Friday, August 23, 2013

DAY-95 Your Prayer Closet

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly —Matthew 6:6


Where is your prayer closet?  How have you cultivated that habit of daily prayer in your life?  How do you "get alone" with God and when does that start?  Does it start at the beginning of your day? The middle? The evening?  Ever?

The power of the prayer closet is that it allows for you to fully focus on Him.  It takes bringing your spirit to that quiet place where only He is.

You may think that you can close your eyes anywhere and be in commune with God. And to some extent that is true.  You can learn to quiet yourself in any situation and pray...but can you hear?  Praying is not a one way conversation.  Prayer is you and Him in dialogue.

Some of you may not be good communicators.  Some of you may have difficulty praying out loud.  I did too at first.  One of the greatest gifts that a pastor did for me was force me to pray out loud in front of others. I was on staff in an administrative role in a church and was allowed to come to the staff meetings.  We each had to take a turn praying out loud...and the group would wait until each had taken a turn.  I was so nervous to speak and pray out loud for fear that others would judge me.  And some have judged me.  But that is their sin, not mine.  You must not allow what others think about you to ever create tension in the life that God has for you.

The saint Mother Teresa shared this about prayer.

“Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” 
― Mother Teresa

Here is a beautiful prayer to meditate on today.

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” 
― St. Francis of Assisi




**Cathy is a writer, speaker and worship leader.  You may contact her at cwoolaway@yahoo.com or 217 521 2070

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