At my last job, I had an amazing boss who actually became one of my very dearest friends. She was full of great recommendations: from music, to books, to you name it. One of the books she recommended, "A Praying Life: Connecting With God In a Distracting World" by Paul E. Miller was life changing.
I don't know about you, but I often view prayer as something I do when I need something from God. "Dear God, life is really stressful right now... please deliver me from anxiety." "Dear Jesus, please help that paycheck to be a little larger than we were expecting..." "Dear God, please help me ace this test tonight." In many ways, I view God as a geenie in a bottle... ready to come out and bless me with answers to my questions and calm my fears, right when I need Him to.
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This book showed me how important it is that prayer be an integral part of my day-to-day life, whether I'm washing dishes, working out, or paying bills. Because of lack of prayer, many of our lives are often filled with fear, anxiety, spiritual dullness, lack of joy, etc. Now that I've read this book, when I hear friends mention how they are feeling stressed about an issue (or I've identified an upsetting issue in my own life), one of the first things I ask them or myself is "How is your/my prayer life?" You can start to see when you're relying on your own strength and not on God's... when you're not giving it over to Him. When I am feeling worn down and empty, Jesus desires to carry my burden and I can simply talk to Him about how I'm feeling or what I'm struggling with at any given moment. Ummm... how amazing is that? That we can simply pray to a God who not only hears us but is there for us in our every time of need?
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-— watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:30 The MSG
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One of my favorite quotes from the book... (page 22):
"If God is sovereign, then He is in control of all the details of my life. If He is loving, then He is going to be shaping the details of my life for my good. If He is all-wise, then he's not going to do everything I want becasue I don't know what I need. If He is patient, then He is going to take time to do all this. When we put all these things together-- God's sovereignty, love, wisdom, and patience-- we have a divine story.
People often talk about prayer as if it is disconnected from what God is doing in their lives. But we are actors in His drama, listening for our lines, quieting our hearts so we can hear the voice of the Playwright.
You can't have a good story without tension and conflict, without things going wrong. Unanswered prayers create some of the tensions in the story God is weaving in our lives. When we realize this, we want to know what God is doing. What pattern is God weaving? If God is composing a story with our lives, then our lives are no longer static. We aren't paralyzed by life; we can hope."
-- Paul E. Miller, "A Praying Life: Connecting With God in a Distracting World"
Do you have an active prayer life?
Do you have an active prayer life?
