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Difficulties with prayer?
Perhaps the following points and Scripture verses will help
What good does Prayer do?
- God has made room within His created order (an 'open' creation)
for things to change and be changed.
See Exodus 14:19-22; Joshua 10:12-14; 2 Kings 20:8-11; Matthew
14:25-33; Matthew 15:33-38; John 2:6-10
- Prayer is based upon a living, working relationship. Prayer builds
up that relationship.
See 1 Samuel 3:7-11; Luke 22:39-44
We pray as much as we desire, and we desire as much as
we love.
St Anthony
Problems Concentrating
- Begin right! Pause before you pray and imagine yourself being admitted
for a royal audience.
- Pray aloud, as though the King were there before you.
- Vary your posture. Kneel, stand, walk. Vary your surroundings.
Do what helps you most.
- Keep a prayer list – names, situations, etc.
- Write out your prayers. Use written prayers.
- Read the Bible before you pray.
- Do not relegate prayer to times when you feel too weary, too busy.
- Don't worry about slow progress. Much 'spade work' may be needed.
Also
- Don't equate length of prayer time with spiritual maturity.
- Don't equate verbosity with spiritual maturity, Matthew 6:7
We may pray most when we say least, and we may pray
least when we say most.
St Augustine
Unanswered Prayer
- God's delays are not necessarily His denials. Sometimes the time
is not right, see Daniel 10:12-14
- Sometimes God's answer is 'No', see Matthew 7:9-11
- Sometimes prayers are better left unanswered, see Psalm 106:13-15
- God looks deeper than our words and meets the secret (unknown?)
needs of our life, see 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
'Though we make mistakes in asking, God never makes mistakes in
answering.'
Finally, remember that 'Seven days without prayer makes one weak'. |
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