Lord, Teach Us to Pray!

What a wonderful evening we shared together last week!  Thank you to the morning group for your willingness to combine with the evening group for June and July.  With summer travels and vacations, I know there will be days when some will be away.  When you are home, I hope you'll make the women's Bible study time a priority.  There is something so valuable in meeting together.  I know I left so encouraged and challenged by our study last week.  I enjoy so much hearing your answers as well as your questions--even if there may not be a good answer.  It shows you are thinking and allowing God's Spirit to speak to your heart.

We had some sweet laughter as several shared their thoughts on Mary and Martha.  Every time I read this story, I seem to be challenged in some way.  Many of you were too.  In response to one of the questions, here are a couple of the epitaphs for Mary and Martha's tombstone:

Martha's: 

"She cooked and served and cleaned and mopped

and now her hands have finally stopped."

--Barb Meek

Mary's:

"Martha's house was clean.  It passed the test.

But in the end, He loved me best."

--Susie Greer

(Editor's note:  Jesus loved them both!)  What fun it is to do some creative thinking!  Having a formal Bible study to work on helps us go beyond what can become a mundane task to learning and applying these wonderful truths to our life.

Much of our discussion and the lecture to follow centered on prayer.  We all know it is important and a vital Christian discipline.  So why is it such a challenge?  I believe there are several reasons.

1. Satan knows the power we have in prayer and he will stop at nothing to keep us from it.
2. We may feel intimidated about praying, not sure of how to pray or what to say.
3. Our busy lives distract us from what is most important.
4. Past experience has left us thinking incorrectly about prayer.  I didn't get what I wanted the last time I prayed so why should I pray now?

From the lecture on The Lord's Prayer, I encourage each of us to make a new commitment to prayer.  No matter where your prayer life currently is, it can always grow. Here are the highlights from the lecture if you missed it:

1. The place.  Choose an environment conducive to the practice of prayer.  It takes time to develop and it takes consistent opportunity.
2. The position.  Remember, God is your Father and you are his child.
3. The perspective.  The One we address in prayer is King.  Treat Him as holy.
4. The priority.  Delight yourself in the Lord (Psalm 37:4).
5. The petition.  God desires for us to develop a day-by-day mentality in prayer.  Develop a dependency on Him.  We need a day-by-day perspective of life.
6. The pardon.  God graciously forces the issue of forgiveness by giving us a serious incentive to forgive others.  Forgive others as you want the Lord to forgive you. 
7. The preparation.  Prepare for the day's temptations by directly approaching the seriousness of the matter with God in advance.  Be proactive in temptation.
8. The persistence.  As long as you keep the prayer burden, keep praying!  Come boldly and shamelessly to your heavenly father.

Prayer is not about what we ask.  It's about WHO we ask.  Everything is possible to him who believes.  (Mark 9:23)  Do you believe and will you ask?

Next month we will postpone our study by one week and will meet July 22 rather than the 15th.  Don't put off your study.  Begin taking in morsels every day.  God desires to feed you from His Book of Life.

Lovingly,
Dianne