"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" Luke 5:16

Find a place in your home where you can be alone and undistracted during your prayer time. Keep your Bible, prayer journal, pen, and whatever tools you use in that place so that everything is ready. During your prayer time each day, this is a sacred place.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The Praying Life Foundation

www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Daily Time with The Father

Quiet Time with God

The next morning, Jesus woke up very early. Jesus left the house while it was still dark. He went to a place to be alone and pray. Mark 1:35

KEY THOUGHT: Jesus had a regular, disciplined time to be alone with his Father each day. His quiet time with his Father was intentional; it was a priority he built into his day and it required his effort -- effort to wake up early before everyone else, and effort to go out away from everyone else so he could talk with God by himself. How intentional is your daily time with the Father?

TODAY'S PRAYER: O loving and tender Father, God Almighty who has the power to save, forgive me for those periods in my life when I have let my time with you suffer. I confess that I let other things and the hectic pace of my life steal away my time with you. Empower my resolve to put you first in my heart and in my daily schedule. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

www.heartlight.org

"Man is looking for better methods, God is looking for better men. Man is God's method."

- The Power of Prayer

You!

You were planned for God's pleasure. ... God did not NEED to create you, but he CHOSE to create you for ... his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.

Rick Warren

Real Life!

VERSE: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternallife. -- John 3:16

God wants us to have life! Real life. Life that lasts forever with him! That's why he sent Jesus, so we could have life. That is why Jesus left him and came to earth. That is why Jesus endured the Cross and its humiliation. That's why Jesus rose from the dead. God loves us with an everlasting love in Jesus! What other Christmas gift can compare? "O come, let us adore him!"

PRAYER: Of all your gifts, loving Father, none can compare to Jesus. You are worthy of praise simply because of who you are. You are worthy of honor because of all that you have done. You are worthy of praise because of your mighty acts. Most of all, you are worthy of my heart, soul, mind, and strength because of your love demonstrated in Jesus. Thank you for the greatest gift of all! In Jesus' name I praise you. Amen.


www.heartlight.org

Real Life

"Flash Prayers"

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you" (Eph. 1:18 ).

This week, plan a prayer excursion. Go by yourself, enlist a fellow intercessor, or go as a prayer group. Go to a public place--a mall, a restaurant, and a ball game. Pray "flash prayers" for people you encounter. Ask God to open the eyes of their hearts so that they will know the hope to which He has called them. If you are with a partner or a group, you may wish to pray out loud in conversational tones. You do not need to close your eyes to pray.


Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The Praying Life Foundation
www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Eyes On Jesus

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" Hebrew. 12:2

This week, be fully aware of Jesus. He is God's Everything. During your daily prayer time, before you do anything else, fix your inner eyes on Jesus. As you go through your day, let your inner eyes see Jesus present in every situation. When you think of a friend or a family member, let your inner eyes see Jesus there with that person.


Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The Praying Life Foundation
www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Lord's Purpose

"Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD"s purpose that prevails" Proverbs 19:12

This week, focus your prayer time on embracing the Lord's purpose in your every action, every plan, and every endeavor. Each morning, list your plans for the day. Yield them to God's purposes. Be ready to change them if the Lord should direct you to. Be alert for how God is working out His long-term purposes through your short-term plans.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The Praying Life Foundation
www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Thankfulness

Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion.

-- John Henry Jowett

Psalm

VERSE:
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may
sing for joy and be glad all our days.
-- Psalm 90:14


THOUGHT:
What's the secret of having a good day? How about waking up and
recognizing that we begin each day just as we ended the previous
one -- we are in the grip of God's unfailing love. That should make
our hearts stir with love and our voices sing with joy. This song
should stir God's Spirit within us and lead us to a deep and
profound thanksgiving that gladdens all of our days. So rather than
waking up tired, cranky, and dreading another day, let this day
with a reminder of God's grace in our daily lives and a reminder of
God's promises in our hearts. Then, I don't think we're going to
have any problem singing the rest of the day!

PRAYER:
Glorious Master and Eternal Father, thank you for pouring your
love and joy into my heart through your Holy Spirit. Fill my heart
and satisfy my life with a sense of your abiding and unfailing
love. In the name of my loving Savior, Jesus. Amen.

www.heartlight.org

Much Prayer

Where there is much prayer, there will be much of the Spirit;
where there is much of the Spirit, there will be ever-increasing
prayer.

