Let us come - Prayer by Tricia A. Furness

Let us come - Prayer
by Tricia A. FurnessToday

I was thinking about the purpose of prayer. I have, in the last few days, had many realizations about my prayer. Not praying for my own needs being number one. Isn't that odd? I have this long prayer list I go through every time I pray, and yet not a single line on that page has my name, needs, or desires. I wonder what God thinks of that. It wasn't really unselfish because I just never realized I wasn't praying for myself. So, I said a couple prayers for myself.

As I was deciding what to pray about, I thought about what God would want me to pray for. Obviously not for a million dollars or a brand new car... He wants us to pray for ourselves, but to think about our basic needs in life. This would be a roof over our heads, food at our table, and heat (especially now! Brrrr), and healing from medical needs. However, I do also think God wants us to pray about what He would want our lives to be. Maybe for direction as to what job we should take, degree to earn in school or where we should live. Maybe we should pray for a special someone we'd like to see in our lives, to heal our relationship with a parent, to bless us with a child. Whatever the prayers, I think to be effective they should be done after you have spent a period of time bringing yourself closer to God.

One poem I posted called it building a stairway, one step at a time, then climbing that stairway and asking God. You are much closer to God when you have climbed up to him. So, start prayer time with worship, reading the Word, or listening to Christian music that moves you. When you feel close to Him, you are ready to pray to Him. Your attitude is in line with Him, and you will be more clear as to what prayers you should say. He is closer and listens harder because of this also. So, spend some time with God today, figuring what you want to pray for. Then, pray.