Prayer: Conversations from the Heart

You might want to read the more complete posts about the “Process of Prayer: refreshment for the soul” which were first posted November 11, 2010. Just click on prayer in the tag list.

 

Communication with the Most High God is a precious and undeserved gift of His grace. Coming before His Throne is where we find “mercy and help in time of need.” It may take a little study, effort and practice to learn to talk to Him in a way that is in harmony with His Word. But it will be worth it! We will be strong in faith if we utilize a process of prayer so that we step into His presence appropriately – and then refreshment comes as we enjoy God-honoring communion with our God.

The pages listed in the far right column will give you resources to enrich those invaluable conversations with the Savior. They follow a process to prayer that has been helpful to me: Remember, Request, Rejoice, Release.

Here’s a summary of that process:

Step 1 – Remember

Spend some time remembering who God is . Remembering Truth about God reorients everything; remembering who He is invariably brings us into worship. And that’s where we need to start – on our knees, in awe of Him.

We are wise to reorient our life perspective even further by remembering who I am. My conversation with the Lord will be affective to the degree that I understand that I am both rebel and redeemed.

Step 2 – Request

– not a Gift List of things to make life easier, but rather requesting…

• a repenting heart
• grace to appropriate His forgiveness
• His perspective of my life

Step 3 – Rejoice

The worship and humility of the first two steps bring a renewed friendship with Almighty God and lead us to rejoice deeply. Give it care, though – a sense of entitlement diminishes the capacity to appreciate and rejoice in the evidences of His love and kindness and, come to think of it, our rejoicing can often be self-centered. What if we were rejoicing over anything that brought glory to God – anything that added weight to His reputation!!?!?!

Step 4 – Release

The ease of this transfer step is directly related to how thoroughly we have participated in the first three steps. Has my heart been prepared to trust Him enough to really let go? When I leave this conversation, will I continue to be worshipful, humble, rejoicing and refreshed?

The pages that follow come from times I have used this process for prayer. Hope they will be of help to you.