Inspirational Mondays - "Prayer"
Aloha Ohana! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. My weekend was super busy but in a good way. It was spent hanging out with family and friends. We celebrated birthdays with great friends and just bonded more as a family which is always a great thing.
I wanted to write this post about prayer because it's something that seems so simple but in actuality I was a closet prayer. What I mean by that is that I have no problems praying out loud at home around my immediate family. I pray day and night at home or even in the car. However, whenever we have an event, host a game night or whenever there were people other than my family around, I was usually the one passing the "prayer torch" to my hubby and while he doesn't mind and is pretty good at it, I now know that I need to step my game up.
Prayer is God's way of communicating with us and God wants us to communicate with him at all times. He also wants us to be able to pray for others. Sometimes it's going to mean praying out loud in the middle of a crowded room. As a christian it's a part of our christian duty to pray for others but speaking our prayers out loud really gives the devil a run for his money. It gives us more power and resilience and let's the devil know that we mean business when we speak to our God. It puts him in his place. This fear I had for praying out loud was perfect for satan to weasel his way into my head and start planting seeds of doubt. Well, after realizing this, I'm now more determined than ever to pluck out those seeds and get rid of them.
I know God's not placing pressure on me but I know that in order for me to be as Creflo Dollar said "a cut above christian," I need to improve my prayer life. It's funny because God knows exactly what or who we need to help us take the next step to becoming more like him. I'm a part of a life group aka bible study where our teacher inspires and pushes us to either open or close in prayer. At first, I would clam up and get so nervous that my voice would crack in the middle of prayer. I was so worried about what to say, how to say, how much to say that I completely missed the point of what prayer's all about. God doesn't care about the nitty gritty of prayers, he just wants us to talk to him.
Looking back at it, I completely complicated something that's so simple and pure. I'm much better at praying now and although I'm not a very outspoken or extroverted person, I'm now more open to praying out loud. I just speak from the heart and ask the holy spirit to guide me. I can actually laugh at myself now for how silly I was before because I know that God has my back at all times so there really wasn't anything to worry about.
This week's inspirational message is:
"Prayer is meant to be a part of our lives, like breathing, thinking, and talking. God is portable." - Gloria Gaither
"Show me where to walk, for my prayer is sincere." - Psalm 143: 8 TLB
Wishing everyone a blessed and prosperous week!
Mahalo for stopping by. :)
wow, this is such a good post. I just went thru a phase where my prayer life was soooooo not because I figured the Lord knew the beginning and the end anyway what's the point. Do you think Satan used this to his advantage? Oh, you have no idea....in this, I remember, it takes being a friend to have a friend and Jesus is all about relationship and this means communicating. This is sooooooo good Kerry, loved it!
ReplyDeleteOh, and the prayer thing out loud?I am with you. It is a challenge every time, I feel the sweat thing come on, but I do it out of needing that relationship to Him. So I do it! I hear you!
great post about prayer...I too have the tendancy to complicate prayer by thinking about it too much. Your so right. He just desires for us to communicate with Him.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing this!