cup
Baseball 1 cup

Fort Lauderdale Part Two!!!!

McDonalds sweet teas on our last day!
we loooove the beach!

frollicking

too much fun

so happy

toes pics

photo op

i love beaches

holding hands

i heart this one

Let me go ahead and explain this one. I wanted to get a jumping picture with Mark like the one I got with his mom. He thought that was totally 'G'... so instead, he looked up my skirt while I jumped up. Keep it classy... that's how we roll

But apparently he wasn't too 'G' to leap ??

or click his toes together?

Czech out Tammy's ROCKIN legs! That girl is hott!

Fort Lauderdale Cartwheels

post cartwheel

too much fun

just reminding me to switch to them

washing her feet after her last walk on the beach for the week....

shadows

*sigh*

we ate here twice... yummy in my TUMMY

One of my favorite quotes

"There are no secrets to success- don't waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence."
-Colin Powell, Retired U.S. General

Proud Auntie

pUHHHHLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSSE CZECH OUT THESE ADORABLE PICTURES OF MY NIECE, LILY BAKER!!! (TOM AND AMBER'S DAUGHTER!!)
STRAIGHT FROM DOMINICA! (HER DADDY IS IN MED SCHOOL THERE)

TOO CUTE!

MY FAVORITE!!! LOVE YOU, LILY BUG! XOXO FROM UNCLE MARK AND AUNT TIFF

Keys!!! *day twooooo*

xoxo

Czech out that bling This one's all awkward

Momma lovin
The crew....ready for some brew

Czech out the way we packed for the Keys! :) All plastic bags! lol

Our lovely resort

Fun in the golf cart we rented!

I think this is one of the strangling trees from Mexico

The world's largest thimble! ... I mean the Southernmost point in the US... wooooow

Mark's Aunt Kim lost her husband of 25 years to cancer a few years ago. They always came to Florida. :(

Rest in Peace, Uncle Larry!

I looooove him

Happy to see the giant thimble

the line for the thimble was ridic..... if you look to the left, you can see Tammy posing in line... but she is explaining the situation to the girl in front of her... lol

those are some hotttt shadows

Windy City

On the pier

We didn't have any pictures of ourselves, so I wanted to take one really fast

In the golf cart, on the way to get some SWEET TEAS FROM MCDONALDS!!!

This dog was amazing

I was told I should have worn this swimsuit in Miami... haha

Markie with our wedding rings

The Keys!!!

I want to own this island

Surely this pillow isn't comfy... haha