“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
—Luke 18:13
Are you really satisfied with your own prayer life?
Take some time and think that through, because most of us really don’t really
change and become people of prayer until there is some intolerable
dissatisfaction our life that moves us from where we are to where we need to be.
Many Christians pray mostly when problems come into
their lives. I, too, know panic prayers, and God wants us to pray those
“breath prayers,” like Psalm 39:1, “Oh Lord, you search me and know me.”
“God be merciful to me, a sinner,” is another one. But do not want to live
my life praying only at times when I panic, asking God to help me out of some
situation that I have gotten into. I want to learn how to pray the way God would
have me pray.
There are three things that should accompany
prayer: solitude, silence and recollection. We need to set aside
times when we practice prayer intentionally in this way. Solitude is
moving away, being sure that we are rested, that we can find a lonely place as
Jesus did in Mark l:35. The second thing we need to learn is silence. We
are an active country, and we very seldom sit in silence, asking God to show us
what we should do before Him. The third thing is recollection. In Psalm
107 and many other Psalms, David is recalling what God has done and how He has
taken care of him. Many psalms recall God’s deliverance in the walk of the
children of
Ask
God to help you set aside time for solitude, silence and recollection in your
prayer time. Ask God to make these times a delight.