What if your favorite super hero forgot who they were? What if people of prayer forget who they are as Christians? Here is a little encouragement to give you important perspective.
[tweetthis]Who I am in Christ gives me power in my prayer life! [/tweetthis]
One of my mentors and member of my ministry advisory council, Lee Grady, recently did a great article on 8 ways to recharge your prayer life. I particularly like his challenge to, “Be more specific.” Although the foundation of prayer is relationship; God loves to answer our prayers.
In my own personal prayer life God has been challenging me to learn in new ways the power of asking in prayer. One of the things that I am learning is that you can’t know that God has answered if you are not specific enough. Maybe this is why Jesus would ask people, “What do you want?”
In thinking about Lee’s challenge to be more specific my mind went to the FBI’s ten most wanted. For those outside the United States this is a list of ten criminals that are at the top of the list that one of our law enforcement agencies want to capture. What if you created a prayer top ten most wanted list for your own life?
In creating this fun list let me encourage you to:
Ask God what you should add to the list. If you start there a lot of crazy things will get eliminated right away. Also you might be surprised at what gets added to your list. God loves to give good gifts to his children. James tells us it is good to ask for wisdom. (1:8)
Check your motives. The book of James encourages us not pray with wrong motives so we can just spend it on our pleasure. (4:3) A good test for me is asking myself, “Will God get glory and joy in this answer?”
Look for areas where God is already at work. In the book Experiencing God, we are encouraged to look where God is at work and then get involved in it. This gives us clues of how to pray. It also often gets us involved in action. To paraphrase Mark Batterson, “Prayer turns into goals, and goals turn into prayer.”
[tweetthis]Prayer naturally turns into goals, and goals naturally turn into prayer.-Mark Batterson[/tweetthis]
Don’t be afraid to ask God to bless you. Because we have seen people take this asking to a weird place sometimes we are afraid to ask. But we sometimes go to the other extreme. This quote from Nate Ruch, the senior pastor of my home church, will help you: “If you can’t ask God to bless what you are doing then maybe you should be doing something else.”
[tweetthis]If you can’t ask God to bless what you are doing then maybe you should be doing something else.[/tweetthis]
Let me encourage you to take a childlike attitude with this and have some fun. God can always say, “No.” It is just a way to get you asking if this has been a struggle for you in the past. As an example here is my first draft of my ministry top 10 list between now and the end of 2017.
In a little bit I am going to be releasing a post on creating your 10 most wanted prayer requests. This can be a personal list or a family prayer list. As an example I wanted to show you my first draft that I came up with for the ministry today:
Mark Batterson is famous for saying, “Change of pace + change of place = change of perspective.” A change of perspective can be powerful for our spiritual journey. A danger in our prayer life is that we get in a routine that turns into a rut. The routine that once gave it life and power becomes the rut that keeps us from experiencing life with God.
[tweetthis]A danger in our prayer life is that we get in a routine that turns into a rut.[/tweetthis]
Often when I am doing a conference or service at a church my assignment is to help people bring new life to their prayer times. This can include reintroducing them to what Pete Greig calls the “buffet” of prayer by showing all of the different types of prayer talked about in the Bible.
One way that the rut of a prayer routine can be escaped from is by a change of posture. Our physical position can change our thinking which can awaken our awareness of God. Even adding a posture to a good prayer life can change your perspective. Here are six ideas to get you started.
Lifting hands– This position can put us in a place of praise to God or acknowledging our dependence on Him. David said, “Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy…when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.” (Psalms 28:2 ESV) When Moses lifted up his hands in prayer it brought about a victory (Exodus 17)
Standing– Jesus said, “whenever you stand praying…” (Mark 11:25 ESV) I find this especially helpful if I am struggling with sleep while praying. Standing makes it very hard to fall asleep during my prayer time.
Sitting– Jesus was often sitting in conversation with people. I have done a video on a simple way to start a prayer life. It is like having coffee with Jesus.
Kneeling– Simply kneeling can put you in an attitude of humility that opens you up to hear from God. Solomon knelt in prayer at the dedication of the temple (2 Chronicles 6:13). Kneeling has long been associated with prayer and for good reason: it puts you in a position to pray.
Prostrate– Taking the humility of kneeling a step further you could lay flat on the floor in a prostrate position. Moses said he was in this position in repentance for the sins of Israel. (Deuteronomy 9:18) Although this may not be the best to try first while laying in bed while really tired, it is a great acknowledgement of our dependance on God.
Walking– Enoch and Noah are said to have walked with God. Whether this is a metaphor or not it is a great way to stay engaged while in prayer. The disciples definitely walked and talked with Jesus. If you enjoy the outdoors a prayer walk could be a great thing to try.
Which one of these could you add (or add back) to your prayer life? What other postures did I miss? Giving it a try could pull you out of a rut and into the fast lane with God again.
One of the greatest things that I have to confront as I travel from place to place speaking on the subject of prayer is intimidation and condemnation. Talking to a wonderful lady who has been an encouragement to many in the area of prayer got me thinking. I hope that this is encouraging to you.
I mention two other posts in this video that could be helping if you would like to think about this a little deeper.
The danger of the “Gift of Intercession”
How to come out of the condemnation about your prayer life
