Listening in Prayer

I'm about to watch The Princess Bride with my kids. Love that movie - great casting.

I once heard actor Mandy Patinkin (from the movie) talk about the time he met Princess Diana. He and the others invited to visit the royal palace that day were told what to do and say as they came through the receiving line. Wait your turn in line. Do not extend your hand to shake until she offers you hers. Let her guide the conversation and then move along quickly for the next person in line to meet her.

While waiting in line, Patinkin thought through what he’d like to say to the Princess. He wanted to mention a cause near and dear to this heart that he thought she would appreciate. When his turn came, the princess smiled warmly, extended her hand to him and said something like, “I love your work in film.” And Patinkin replied, “That’s not really what I wanted to talk to you about.”

He proceeded to say what he’d planned. Only later did he realize his guffaw and feel embarrassed. The princess responded to Patinkin’s violation of protocol good-naturedly.

Patinkin tells the story well – making you feel sympathetic for him. Of course, we naturally feel for him. Who wouldn’t feel nervous and rushed under such circumstances? Who doesn’t spend time in conversations thinking of what they plan to say next?

I think his story sticks with me because it reminds me of myself in prayer. How often I come before the throne of God, with the opportunity to hear what His Highness would say. And instead, I want to move straight to my pre-determined agenda. I want to pull out my list of requests – rattle them off –  and tell Him how He could address each one.

And then let Him move on to the next person. As if this were a receiving line rather than a relationship.

I’m sure Patinkin was happy to have chance to share his cause with the Princess – a woman with the heart and ability to do something about it. But I wonder if he doesn’t also long to know what she might have said to him that day had he let her guide the conversation.

Get Your Prayer On!

E.M. Bounds is one of my favorite writers on the topic of prayer.

Let me show you why:

"We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. It surmounts or removes all obstacles, overcomes every resisting force and gains its ends in the face of invincible hindrances."
- E. M. Bounds

"Faith, and hope, and patience and all the strong, beautiful, vital forces of piety are withered and dead in a prayerless life. The life of the individual believer, his personal salvation, and personal Christian graces have their being, bloom, and fruitage in prayer."
- E. M. Bounds

"God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who uttered them."
- E. M. Bounds

"Other duties become pressing and absorbing, and crowd our prayer. "Choked to death" would be the coroner's verdict in many cases of dead praying if an inquest could be secured on this dire, spiritual calamity."
- E. M. Bounds

"We can never know God as it is our privilege to know Him by brief repetitions that are requests for personal favors, and nothing more."
- E. M. Bounds

"To say prayers in a decent, delicate way is not heavy work. But to pray really, to pray till hell feels the ponderous stroke, to pray till the iron gates of difficulty are opened, till the mountains of obstacles are removed, till the mists are exhaled and the clouds are lifted, and the sunshine of a cloudless day brightens - this is hard work, but it is God's work, and man's best labor."
- E. M. Bounds

"Prayer is the easiest and hardest of all things; the simplest and the sublimest; the weakest and the most powerful; its results lie outside the range of human possibilities - they are limited only by the omnipotence of God."
- E. M. Bounds

"Prayer puts God's work in His hands - and keeps it there."
- E. M. Bounds

Is prayer something you struggle to accomplish? Something that comes easy to you? Something you've improved upon over time? Something you long to do more of?

Fight for It

Don't you love the days when you connect with God, maybe through morning devotions, and new insights click wildy. Warm fuzzies populate your heart. You cruise through your schedule seeing God in small and large ways, in the mundane moments and the glorious sunset. You feel alive, and on mission with God. Yeah, me too. And then there are the days ...

Don't ya loathe those days when you feel dry and uninspired? Morning devotions feel like drudgery – lacking in fresh revelation or tingly feelings. Pretty soon you stop doing them. You move through your day feeling unconnected and cranky. Those are the days we want to give up the good fight for now, and just indulge a little:

• 
  
  We want to blow off an inconvenient promise we made.
• 
  
  We want to yell at loved ones when we feel aggravated.
• 
  
  We want to read the gossip rags for cheap entertainment.
• 
  
  We want to skip church small group since we don’t feel like going, or being around those who are more in-step with Christ.
• 
  
  We want to gorge on the chocolate cream pie in the fridge. And we don't want to share.

It’s on these days I believe we have to fight for the joy we're missing. Pause and pray for God to fuel our focus. We have to ask Him to create a passion for obedience. Then, we focus on the task at hand - be it morning devotions or evening dinner - even if the feelings don’t immediately flood in. Our feelings will soon catch up.

