PRAYER IS WORK

I don't know about you, but it is easier for me to clean my house from top to bottom than to spend time in earnest prayer! I am reading Listening To God by Marilyn Hontz on prayer, and it has renewed my intent and vigor to learn to work hard in prayer. Some of the challenges facing us in "prayer work" are distractions. As soon I start to pray, an item for the grocery list comes to mind, and then I am off in coupon-land, etc. To remedy this I keep a To Do/Grocery list with my Bible and notebook. When something comes to mind, I jot it down for LATER. Then I can let it go and get back to business. I like to intertwine my prayer time with my Bible reading--as I come across a verse that is apropos, I rephrase it and pray it to God. (For example, when reading I Timothy 4:7, 8 pray for godly discipline; when reading I Timothy 6:9 pray for financial wisdom.) I also have found that writing out my prayers in a journal keeps my mind and heart more focused, and I can also look back at them and see how God has ansswered, or where I was struggling a few months ago.

". . .Oh, what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."
--Joseph Medlicott Scriven, 1820-86