Good morning Lord Jesus, you are my way, truth and life. so I come to you this morning.
Jesus tells us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
We break down prayer into various descriptions: petition, intercession, thanksgiving…ect. Yet prayer is not fundamentally about these. It is not fundamentally about waiting around to hear God speak to us. Fundamentally prayer is the breath of Christian life. And the funny thing about breathing is if you do not breathe, you die. Breathe or die. Pray or die. Abide or perish. And this pertains to the body of Christ; to your personal Christian life, that of your church, and the church universal. The whole point of entering into prayer is it allows us to enter into God’s embrace and fill us with Hs breath of abundant life and joy. Jesus said he came to bring us life and life abundantly. (John 10:10) We breath in that life through prayer.
Something miraculous and powerful happens through Gods grace in us when we set aside a large block of time of an hour or more to pray. The enemy knows this and he will use anything from a dripping faucet to social media to interrupt it.
Some of us just have a hard time focusing on prayer for an hour and our minds drift and wonder. Don't get discouraged, keep at it! As a prayer aid I am giving you a great tool for prayer I received from Curtis Seargent, it is the Prayer Wheel. The Prayer Wheel divides on hour of prayer into twelve, 5 minute long each sections. The prayer Wheel is a wheel or pie that has 12 slices. Each “slice” is 5 minutes long. It aides you remaining focused in praying for n hour by breaking the hour down into 5 minutes sections. I have listed the 12 sections of the Prayer Wheel. Before you begin set the timer on your phone for 5 minutes or look at you clock. Then begin and spend 5 minutes in #1. Praise. After 5 minutes move to #2 Waiting. Continue praying this way through #12 and your hour of prayer will be complete. You can modify the time per section to 2 minutes each if you are at lunch or only have 30 minutes to pray, or add minutes to each section if you have more time to pray.
In this time of coronavirus with social isolation, distancing, and quarantines we find ourselves with more time on our hands. Instead of filling it by tuning in to TV, Facebook and, social media, I want to encourage you to use that time a a gift to tune your heart to God’s through prayer. Maybe your prayer life has not been what you have wanted it to be. Maybe you have found yourself short of breath.
My family, I pray you will commit to setting aside and spending one solid hour a week in prayer a week, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your comments on prayer. I would also love to hear reflections from those who since my first post have spent an hour of time using the Prayer Wheel.
PRAYER WHEEL
1. PRAISE
Start your prayer hour by praising the Lord. Praise Him for things that are on your mind right now. Praise Him for one special thing He has done in your life in the past week. Praise Him for His goodness to your family. (Psalm 34:1)
2. WAITING
Spend this time waiting on the Lord. Let Him pull together reflections for you. Think about the hour before you and the things you want the Lord to do in your life. (Psalm 27:14)
3. CONFESSION
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything in your life which might be displeasing to Him. Ask Him to point out attitudes that are wrong, as well as specific acts for which you have not yet made a prayer of confession. Now confess that to the Lord and claim 1 John 1:9 so that you might be cleansed for the remainder of the hour before you, and then pick up and read the Word. (Psalm 51:1-19)
4. READ THE WORD
Spend time reading promises of God in the Psalms, in the prophets, and passages on prayer located in the New Testament. Check your concordance. (Psalm 119:97)
5. PETITION
This is general request for others, praying through the prayer list, the prayer cards, or personal prayer interest on behalf of yourself and others. (Hebrews 4:16)
6. INTERCESSION
Specific prayer on the behalf of others. Pray specifically for those requests of which you are aware. (Romans 15:30-33)
7. PRAY THE WORD
Now take the Scriptures and start praying the Scriptures as certain sections of Psalm 119 lend themselves beautifully to prayer expression. (Psalm 119:38-46)
8. THANKSGIVING
Spend these minutes giving thanks to the Lord for things in your life, things on behalf of the church, things on behalf of your family. (Philippians 4:6)
9. SINGING
Take your hymnal and sing a prayer song, sing a praise song, sing a song regarding soul winning or witnessing. Let it be a time of praise. (Psalm 59:17)
10. MEDITATE
Ask the Lord to speak back to you and keep a paper and pen handy, ready to relate the impressions that He makes upon your life. (Psalm 63)
11. LISTEN
Spend time merging the things you have read from the Word, the things you have prayed, the things you have thanked the Lord for, the things that you have been singing, and see how the Lord brings them all together to speak to you. (I Samuel 3:9-10)
12. END WITH PRAISE
Praise the Lord for the time you have had to spend with Him. Praise Him for the impressions that He has given you. Praise Him for the prayer requests He raised up in your mind. (Psalm 145:1-13)
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