Consider this quote from Pastor John Piper:

“As you are able to do some of your duty, ask God that the joy be restored. That is, don't sit and wait for the joy saying, ‘I will be a hypocrite if I do an act of mercy today, since I do not feel the joy of mercy.’ No, you will not be a hypocrite, if you know that joy is your duty, and repent that you don’t have it, and ask God earnestly to restore the joy even as you do the deed. That is not the way a hypocrite thinks. That is the way a true Christian thinks in the fight for joy.”

Let's fight for the joy today, girls!

A Marriage Story

Remember when I spoke at my church back in March during a sermon series on lust?

After that I received an email from a woman who knew her husband was having an affair. She hinted about it on the way home from church that day - I think hoping the sermon series had softened his heart - but he stonewalled. So she was seeking some advice and prayer from me. She did not want her marriage to end, yet she was frustrated and hurt.

I responded and told her to pray. I suggested she not to get into any conversations with him about it just yet - let God work on her heart and his first. I told her to love her husband afresh, despite the affair, because love is the most transformational power in the universe. And I suggested she surround herself with wise counsel. That's my response in a nutshell.

Honestly, I didn't know if it was going to turn out well. But I heard from her again a few weeks later:

"This is just a note to let you know i did seek wise counsel and had friends walking and praying along the path to confrontation ... i have felt the lord every step of the way and waiting for his timing and his peace brought a quite different outcome than had i forged ahead like a bull in a china shop. We are healing and heading toward forgiveness, reconcilliation restoration and defining a new marriage as neither one of us can go back to how it was before. it has given the title of husband and wife a whole new sense of responsibility and honor worthy of respect and the hard work to deserve the position.

i could write a book about my journey and god's grace but right now i am focused on walking with god every step on the road to the future. thanks for listening - thanks again for coming to church to speak and for encouraging me to seek god."

It is AMAZING what God can accomplish - even things that seem impossible in our hearts and minds!

Learning to Pray from John Piper

Ever wonder how a pastor prays? One of the pastors whose writings have impacted me is John Piper. So today I thought we'd find out how John prays. He says this is how he prays for himself, his family, his staff, and his church. In fact, he calls this the "meat and potatoes of my prayer life." I really like what he has to say, so here it is in his own words:

"The first thing my soul needs is an inclination to God and his word. Without that, nothing else will happen of any value in my life. I must want to know God and read his word and draw near to him. Where does that “want to” come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 119:36 teaches us to pray, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain.”

Next I need to have the eyes of my heart opened, so that when my inclination leads me to the word I see what is really there and not just my own ideas. Who opens the eyes of the heart? God does. So Psalm 119:18 teaches us to pray, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.”

Then I need for my heart to be enlightened with these “wonders.” I need to perceive glory in them and not just interesting facts. Who enlightens the heart? God does. So Ephesians 1:18 teaches us to pray “That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”

Then I am concerned that my heart is fragmented and that parts of it might remain in the dark while other parts are enlightened. So I long for my heart to be united for God. Where does that wholeness and unity come from? From God. So Psalm 86:11 teaches us to pray, “O Lord, I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.”

What I really want from all this engagement with the Word of God and the work of his Spirit in answer to my prayers is that my heart will be satisfied with God and not with the world. Where does that satisfaction come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 90:14 teaches us to pray, “O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

But I don’t just want to be happy in my own little private world with God. I want my happiness to be as full as possible for spreading and expanding for others. I want to be strong in joy. This will make me durable in the face of threats or adversity. Where does that strength and durability come from? It comes from God. So Ephesians 3:16 teaches us to pray, “That God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Finally, I want my strength in Christ to produce good deeds for others so that the glory of God will be seen in my life. Who produces these good deeds? God does. So Colossians 1:10 teaches us to pray, “That [we] will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord . . . bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

All this I pray “in Jesus’ name,” because God gives these things to my soul only because Jesus died for me and removed the wrath of God so that the Father might “freely give me all things” (Romans 8:32).

To remember some of these prayers, I use an acronym—IOUS—almost every day in praying for those I love, asking God to give us an inclination to his Word and not to money or fame or power (Psalm 119:36), and to open our eyes to see wonderful things when we read his Word (Psalm 119:18), and to have hearts united in the fear of God rather than fragmented over a dozen concerns (Psalm 86:11), and to be satisfied in his steadfast love (Psalm 90:14)."

So there it is in one short paragraph directly above - how to pray for yourself and others in accordance with the Bible as explained by John Piper. This could take mere seconds per person, or you could expand on it. I'll be praying John's IOUS prayer for John and everyone else who stops by this post, and I ask that you'd pause and pray the same for me. Blessings ~ Rachel

Being still

Anne recently asked: "The thing i need to learn and find hard to do is to sit still and listen to God. i need to figure out how to do that coz normally i pray and my mind starts thinking of all the things i have to do before work. How do i sit still??"

