Prayer!

The Scriptures encourage and urge us to pray. Prayer is to be recognized as a blessed privilege in all circumstances and situations. (i.e. Ephesians 6:18) Prayer is multifaceted and to be an ongoing part of our Christian life. ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17) There is adoration, confession, petition, seeking, thanksgiving, etc. How wonderful it is that the Scriptures do not give us one posture or phrasing for prayer, but urge it to be personal and sincere. Though Jesus provided a model prayer ( Matthew 6:9-13), His intent was not for that to become our prayer. However, we can learn from the elements He included and can so also from other prayers recorded in the Bible. Although we should approach our Heavenly Father with reverence, the length (long or short) or phrasing are relative to our personal focus of the moment.

One of the times when Jesus taught on the subject of prayer, He stated. . .
"(7) And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for THEY THINK THAT THEY WILL BE HEARD FOR THEIR MANY WORDS. (8) Do not be like them, for YOUR FATHER KNOWS what you need before you ask him." ( Matthew 6:7-8 ESV)

Though prayer should not become something merely to quickly get over and be done with (as God deserves more of our attention than that), a prayer does not have to be long to be powerful in its focus. This past week there was a lot of praying that went on at the Senior Teen Session of Delano Bay Christian Camp at all hours of the day and night. And in the midst of all the week's spiritual focuses I was reminded on two occasions of the power of a short prayer.

The first was following one of our daily morning staff meetings where we discussed the activities and focuses for the day before the campers joined us for the morning focus. The prayer that was led at the end of our meeting -- and which powerfully brought all we had discussed into perspective for the day -- was simply, "GOD. USE US. AMEN." What powerful encounters that set the stage for. Praying such a prayer and genuinely surrendering the life for God to do that, opens the door to God bringing about things greater than we might imagine.

Later that same day, when I asked one of the teens to close our class in prayer, he simply prayed, "GOD. YOUR WILL BE DONE! AMEN!" For what we had discussed that day, this was a most appropriate prayer for our focus for the rest of the day. Again, what powerful things God can do when we have opened our life to the acceptance of HIS WILL and the allowing of it to be done in and through us.

In both cases, such being the genuine desire of the heart toward God, those prayers spoke more than what might have been said with many words. Though I would caution to not become lazy in prayer, we would all do well for both of these to be associated with the sincere prayer of our daily life.

Have a great day PREPARED IN HEART, MIND, AND BODY TO BE USED FOR GOD'S PURPOSES!
Carl

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