Praying

Praying, by J.I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom, was a good primer on the subject. It covered: meditating, praising, being searched by God, asking, complaining, hanging on through hardship or delayed answers, and praying corporately. Plus, it touched on the beliefs you need to have to relate to God through prayer so you don't get stuck in lies about what prayer is and who God is.

Writing style-wise, the book suffered from the same problem I'm told I have. The writing felt like stilted conversation. There were too many long, complicated sentences and far too many lists of verbs or adjectives that I lost myself in. The authors seemed to be trying to throw a slight joke in occasionally, but they always kept their distance with big words. Nothing wrong with big words and big sentences - you just don't have to use them when something simple will do.

It sometimes felt like they were trying to pack in too many slightly connected thoughts into the same chapter. They spent a lot of time explaining why they were talking about a subject that didn't at first glance have much to do with the chapter title. There's just too much to talk about with prayer!

If you can push through the writing style and stay with their thought process, you're in for a treat. I was challenged about the heart of prayer and seeking after the Lord. I was called back to some basic prayer practices I desperately need. And I was introduced to a couple new ideas to freshen up my prayer life.

In the next couple months, I'm hoping to:

Start reading the Bible all the way through, and read more of it using lectio divina.

Ask God to search my heart, meditating on Psalm 139.

Ask God how I should be interceding for others.

Structure my intercessory prayer using Biblical prayers, such as Psalm 9:9-10, 1 Sam 2:1-10, 1 Chron 29:10-19, 2 Chron 6:14-42, Daniel 9:4-19, Habakkuk 3:17-19, Luke 1:46-55, Eph 3:14-21, Phil 1:3-11, Col 1:9-12, Jude 24-25, and Matt 6:9-13.

Bring to God in wordless prayer one of my major areas of suffering. Close with Psalm 55:22. Pray my response to God (with words).

Consider how my personal prayer can improve my corporate worship, and vice versa.

"Doesn't the prospect of gaining wisdom make meditation worth the effort? Sadly, there are couch-potato Christians just as there are couch-potato TV watchers, who look on at others' efforts but make no effort at anything themselves and so get nowhere (82)." I pray this isn't me - I don't want to look back and wonder, "Whatever happened to my decision to pray diligently?" Especially ironic, as I'm typing this while sitting on a couch.