First thing I'd say is figure out what helps you "get your head in the game." Listening to worship music can often help with this. Reading a few passages from the Bible can too. Also, position yourself best you can to avoid distractions. I've mentioned here before that I often sit in front of a window with the rest of the room behind me so I don't see the other things that need doing (dishes, laundry, computer, to-do list).

Occasionally I get down on my knees, face-down on the floor to pray, like in "child's pose" (only thing to notice there is if the carpet needs cleaning). But there are times too that I'm totally focused with God, and I'm sitting in the middle of a coffee shop or cafe with my laptop. So don't feel like you can only be still and hear from God while all alone in an empty room.

The second thing I'd say is pray with a pen in your hand. Have some paper in front of you. When thoughts about what you need to do today or tomorrow come to your mind - and they will - jot them down to clear your mind and know you've now got a reminder for later. Don't worry that these thoughts are popping in your head - just take your pen, deal with them quickly, and move on.

I also encourage you to write down anything you feel God may be impressing on your heart. Write what you think He is saying to You as you pray or read, or what you think the Bible passage you just read means. Record whatever is bouncing around in your mind - thoughts, verses, questions, whatever. You can re-read these the next time you sit down to pray and listen, and that can be helpful too. For me, even just holding the pen to the paper helps me stay focused on what I'm doing now.

Maybe someone else will have more to suggest. What helps you "be still" and focused when praying?

I catch an early morning flight tomorrow to do a women's retreat this weekend with Cornerstone Christian Church. (prayers for the weekend welcomed.) We're headed to a resort in the Pocono mountains for some relaxation and time with God. I'm excited. I'm also secretly hoping to squeeze in a massage or a pedicure before I head home on Sunday since there's a spa at the resort. When they gave me the details and asked me last year if I'd do this retreat, I thought, Are you kidding?! You had me at the word "spa!"

Before you get all envious about that (admit it, you did!), you should know that sometimes I spend the weekend in rustic retreat centers. You know, the kind where you bring your own linens, or sleep in bunk beds, or see snakes by your cabin door, or get bitten by spiders while you sleep, or have no heat and it's late fall. That can be it's own kind of fun - especially when enduring it all with some girlfreinds in God. But, yes, I'm looking forward to this weekend, in this hotel, with these ladies. :)

But I'll be wishing all of you were there. Have a good weekend!

Praying while staying fashionably humble

Time to announce the winner of Shari's book "If Clothes Could Talk." Random generator produced comment #5 - Wendy. Here are your random numbers: 5 Timestamp: 2009-03-14 16:11:37 UTC So Wendy, email me at rachel@proverbs31.org with your address.

If you weren't the winner but want a copy, go to Shari's site and you can buy it for for $15. She also has it available for $12 in an E-book form you can instantly download.

Sheena, I'll ask Shari what she thinks about your shoe dilemma and let you know. I love that Cyndi asked if anyone lived in her area of Oregon so that they could go shopping together - that's terrific.

I went shopping with a good friend this week who is starting a new job as a teller in a bank. They have a strict dress code, which they made her sign 3 different times last week! One of the more surprising things it stated was that she must wear underwear and all undergarments at all times. Um, what has the world of banking come to?


I felt slightly ADD the past couple weeks keeping two different topics going here: prayer and clothes. (Anne, I plan to answer your how-do-I-stay-still-to-pray question next week.) So this morning it made me feel a little less ADD when I read this passage by Paul in 1 Timothy 2 that talks about both:

1-3, The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

4-7, He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

8-10, Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God. And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it. (The Message)

I think humility is the key here. It's not that we should never look in a mirror to brush our hair, or never wear something stylish. And it's not that there is anything wrong with beauty, but rather that God never intended our beauty to be skin deep. I think Paul's point is that humility (and prayer) needs to underlay all that we do, including how we present ourselves. I think that should be added to the bank's dress code.

Finally, Jill you asked for a link to my upcoming speaking engagements. Click here or the tab at the top of this page that says "Where I'll be." I think I've got that updated at least through this summer. BTW, this is the weekend I speak at my home church, along with my pastor, on the subject of lust. So you can bet that today I am praying ... and trying to decide what to wear. Any words of advice? Or prayer? Where is Shari when I need her?!

Praying Out Loud

Do you feel nervous when asked to pray out loud?

Many, many people do.

