Helps on Morning Prayer (Paul Miller)
I am currently reading Paul E. Miller’s book, “A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World”. Wow. I am hooked. Extremely practical teaching on prayer. Deeply Biblical. And my favorite – short chapters! It’s also very comfortable to hold. I’m convinced that when a book is attractive to the eye and comfortable in the hands, people will be more apt to finishing it. That may actually be an epidemic in our day – unfinished books. Just kidding.
Anyway, I loved his list of helps on ‘praying in the morning’. No, you don’t HAVE to pray in the morning, but I believe it is essential to a God-centered day. Here we go:
- Get to bed – what you do in the evening will shape your morning. The Hebrew notion of a day as the evening and morning helps you plan for prayer. If you want to pray in the morning, then plan your evening so you don’t stay up too late. The evening and the morning are connected.
- Get up – praying in bed is wonderful. In fact, the more you pray out of bed, the more you’ll pray in bed. But you’ll never develop a morning prayer time in bed. Some of my richest prayer times are at night. I’ll wake up praying. But those prayer times only began to emerge because I got out of bed to pray.
- Get awake – Maybe you need to make a pot of coffee first or take a shower.
- Get a quiet place – Maybe a room, a chair, or a place with a view. Or maybe you do better going for a walk. Make sure that no one can interrupt you.
- Get comfortable – Don’t feel like you have to pray on your knees. For years I was hindered from praying because I found it so uncomfortable to pray on my knees.
- Get going – start with just five minutes. Start with a small goal that you can attain rather than something heroic. You’ll quickly find that the time will fly.
- Keep going – consistency is more important than length. If you pray five minutes every day, then the length of time will slowly grow. You’ll enjoy being with God.
Living to Please God
I don’t think about pleasing God enough. In my day to day busyness you know who I’m more concerned about pleasing? People. You mind if I get a little vulnerable today? I am more concerned about maintaining other’s opinions of me than radically living for God’s attention. As long as people are talking about me, like me, and are blessed by me, I feel good.
Do I pursue the pleasure of God in the same way?
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
That is a convicting verse. If you are like me, here are some questions I am asking today. I pray they are a help to you as well.
- Am I spending personal, alone time with Jesus apart from the crowds?
- Am I directly applying Scripture to my life on a daily basis?
- Am I just blogging/facebooking my thoughts or truly internalizing God’s Word to me?
- Do I live more self-aware or more God-aware?
- Do I pray consistently? Or are my dreams too small where I can just ‘get them done’?
- Am I asking God to make me aware of the lost every time I step outside my front door?
- Does my life reflect a passion for Jesus Christ above all other things?
Would you add any others?
Where Are Your Eyes?
Consider this:
“Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated” (Psalm 36:1-2).
Why is there no fear of God?
Because his eyes are on himself.
What is the result?
The voice of transgression speaks loud and clear. Sin is not seen for what it is. Instead of hating sin, it is delighted in.
When the fear of God is set before our eyes we begin to see sin for what it is…and we hate it.
“God, may we fear and reverence your name. May our lives be lived out of a glorious vision of Christ.”
Prayer Guide Based on Psalm 119
The other day I spent some time praying for the young adults of Allison Park Church. I found myself praying the truths of Psalm 119 over their lives.
Praying Scripture is such a great exercise. When you don’t know what to say, or you find yourself saying the same things over and over, go to the Scripture and pray the will of God. While this sheet is focused on the young adults of APC, feel free to utilize it in your area of ministry.
Just click the link below…
About
Thanks for stopping by the world of David Santistevan. I am a musician and worship leader in Pittsburgh, PA. I pray that what you find here will be a source of encouragement to you as a follower of Christ, a worship leader, a music guru, or anyone else. I’ve written some songs that I pray are an inspiration to you, leading you to love God’s Word and do great things for His kingdom. Let me know how I can best serve you, my faithful reader – DS.
