Prayer Power: Diving Deep with God

Pray continually. That's what the Bible tells us to do. But how?

My friend Mike talks to God all day long. In fact, he doesn't even say Amen after his first daily prayer. "It's my way of reminding myself to keep on praying," he said. "I start praying when I wake up. Then, after I finish my morning prayer time, I just get up and go about my business and keep talking to God about whatever is happening." Just before falling asleep Mike finally says Amen, with an awareness that God has been with him the whole day.

Pat, a busy preschool director, connects with God while she drives. "My friends think I'm crazy, but I never listen to to the radio when I drive," she told me. "I'm so busy all day long. My time in the car may be the only time I'm alone all day. That's my time with God."

God is with us all day, and he us to be aware of him. Talking to him as we go is an integral part of being in relationship with him, but there are some habits that can help deepen this process.

Peter Lundell offers one simple tip to help develop all day communication with God. He calls them breath prayers: "Short prayers that can be said with one breath. They are often repeated in order to keep attention on God." (p76)

One of my breath prayers is "God is near." When I feel anxious or frustrated, I use these negative feelings to remind myself that I'm not alone. God's spirit lives within me and will provide the resources I need to face the situation with grace. Sometimes, I alter this to "God you are near. You will give me what I need. I can do this with patience." (A two-breath prayer!)

Other Christian practices can deepen our daily communication with God. They are spiritual disciplines and take more time than conversational praying. Lundell explains these concepts, such as Biblical meditation, fasting, and praying God's word, in his section titled "Internal Helps." These habits are doorways to adventurous living.

Lundell often quotes another helpful tool for learning about the spiritual disciplines is Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. I've read this work and go back to it from time to time to grow in my own practice of the disciplines. I love this thought from Foster:

Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.

I want to be one of those deep people.

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Gettin' Real!
Melodie
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