That's partly because we view it as a form of pubic speaking - and public speaking tends to make people verrry nervous. I should know - I teach public speaking to college students. And I force back my own feelings of panic to do it myself around the country through out the year.

A survey conducted in 1973 asked more than 2,500 Americans to list their greatest fears. To the surprise of the researchers, the largest number of people listed speaking before a group as their #1 fear. Even above death!

In a more recent study, researchers concentrated on social situations and again asked people to list their greatest fears. Here are the top responses:

   A party with strangers - 74%

   Giving a speech - 70%

   Asked personal questions in public - 65%

   Meeting a date's parents - 59%

   First day on a new job - 59%

   Victim of a practical joke - 56%

   Job interview - 46%

What we're worried about in all these situations is feeling embarrassed, feeling incompetent, and being negatively judged. And all that seems tied to the words we're about to say. What if I say the wrong thing? What if I stammer or the words don't come out right? What if I draw a blank when I open my mouth? We're focused on our words and how they'll be received. We think our words = us.


For years I watched Georgia sing at her church. She sang in the choir, and also in the praise band, and several times a year she would sing a song solo. She never seemed nervous, and I knew she'd been doing this for a long time. So I was surprised one day when she said to me, "Rachel, I don't know how you can get up there and speak in front of all those people like you do. That would make me so nervous." "But Georgia, you do it all the time when you get up and sing - you even sing solos!" I replied. I'll never forget her response: "Yes, but those aren't my words I'm singing."

So one way to handle the praying-out-loud-when-in-a-group nerves, is to pray someone else's words. Pray verses from the Bible. Or at least truths from the Bible.

You can do that quite simply. You don't even have to have the verses (or their location in the Bible) memorized. For example ...

"Lord, you said when we ask for wisdom, you will give it to us (from James 1:5). Please give so-and-so wisdom in this situation."

Or, "God, you said we could come to you when we are overwhelmed and that you would give us rest (from Matthew 11:28). Take so-and-so's troubles and worries today and let her rest."

Or, "Lord you promised in the Bible that you would comfort us (from John 14:18). So-and-so is having a hard time right now, please comfort them now in Jesus' Name."

Those 3 prayers right there could cover a multitude of situations and prayer requests.

I think the best piece of advice I can offer those of us who feel nervous to pray out loud is to remember that this is about the person or situation we are praying for, not about us and how well we pray. So it's necessary that we shift our focus from ourself and how we might be perceived by others, to the object of our prayer or to the One we are praying to.

Finally, if you are praying in a group where several others have already spoken, and nothing more comes to your mind to pray, just pray, "God, I agree with these prayers, in Jesus' Name."

Remember that we don't have to say a lot or use eloquent speech to be effective in prayer. Jesus told us that. In fact, one of my favorite things to pray - indeed probably the most powerful thing I can pray - is: "God, may Your will not ours be done in this situation. Your plans are best."

*If this post was helpful, consider reading my book: IT'S NO SECRET.

When Jesus Prayed

Friends, Shari's son got sick last week and then she had to leave for a weekend speaking event so she'll be with us later this week to talk fashion. For those of you who were tracking with me on the subject of prayer before my blog got carried away with the likes of miniskirts and midriff shirts, here is a list (which I found at askapastor.com) of

27 instances where Jesus is praying:


1. Praying prior to Bethlehem (Hebrews 10:5-7)

2. Praying at His baptism (Luke 3:21,22)

3. Praying before His first preaching tour of Galilee (Mark 1:35-39)

4. Praying after the healing of a leper (Luke 5:12-16)

5. Praying before choosing the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12,13)

6. Praying after being rejected by certain cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:25)

7. Praying prior to the feeding of 5000 people (John 6:11)

8. Praying after feeding 5000 people (Matthew 14:22,23)

9. Praying as He healed a deaf man (Mark 7:32-37)

10. Praying prior to feeding 4000 people (Mark 8:6)

11. Praying before Peter's great confession (Luke 9:18; Matthew 16:14-17)

12. Praying during His transfiguration (Luke 9:28-35)

13. Praying after hearing the report of the seventy (Luke 10:17-19, 20, 21)

14. Praying before teaching the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1; Matthew 6:9-13)

15. Praying at the grave site of Lazarus (John 11:41, 42)

16. Praying over little children (Mark 10:13-16)

17. Praying in the temple on Palm Sunday (John 12:20-28)

18. Praying over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44)

19. Praying in the upper room prior to His death (Matthew 26:26-28)

20. Praying for Peter (Luke 22:31-34)

21. Praying His great High Priestly Prayer (John 17)

22. Praying in Gethsemane prior to His death (Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:39-46)

23. Praying on the cross (Luke 23:34; Matthew 27:46; John 19:30; Luke 23:46)

24. Praying at His resurrection (Hebrews 2:12,13; John 20:17)

25. Praying at Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

26. Praying at the Ascension (Luke 24:50-53)

27. Praying today for the believer (Romans 8:34; I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24)


Try this, pick one of these instances (you could do one a day for 27 days) and read about them in your Bible. Then - feel free to do it here if you wish - try to answer these 3 questions based on what you read:

• What is Jesus praying for here?


