A PRAYER BATTLE

I don't know if you pray;  I hope you do!  Even atheists say, "O God." 

I pray.  It's actually become an important part of my relationship to God.  I try to start my day with a time of focused prayer.  Then, I often pray again when I walk for exercise.  I also have my phone alarm set for 10:02 AM everyday to remind me to pray for spiritually lost people (Luke 10:2).  Then, I try to keep open to God throughout the day.

One of the battles I fight in prayer is not being exclusively self-focused.  It is easy to pray about my problems, issues, concerns, family.  It is harder to go outside of myself to pray for others.

My mother's example taught me to use lists to focus my prayers.  I have a laminated sheet of FMCC prayer concerns that I have used while living in New Middletown.  I don't try to cover the whole list everyday.  Some days, I don't use it at all.  But it helps me remember to pray beyond myself!

I almost always have hand-written lists to remind me of recently mentioned concerns.  I don't want to say, "I'll pray for you" - and then not do it.  These hand-written notes protect my integrity.

I also try to keep a hand-written list of recent prayer-chain requests.  I try to pray for these concerns as I receive them (via text message).  But, writing them on my list helps me to pray for them over several days.

I found myself apologizing to God this morning for being so self-focused in my prayer-time.  With the hard work of sorting, packing, and moving, I'm tending to call on God a lot for help with this transition we're in.  The uncertainty of our future raises our fear and concern;  so we lean on God.  But I never want to leave family, friends, parishoners, and spiritually lost people out of my prayers for long. 

Prayer is such a wonderful privilege!  I enjoy God so much!  He continues to bless me - so much more than I deserve!  Talking to God about people I know is the VERY BEST gift I can give them! 

God,
Bless the one who is reading this blog article today!  Help them to be encouraged to deepen their own relationship with You - through prayer! 

May it not be a boring ritual, or an obligation, or a meaningless routine.  May it be a life-building relationship with the One who loves us most!
O Yeah!