- Andrew Murray

Jesus does his best work at such moments. Just when the truth
about life sinks in, his truth starts to surface. He takes us by
the hand and dares us not to sweep the facts under the rug but
to confront them with him at our side.

-- Max Lucado

The Word Is Near You

"The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it" (Deut. 30:14).

This week, during your prayer times, read the Scripture out loud. You will find that your mind stays focused better and that hearing the words and speaking them brings out nuances that you have missed by reading silently.


Jennifer Kennedy Dean
The Praying Life Foundation
www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Invite God

. . . prayer invites God into my world and ushers me into God's.
Jesus himself, who spent many hours in solitary prayer, invariably
returned to a busy world of weddings, dinners, and crowds of sick and
needy people. He rejected Peter's suggestion to build a tent on a
mountaintop and returned instead to the masses below. Following that
pattern, I look for ways to bring the two worlds together, God's and
mine, to let them become one.



-Philip Yancey in PRAYER Does It Make Any Difference?, p.167.

Never Stop Praying

Never Give Up


Then Jesus taught the followers that they should always pray
and never lose hope. Jesus used this story to teach them:

-- Luke 18:1 (ERV)


KEY THOUGHT:
Jesus had two points he wanted to impress into the hearts of his
disciples. First, he wanted them to be dedicated to prayer and have it
as a constant part of their lives. Second, he wanted them to know that
they must never give up, no matter what the circumstances might be.
While Jesus makes his points clear, why did he feel the need to tell a
story? The answer is pretty straightforward. Stories help us remember.
They connect to a different place in our hearts and in our heads rather
than just saying the main point. Finally, Jesus used stories from
everyday experience so that the sight or experience of something
similar would bring his teaching back into the forefront of their
thoughts. So the next time you hear about a Bible teacher or preacher
who tells too many stories, remind the folks of the Master Storyteller
-- Jesus!


TODAY'S PRAYER:
Father, thank you for Jesus' ability to put your truth into everyday
stories. Thank you for the truth that they carry and the power they
have in our memories. Thank you for giving so much of your truth in
Scripture in the form of stories. Most of all, dear Father, help me to
never give up as I seek your will, your presence, and your help through
prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

www.heartlight.org

VERSE:
I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my
name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his
reward. Mark 9:41


THOUGHT:
This simple and clear passage cuts two ways: First, we are
blessed when we bless God's children, even if the blessing is
simple. Second, we can rejoice when others do the simplest things
to bless us in Jesus' name, because we receive the kindness and
grace of others and because God blesses that kindness with his
overwhelming grace. Bottom line -- let's live to be a blessing!
When we do, God is blessed. We are blessed. We bless others. In
addition, when others are gracious to us, God has also promised to
bless them. God pours his blessings out on all of us. In God's
miraculous economy, the more we bless each other, the more
blessings there are for everyone!

PRAYER:
Gracious and loving Father, please use me this week to be a
blessing to everyone around me. But this week, dear Father, please
lead me into the life of someone who desperately needs your grace.
Please give me discernment to see them when you bring them across
my path. Give me courage to reach out and bless them. Keep them on
my heart and help me as I seek to be a long-term blessing to them.
In Jesus' name I ask for your help and grace to use this
opportunity for your glory. Amen.

Only God Could Love Like That

WHAT God did makes sense.

It makes sense that Jesus would be
our sacrifice because a sacrifice was needed to justify man's
presence before God. ... However, WHY God did it is absolutely
absurd. When one leaves the method and examines the motive, the
carefully stacked blocks of logic begin to tumble. That type of
love isn't logical; it can't be neatly outlined in a sermon or
explained in a term paper. It is inexplicable. It doesn't
have a drop of logic nor a thread of rationality. And yet, it is
that very irrationality that gives the gospel its greatest
defense. For only God could love like that.

-- Max Lucado

Our Fuel

The following quote is attributed to C. S. Lewis in Wild at Heart by John Eldredge:

"A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other."

You Are Not An Accident

You are not an accident. Your birth was no mistake or mishap,
and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have
planned you, but God did. ... Long before you were conceived by
your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought
of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor
coincidence that you are breathing this very moment. You are
alive because God wanted to create you!

-- Rick Warren