• From His prayer, what does Jesus know about God the Father?


• How could a greater awareness of this characteristic of God affect my life?

I did the first one and posted my answers - It'd be cool to see some of you post your answers to the others. We could fill out this list between the group of us! We could learn together.

Teach Me to Pray - part 4

I'm so glad so many of you felt the sense of release that I did when I read Jesus' instructions in Matthew 6 to His disciples on how to pray, and I realized it didn't require a weekly all-night prayer vigil.


While I really wanted you to get that point, I feared giving you a mistaken impression that all we ever have to do is "throw up 3 sentence prayers" here and there and call ourselves intercessors with a vibrant prayer life.


A common problem I see and have experienced myself, is we’re so busy each day that we don't pause to pray - for ourselves or others. We don't stay plugged in to God ... until a crisis happens. Even then, as Judy commented, sometimes a crisis hits and we're so used to dealing with things without praying that it can take awhile for us to remember to turn this thing over to God in prayer. So developing a pray-as-I-go-through-my-day mindset is important.


Equally as important as taking God along with me through my day and my to-do list, is to set aside and spend time with Him. To commune with Him. To read scripture. To pray, and to listen for His response. To be still in His presence and worship Him. This kind of thing can't be done on the run.


And some issues we face in life, for whatever reason in the spiritual realm, cannot be solved with one or two quick prayers. We have to persist praying with faith. We may need to gather others to join us in praying, and to intercede on our behalf. Its always necessary too, to keep in mind that God may not answer in the way we expect or desire.


EM Bounds writes, "We would not have anyone think that the value of prayer is to be measured by the clock." He also asserts, however, "The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance." I believe what the good pastor is saying is that when we find God faithful in the issues of life that have required much prayer and faith, it provides a foundation of trust, experience and relationship on which our short daily prayers can rest.


When I look at the life of Jesus and His prayer practices, I see lots of brief prayers He prayed. But I also see instances when He spent extended time praying and communing with God. For instance, in Mark 1:35 we find Jesus alone in a solitary place, very early in the morning, praying. And in Mark 6:46, after miraculously feeding 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus leaves His disciples and goes up on a mountainside to pray. Matthew adds to Mark's account that Jesus remained there alone until evening (Matthew 14:23).



So examine your prayer life for a moment. Could you benefit from learning to pray quickly during your day as needs arise? Is a set-apart time of leaning deeper into God with focus and prayer what your soul is craving? Decide to make it happen - and start with a quick prayer for God to guide you in this.



As I promised, I'll be posting some scriptures that show Jesus in prayer in my next post so you can learn from the Master.

Teach Me to Pray - part 3

If you tried that exercise in my last post, you discovered that the "model-prayer" takes a mere minute or less to pray. That realization was a turning point for me - it freed me from my false belief that I had to pray for hours over something in order to pray "seriously" about it.

Jesus said, “When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask” (Matthew 6:7-8, CEV). Then Jesus followed this comment up by teaching "The Lord's Prayer."

It's been my experience that most people feel less-than-expert when it comes to praying. The disciples did, that's why they were asking Jesus in Matthew chapter six to "teach us how to pray."

There is no shortage of help in the how-to-pray department. Amazon.com offers me nearly 400,000 books on "prayer" and another 24,000 on "how to pray." A few of these I've read. The latest one was E.M. Bounds on Prayer, while the very first one I read as a brand new Christian was Becky Tirabassi's Let Prayer Change Your Life. And who could forget the best-selling Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson? Hey, that was another power-packed short prayer.

If you've read a book that really revved up your prayer life, I would like to hear about it. Tell us the title, the author if you can remember, and most importantly, share what about it you found helpful.

KAREN, I'm so glad you gals enjoyed Jennifer Kennedy Dean's Live a Praying Life that I recommend. I hope you'll share with us some more of what you got out of that study!

So you know by now that I'm not one to make you feel like you have to spend hours in prayer every day to call yourself a Christian. In fact, what I see in the Bible is that God is more interested in frequency of prayer than in duration. Well, frequency coupled with faith. He wants us turning to Him through out the day, for all our needs. But not because He needs us to talk for hours convincing Him of our needs with many words - He already knows our needs before we ask, and He sees our hearts.

