‘“Speak, for your servant is listening’” (1 Sam. 3:10).
The most important prayer-skill is learning to listen to the Living Voice. This week let listening to Him be the main focus of your prayer time. Let 1 Samuel 3:10 be your only request. Listen for Him in His Word, in the quietness of your heart, in the circumstances of your day, in fresh ideas that come to mind, in new understanding that settles on you. Learn to listen. Write down what you think you sense Him saying to you.
Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The Praying Life Foundation
www.nationaldayofprayer.org
3 comments:
Sigh... This is such a hard skill to learn... But it is an invaluable skill as each time I rush ahead before Him, I seem to end up messing up what I was running after.
Thanks for the reminder!
(For some reason, I'm unable to activate my account via your blog. I'm able to do that through others. I guess I can do anonymous for now but this is Mark Lowenstein from The Nike Formula.)
I recall, in your previous post, how we are to "pray". Traditionally, prayer is when you sit down, close your eyes and put your focus on God or when you talk to God before any meals or a bedside chat with God. But it's not necessarily limited to these "moments of silence" but in your everyday, moment-by-moment time with God at work, home, on the road, in stores and just about everywhere you go. Prayer instances are like these:
When you're standing in front of a cashier at Bloom (our grocery store) and asking God to watch over this soul (whether he/she is saved or not) and lead him/her to Jesus.
When someone cuts in front of you during rush hour. Instead of "barking at this person with obscenities", make this infraction a trigger asking God to pray over this soul (whether he/she's a Christian or not) and ask Him to fix his/her eyes on Jesus.
When you're at work and your boss yells at you for your inability to do the job. Then you begin to talk to God asking Him to help him have self-control and realize there needs to be room for human-error.
When you're at home after having a bad day then you ask God to help you through the rest of the day modeling Jesus to your spouse and children and your neighbors.
...and the list is endless..
Kewl Nitrox.. You're right that it is a hard habit to build. It requires discipline. I'm guilty, too, when I stumble and fail to fix my eyes on Jesus on ocassions like these above. Beginning the morning in prayer with God does help me prepare for possible infractions throughout the day.
We'll need all the support from all the "Christian soliders"! Thanks for this blog, Den.
I think I don't listen because I'm afraid of what I'll hear....
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