I have been in church my entire life. Not only that, I was a board member’s daughter growing up so I was there every time the doors were open and we stayed after service when they had meetings. It was just like a second home for me. Let it be noted that I grew up in a Pentecostal church that believed in the power of prayer. It wasn’t uncommon to go to a prayer meeting and come out 3 hours later. I’ve always heard and practiced that prayer is just like talking to your best friend. You can share the good along with the bad. And I still think that rings true today, but I read something this past week that got me thinking. How do I treat my prayer life today?
Before I go on take a moment to think about your own prayer life. This is in no way meant to be a judgmental space just to get you thinking. So is your prayer life consistent or non-existent? If I’m honest with myself there are times in my life where I know my prayer life didn’t exist. And even when I was more consistent with my prayer life, was I actually having a conversation with God or just bringing him my list of prayers, saying amen, and going on with my life. More often than not it was the latter of the two. For example, “Dear God, Thank you for this day. (Insert prayer list here) In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.” It’s a meeting minutes prayer. You catch God up on what happened since the last meeting and move on. But that’s not how a conversation works, well a good conversation anyway. They are two-sided. Sometimes that can be difficult to understand because it may not be an audible voice you hear, but God can speak to you in many ways. I would encourage you to take time next time you are praying and just sit in the stillness.
If you are anxious or struggling, just sit in that stillness and let God’s peace cover you. I have done this more times than I can count. Anytime my anxiety is at an all-time high I go somewhere to be alone, put on some worship music softly, and just sit there. My conversation usually goes something like this. “God help me I am struggling. I need you.” Then I sit and let him respond. It may be through the lyrics of a song or just that feeling of peace that fills my spirit. This is definitely not the only way, but it is one way that helps me grow in my relationship with God. Some of my best conversations happen when I am driving by myself. I have been known to have some shouting matches with God in my car. So if you ever see me driving and it looks like I’m yelling. I am not shouting at anyone just expressing my frustration and stress to God. The crazy thing about that is when I arrive at my destination I get out of my car in a better place than when I first sat down. That’s what works for me and if you haven’t already you will need to find where you can have the best conversations with God. Remember God wants to have a relationship with us and relationships are two-sided.
I pray that this blog today was an encouragement to you and can help in your daily life. Always know I am available to pray with you or just be someone to talk to when life gets hard. E-mail me at megan@churchanywhere.us if you need prayer!
Talk to you next Monday!