I believe He wants us to state our needs, and hand them over to Him with faith that He hears and will answer according to His perfect will. And then to rest and be grateful in that. And should we not see His answer right away, to not give up hope but be willing to persist praying for that with faith.

Let's look some more tomorrow at Jesus' prayer life - stay tuned.

PS. I love hearing yall's personal tips like praying while brushing your teeth, keeping a list at work, and writing on the bathroom mirror with erasable marker. :)

Teach Me How to Pray - part 2

One of the biggest misconceptions I had about prayer was that I always needed to spend a lot of time at it to do it “right.”

I didn't consciously believe this was true - had you asked me if that was biblical truth I would've said "no." Yet I operated with this perception that I needed to pray for a long period of time, in some deep state, for it to have real power or impact.

Does that stem from some over-achieving tendency? Or maybe a warped perfectionist mind-set? Or maybe it was really just an excuse? I dunno. But clearly I'm not the only one duped by this line of thinking.

So do this, pause right now, and look at the nearest clock.
Note the exact time it is, and then recite the Lord’s Prayer:

'Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ... for Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, Amen.

Look back at the clock now - how long did that take you?

It takes me less than one minute to pray the VERY PRAYER that Jesus suggested we pray in Matthew chapter 6.

Jesus did not say, Well first you’ve got to clear your schedule for a couple of hours. Then you have to meditate on scripture until your heart and mind are totally focused above. Then begin praying and pray for an hour, or until you see angels – whichever comes first.

Nope, He simply said do it like this, and then with a handful of paragraphs He praised God, affirmed that God’s will is best, and asked God for provision, forgiveness and protection.

Would we dare assume that because that was quick and easy-to-say prayer that it isn't effective or pleasing-to-God? It was Jesus' illustration of how to pray! So what does that tell you about needing to pray long prayers?


I'll post some more on this train of thought in my next post, but for now I want to echo 5SKIS and Cyndi and others and tell you how I'm now freed to handle those little needs or requests for prayer that I encounter from people through out the day. You know, the ones that I used to wind up feeling guilty about for not getting to.

If a friend sends me an email with a troubled story or prayer request, I do not respond by saying "I'll pray for you." I pause, pray for her right then (it usually takes seconds), and then I hit reply and write, "I have prayed for you." At that point I may or may not pray again for her later, depending on if the Spirit brings it back to my memory.

If someone calls me on the phone, or tells me in person about their prayer needs, I offer to pray with them right then and there. This is all the better anyway because two people are gathered and praying together in Jesus' Name. Jesus promised, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20).

If I hear a prayer need expressed while I'm sitting in church, or I encounter one while reading the newspaper, or just whatever may trigger an impulse in me to pray over something, I do it quickly right then. My aim is not to be lengthy and elaborate with these prayers but rather, like Nike, to "just do it."

So my goal now is to be able to tell people I have prayed for them, rather than I will pray for them. I guess you could say I've made a pact with myself to be honest with and about prayer. Rather than promising to pray, and then possibly not doing it, I now do it in the moment and then I am able to move on clear-minded and guilt-free.

I just don't have a lot of mental space to carry around all those requests for a later prayer session. I might forget important details, or I likely won't feel as passionate about it as I do right then after hearing the need. Besides, I'm sure they'd rather have a short, immediate prayer than a vague promise for lots of prayers that may or may not be remembered later. I know I would!

Honestly, which makes you feel better, having someone tell you they will pray for you, or actually having someone stop and pray for you right then? My guess is you ususally take your biggest prayer requests to those you are certain will actually remember to pray for you.

If I do feel the need to verbally commit to praying for someone repeatedly or over time - which I'm less inclined to do now unless the Spirit prompts me to - I truly follow through with my carefully considered promise because I've gotten more intentional about this prayer thing.

Girls, there is more to prayer but I started here because I think committing to praying short, in the moment prayers is a great place to begin. It is very doable. It helps relieve a lot of feelings of failure, pressure or guilt. It makes you instantly successful, so to speak, in your endeavors to pray for people, and sometimes a little success is what we need to compel us on. Most importantly, it ensures that people's prayer needs are in fact getting prayed for - which is the ultimate goal, right?

Plus, it gets you praying through out your day ... keeping you connected to God rather than procrastinating until a later time when you have a big plans to connect with Him in a big prayer session (which doesn't always materialize).

