I call to you, Lord; help me now!
Listen to me when I call to you.
Receive my prayer as incense,
My uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
As part of our discussion we were asked to choose a quote that reflected what we felt about prayer:
Prayer is the means whereby we let the Spirit of God breathe in and through us. As breath itself varies with our emotional and physical state, so our prayer varies. . .Even emptiness itself is prayer, if we can permit ourselves to understand emptiness as part of the rhythm of the breath of God. Nancy Roth
At the heart of the Christian life is the practice of regular communion with God in which prayer is the primary medium. We speak to God about what matters most to us. In this opening of our hearts, we also discover the presence of a God who cares about us. Howard L. Rice & Lamar Williamson, Jr.
Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to [God's] will in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of [God's] mercies. Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Prayer is an act in which we open ourselves to God' presence, break up our hard hearts to receive the refreshing shower of God's grace. Prayer is a practice by which we allow ourselves to receive God's gifts, to be embraced by Christ's love, to be filled with the life of the Spirit. Don Postema
My favorite though:Prayer is not asking for what you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine. Kathleen Norris
It reminded me of a quote canvas my daughter painted. When I pray for guidance, I have learned over the years that God has a better idea on how to reach my goal or even what my goals should be. The hard part with this approach is being aware---very aware of God's message and guidance. It can be as subtle as a newspaper article or a piece of paper falling out of a book, or an underlined passage by my mother in her Bible. Sometimes, it can be a penny. Click here for that story.
Jaclyn Morgan, 2013
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