In my last entry, I shared “that God has reached down and thumped me on the head…in the last few days every book I have picked up…every radio preacher I have listened to at different times of the day on different radio stations have been talking about prayer….I think I better sit up and take notice…. “
God is speaking to me…..I started thinking about what I would have to do…what deep part of me needed to be touched (hummm, maybe even grabbed) to make this busy prayer warrior a prayer warrior of power.
Discipline came to mind.
Ugh…discipline…like dieting, exercising, budgeting and everyday care of home and family?
Discipline is not welcomed much these days…thought of like a bad word. Who needs discipline in a world of freethinking, free spending, free lifestyles and a western mind set that anything goes.
Over the last few weeks, the whole idea of discipline in regards to prayer kept coming to my mind. Last Sunday was the hardest thump…my pastor talked of discipline. The entire message was on discipline. (Okay, Okay Lord I am listening!).
It is a Godly character trait…an inward quality that speaks volumes outwardly without a word needed to be spoken.…and it is necessary…absolutely necessary to be the man or woman that God desires us to be in all walks of life.
Another thought or word has also come to mind (thank you Holy Spirit)….and it is power.
Discipline to pray to receive power in prayer.
Again, like discipline, the word or thought has jumped out at me in various ways over the last few weeks.
In an e-devotional I receive every morning, I read this about prayer:
while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit--more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness--will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest sacrifice that we can offer to God. Remember, again, that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent [powerful]. What wonders it has accomplished! The Word of God teems with its marvelous deeds. Believer, you have a mighty engine in your hand; use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and you will surely be a blessing to others. *
Notice the words powerful and mighty. Just another reminder from above…..
Thump, thump, thump….I am convicted…
I have known great moments (sometime hours and whole days) of prayer. I have taught others to pray. I have written about prayer and have a few prayers of my own on paper….penned in times of great struggles as well as times of great joy and praise. I know about the discipline and power because I have experienced it so many times in prayer and in my journey with Christ.
This busy prayer warrior admits that I have allowed the tyranny of the urgent…the daily fires…the pressing responsibilities of home, work and yes, even ministry to choke and stifle the very thing that I know to be the greatest thing….time alone, in prayer with the Lord.
Jesus knew the greatest thing:
….. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luk 5:16
One hour
To be continued…
* Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright (c) 2003,
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