I'm convinced the Enemy keeps us from praying at all by getting us to put it off until later ... making us think we need more time to do this thing right. Yes, at times I pray for people at length or over a long period of time but that's a topic for another post. I don't let that possibility stop me from pausing and praying the moment I encounter a request or a Spirit-led impulse to pray.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once advised, "Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse."

So friends, if ever you see me post a prayer request here - like the one I wrote the other day for my book "Can You Keep a Secret?" and for an upcoming message I have to give on lust - what I'm hoping you'll do is pause and pray just a few seconds on my behalf about those things. And you can rest assured that when you post a prayer request in the comments here, I will do the same. Deal? Together we can move the hand of God through prayer! Stay tuned ...

Teach Me How to Pray - part 1

UPDATE NOTE: welcome if you're stopping by from my devotion. I've been talking about prayer, lust and clothes here lately ... no, they're not related, though I guess they could be! You can follow the links or hit the "home" tab at top-left and scroll down to read more if you want. Feel free to leave a comment anywhere, and/or a prayer request on this post and I will gladly pray for you today.

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Hey Gals. One of my anonymous bloggy friends recently asked this question in her comment: "How do you organize your prayers? I find praying overwhelming because I have so many needs to pray about and I struggle with praying the right things for others. Do you have any prayers you generally use? Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks."

I'm so glad she asked.

Hum ... reading between the lines of this question, I get the impression she views prayer - at least truly spiritual, effective, worthwhile prayer - as a lengthy, elaborate process that others seem to naturally understand and do, but for some reason she can't pinpoint or achieve.

Maybe I'm just assuming that because I used to have those kind of thoughts about prayer. I saw it as some mystical-like process that I never felt I was doing quite right. I felt inadequate as a pray-er, and therefore, inadequate as a Christan.

Can anyone else out there relate?

I also felt guilty because people would frequently ask me to pray for them, or I would volunteer to do so when I heard they were going through something difficult. With a heart of compassion, I'd reply, "Oh, I'll pray for you!" And I fully intended to. But then I'd forget ... get busy ... say that to five other people in the meantime ... and often never get around to doing it despite my good intentions.

Can anyone else out there relate?

For awhile, the only prayers I managed on a consistent basis was "saying grace" before dinner and saying bedtime prayers with my kids. Beyond that, I would typically only pray when in crisis mode.

Surely, someone else out there can relate.

I wanted to pray more.

I thought about praying more.

But it didn't happen.

Ed Cole once said, "Wishing will never be a substitute for prayer."

I believed in the power of prayer and knew it was important for a Christian to pray. I would make plans to pray... tomorrow morning... or tonight after the kids are in bed... or once I get a good block of time to focus on that... but in the words of the singer Norah Jones, "I don't know why I didn't come."

Catherine Marshall once said, "One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying."

And Corrie Ten Boom posed the question, "Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?" For a long while, it was my spare tire. What about you?

Say tuned and we'll talk more about prayer. We'll even look at some of Jesus' prayers. Feel free to post any confessions, requests, or questions you have about prayer and I'll try to address them as I post.

Casey and Hazel, I've prayed for your requests left on my previous post. And I've prayed that each of you reading this have a great day today!

Thoughts on Honest Prayer

My devotion on gut-honest prayers is published today at Proverbs 31 Ministries - you can read it here.

E.M. Bounds writes:

"Prayer, with its manifold and many-sided forces, helps the mouth to utter the truth in its fullness and freedom."

"A holy mouth is made by praying, by much praying;

a brave mouth is made by praying, by much praying."

Prayer is a way, or a place, where we can get honest before God and before ourselves as well. We can allow God to search our hearts and show us what we need to confess. We can gather the courage to say what needs saying, or to do what needs doing. It is a place where we can find grace, direction, healing, courage and freedom.

Feel free to leave your prayer request here and I will pray for you today.

(And feel free to pray for the requests others have left.)

The Best She Speaks Moment

If you asked me what my favorite She Speaks 2008 moment was, I'd have to say praying for Wendy. And it almost didn't happen.

On Saturday evening during the main session, I was meeting with my publisher for my book "God's Purpose for Every Woman." We didn't intend to meet during the session, but her schedule was running late so it turned out that way. After a terrific time talking in the restaurant over some hot spinach and artichoke dip, it felt very late to me as I rode with her in the elevator up to the floor where she was retiring for the evening.

I was ready to chill alone in my own room for the first time all day when I noticed it was only a little after 9:oo PM. I checked my schedule and saw the main session was still going on. Caught up in enjoyable conversation, I'd forgotten about it - and I was suppose to be up front at the cross to pray with the women.

