Week 24 “How to Pray” Day 3
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Matt. 6:9-13 This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Reflect:
You are moving right now. The earth is spinning 1,000 miles per hour on its axis. It is traveling 67,000 miles per hour around the sun. In spite of this incredible speed of movement, you have no perception of any of it. What is true doesn’t always feel true. God is the one true King. He is the eternal, all-powerful, and all-wise creator. This remains true whether you feel it is true or not. Whether it’s when you read or hear the news or as you drive to work or school. Or even as you live “inside your head” and contemplate your own struggles and fears, you may or may not perceive of God as King, but he still is. The fact that he is the one true King should have bearing on how you perceive the world around you and the world inside of your mind. But you must “practice” perceiving what is real. Close your eyes for a moment and think of yourself as sitting on a planet that is spinning and speeding around the sun. Use your imagination to “feel” this movement. Can you do it? You can, if you practice. When you use your imagination like this, you are not trying to make yourself believe something that is not real. Instead, you are connecting your mind with something that is real. It takes what we often call imagination to make this connection because the reality of the earth’s movement is not immediately available to our senses. In a similar way, when you stop and contemplate the reality of God, you are using your imagination to consider a reality that is not normally immediately available to your physical senses. Close your eyes and contemplate God, the mighty King, living before he created time and space. Alive and powerful now, the transcendent God is greater than all of the time and space he has made. Practice this so that your mind will more consistently “see” what is real but not immediately available to your eyes. Practice his presence so you will more consistently experience his presence in your life. This is not about “pretending” that something is true. It is about more consistently “remembering” what is true.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” 1 Peter 1:8
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.