After a moment of consideration, I hustled to the ballroom. As I carefully entered the back of the dim room, I could see P31 team members had gone up front minutes before, as planned, and women were starting to come forward to the crosses. Multiple team members were already at each of the crosses. Plus, I'd missed the message and wasn't quite feeling "in the groove" of what was happening, so I thought briefly about sitting this one out.

But I knew I'd been specifically assigned to be at one of the crosses and I'm not one to shirk my assignments. I couldn't remember which cross I was to go to, so I just headed to one. I prayed with several women while there, and it was truly my honor and blessing to do so. I was very glad at that point that I'd come.

Next, a woman came to me from the other side of the room and asked if I was Rachel. I indicated yes. She hardly got a few words out before she was overcome with tears. I'm going to let her tell you the rest of the story of what God did for her. Pop over to her blog here to read the rest of the story from her perspective. Please do that before you finish reading my post.


Reading Wendy's post moves my heart. But I don't want you to walk away from this post thinking, "That Rachel is so super spiritual. When she prayed, major things happened." Because it's not about me at all. When Wendy told me she felt God telling her to have me pray for her, I honestly didn't understand why. She doesn't remember exactly what I prayed (I did pray for a long time), but I remember what my first words were: "Lord, I don't know why it's important that I be the one to pray for Wendy but You do. So give me the words, and have Your way." I just went on from there.

My point is, God often creates "divine appointments" for us and we just have to be sensitive to His leading and willing to go along when He calls. Living under the power of the Holy Spirit is an adventure like no other.

For some reason, I was allowed to stand in the middle of this encounter with Wendy and the God who loves her. I got to see how obedient hearts, surrendered to Him, bring about great breakthroughs. I got to experience God lifting her up, and feel the moment that strongholds were broken and God reigned down over her. And I'm grateful.

Maybe Wendy is the unknown-to-me-at-the-time reason that I fasted the week before. Or maybe God allowed me to be the one to witness this encounter just to encourage me. Or perhaps, it was so that I could encourage you today with her story. I don't know all the reasons or repercussions, but I know that I'm grateful to have stood in that moment in eternity, praying for a sister in Christ.

So that's why this moment - despite all the fun moments I had, despite all the well-known people I met, despite all the talented speakers I heard, and despite all the influential publishers I talked with - was my absolute favorite She Speaks moment of 2008.

Honest Prayer

Honest Prayer

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

Have you ever shaken your fist at God over His answer to your prayers ?

Have you grown angry with Him over the injustices in your life?

If so, you’ll be able to relate to the prophet Habakkuk, living roughly 600 years before Christ. His book of the Bible begins with this complaint: “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save me. Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?” (Hab.1:2-3, NIV). God answered Habakkuk by telling him to be patient and to watch, that He will do amazing things and usher in justice, but only in His timing.

Passionate, honest, gut-level, even angry prayers have been recorded through out the Bible. Habakkuk wasn’t the only one to complain. Moses, Gideon, and Elijah all questioned God. Job even cursed the day God made him and said, “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands...?’” (Job 10:1-3, NIV).

In his anguish, Job accused God of afflicting people for no reason (Job 9:17), overwhelming them with misery (Job 9:18), not caring about injustice (Job 9:22, 24), and laughing at the pain of the innocent (Job 9:22). Of course these accusations are not accurate, but it is true that is how we often feel in times of severe suffering or testing. God knows our deepest thoughts and feelings, so it’s futile to think we can hide them from Him. Better to come clean with how we really feel, get it off our chest in prayer, and hopefully clear the way to hear and receive God’s reply or comfort.

I’ve complained to God in the past for allowing my loved ones to die, for allowing valuable things to be stolen from me, for allowing my reputation to be unfairly tarnished, for allowing physical suffering in my body, or for not allowing what I felt I deserved. I have found the best thing I can do is honestly take these feelings to God where they can be traded for His perspective and His comforting assurance. Though God may not always change my circumstances the way I want Him to, He can and does change my perspective on those circumstances and enables me to endure them.

God listens when we complain about injustice. He hates seeing the unrighteous prosper, particularly when it’s at the hands of the innocent, as much as we do. He understands when we feel shortchanged or opposed. Read through the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and you’ll be reminded of just how much Jesus can relate to undeserved opposition.

I urge you to be honest before God in prayer today. While maintaining a degree of holy respect for Him and thanksgiving for His saving grace, pour out the good, the bad and the ugly of your feelings. As Habakkuk, Job and others discovered, God can handle your intense emotions and questions. Though He rarely explains Himself fully to us – perhaps because we can’t fully understand this side of eternity – He does flood us with His power, love and peace when we come humbly and honestly before Him and pour out our heart.